Holocaust Remembrance Week

Last week was Holocaust Remembrance Week at JMU.  On Monday, Mark Strauss, a survivor, retold his experiences of being trapped inside Nazi-occupied Poland during the War. Strauss gave a very vivid account of not only his experiences, but what it may have been like for many other survivors of the Holocaust. Tuesday night we watched the award-winning film "The Counterfeiters." This film told the story of how Jewish prisoners helped sabotage the Nazi's counterfeit-currency operation during the War. Lastly, on Wednesday, Taylor Krauss gave a presentation on his organization Voices of Rwanda. His organization exists to record and preserve the testimonies of the survivors of the Rwandan genocide. In his presentation, Krauss explained to the audience how his Jewish back-round and his knowledge of the  Holocaust inspired him to create Voices of Rwanda. Hillel hopes that Holocaust Remembrance Week was both an educational and thought provoking week for those who attended these events.

Purim Shabbat

We handed out our new T-shirts to
members who have attended 4 events! 

On March 18, 2011, Hillel had its Purim themed Shabbat dinner.  Although no one dressed up (with a few exceptions),  it was still a lot of fun!  The Executive Board made Hamantaschen for the members, and we enjoyed delicious chicken from A &T Chicken.  It was a great night with lots of friends and conversation, but the evening did not end after the eating. We were so fortunate to be joined by Rabbi Etan and his wife Tammy for the Shabbat, and Rabbi Etan led an engaging discussion following the meal.  About 15 to 20 of us stayed around to talk about being Jewish on the JMU campus.  It was a wonderful talk, and I know I learned a great deal about the background of many of our members that I hadn’t known before. 

It was great to learn about why Judaism is important to some, and what traditions and aspects of our Jewish religion members want to carry with them for the rest of their lives.  This conversation fit in quite perfectly with the Purim story.  Queen Ester had to hide her religion from the king and from the rest of the people in the community she lived in. Although we aren’t hiding our religion by any means, it was interesting to see the connections between the Purim story and the situations we encounter at James Madison University.   

Also, make sure you come out to our Shabbat Service this Friday at Temple Beth El at 7:30!:)

Hamantaschen, Challah, and Hurricane Hillel

Last night, five of us board members, plus our past president, experienced, what for me, was one of my best Jewish experiences since being here at JMU.  We hopped into 2 cars to head to Rabbi Etan’s house in Charlottesville, with one car arriving a little safer and less carsick. At their house, we made Hamantaschen and homemade challahs! It probably would have been a wise idea to warn Rabbi Etan and his wife Tammy that Hurricane Hillel was coming with our huge baking messes.

            This was such a great time for the board members to bond with not only each other, but with Rabbi Etan and Tammy.  We learned how to properly pinch the corners of Hamantaschen, and that when a recipe calls for 9-12 cups of flour, it really means pour the whole 5 pound bag, plus half of another. We also learned the prayer for when you rip off a small chunk of challah.

            Besides the fun and learning, this night also gave us all such a warm feeling.  After baking, we all just sat down in their living room and discussed everything from our majors, Israel, Jewish geography (of course) (turns out Tammy went to the same Jewish private school as I did, and we had some of the same teachers), how Rabbi Etan and Tammy met, life in general, and also how there was something nice about being in an actual home during our time in college.  Even though we just got back from spring break, this week proved to be stressful and LONG, and this was the perfect opportunity to get away and relax.

            Although our Hamantaschen, as Sam said from a nurse’s point of view, " didn’t look so good,” they still tasted DELICIOUS! We made our cookies filled with butterscotch, chocolate, peanut butter, and strawberry jam.  Yes, I know your mouth just started watering… mine did too! You can get a chance to try these homemade Hamantaschen and challahs at our Purim Shabbat Dinner tonight! Rabbi Etan and Tammy will be there, and they would love to meet all of you!

            SOOO… Moral of this extremely long blog post is that last night was one of the best nights I’ve had here at JMU! (clearly shown by my rambling!)

HAPPY PURIM TO ALL! 

P.S Pictures are to come! 

-Leah Ross-

HARTS

Leah the baker :)

One important part of Judaism is giving back and doing mitzvots. That's why I'm really glad that we had the opportunity to do HARTS again this year. HARTS stands for Harrisonburg and Rockingham Thermal Shelter at the Catholic Campus Ministry House which provides food and shelter during these cold months to those that need it. 

Rachel with the beans :)

Hillel sponsored one night to provide food and entertainment for HARTS. We had a great theme for dinner: TACO NIGHT! (YUMMM) We made everything ourselves in the CCM kitchen. It was so much fun and of course, delicious.

Sam and Lisa checkin out the oven!

After dinner, it was game time. I saw some really cool magic tricks and played an intense game of Apples to Apples. It was really cool getting to meet everyone and listen to their stories...a lot of them just wanted someone to listen to. I can't wait to go back again next year for HARTS. The feeling you get after doing it just makes you want to give back even more.


Look out for some more exciting blog posts soon! We have a lot of cool events coming up!
Jackie Hedeman

More Bagels!!!

Well, we definitely love our bagels here. We had another bagel brunch at Mr. J's Bagels right before we left for Spring Break!! It was nice seeing everyone before we left so we could say our goodbyes. I had an everything bagel with scallion cream cheese so my breath was AWESOME after eating that. I love these types of events because I obviously love bagels but it's also a really great way to connect with people in a sit down setting, because Hillel is the only opportunity I get to catch up with my some of my friends. 

I can't wait for the next bagel brunch @ Mr. J's!! Yummmm!

- Jackie Hedeman

 

Super Bowl Party With AEPi

The Super Bowl party was so much fun! We fit a ton of people into a small room, which kind of reminded me of fitting clowns into a tiny car. There were even 13 people on one couch! Everyone was friendly and extremely chatty. When the game started, no one was really listening to what was going on. Only when the first commercial came on did everyone quiet down to hear what Budweiser, Doritos, Pepsi, and other companies had for our funny bones this year. When everyone started getting hungry, the wings arrived. We had A TON! Probably about 500 boneless wings from B-Dubs. They were soo good and many people (mostly the guys), stuffed their faces with the yummy goodness.

I think the best part was during the half time show. When the Black Eyed Peas were singing "I Gotta Feelin'." I'm sure you all know the part where they say "Mazel Tov..." Well imagine a ton of Jewish people in one room all extremely quiet, and then all shouting mazel tov at the same time. I should have figured it would happen, but it was still completely hilarious. When it was over, we all left extremely full of both wings and laughs

-Rachel Reiter-

Bagel Brunch

Waking up at 10:00 on a Sunday is definitely difficult, but walking into Mr. Jays and smelling those delicious bagels made the early wake-up worth it.  This past Sunday we had our first Bagel Brunch of the semester, and I would say it was a success!  There were about 50 of us Hillelers there and we definitely made our presence known.  Who wouldn't notice a group of 50 tired college students running towards the counter to get their yummy bagels? There was a lot of buzz around the restaurant. I overheard so many conversations about how the past week had went, rush events going on, silly weekend stories, and even a conversation about how you can tell a lot about a person by the bagel they eat.  For example, if you get a plain bagel with plain cream cheese, you are plain and if you get an egg bagel with plain cream cheese you're weird.  My favorite was the everything egg bagel with chive cream cheese, that was said to be “too much” (not my opinion, but that’s what I heard!)

As a freshman, pretty new to Hillel, I still don’t know many people but I was still able to enjoy myself. I was able to meet so many new, extremely friendly people, while eating my favorite food.  Which by the way… I’m eating a bagel as I am writing this. To be specific, a plain bagel with chive cream cheese, which makes me wonder what those people I overheard, would say about my personality? But to make a long story short, everyone had a great time this Sunday and they all definitely enjoyed their free bagels and coffee or sodas. I cannot wait until our next event! 

-Leah Ross, Publicity Chair-