Story by McKenna Golat
Photos by Corinne Konarska
Surrounded by food and friends, members of the Hillel organization at Central Michigan University gathered in an apartment to celebrate Passover on April 22.
Passover is a week-long Jewish holiday that celebrates the exodus of Egypt. The Passover Seder is a traditional dinner. The center piece, the Seder Plate, tells the story of the exodus using food to symbolize different parts of the story.
“No matter what part of Judaism you follow, you will always connect with another person who follows it or even someone who's just familiar with it,” Jenna Clark, the vice president of Hillel at CMU, said.
Clark said the group would be celebrating Passover in a more ‘low key’ way. Their dinner consisted of Chipotle and the Seder Plate was made of candy.
“Usually it's a lot more,” Clark said. “Like you're going to have a Secret Plate and (homemade) dinner.”
While eating dinner, the group talked about what they were thankful for. New Hillel member, Josh Burns, said he was looking forward to the end of the semester which was echoed by the rest of the group. Clark said she was thankful for her new kitten. Additionally, the group talked about what Passover means to them.
“I'm going to say 'tradition,’” Sydney Bruseloff, Hillel at CMU’s advisor, said. “While people do things individually, there's also lots of traditions that we're all carrying on. Like, it doesn't have to look the same with each group and us meeting together for Passover is a nice tradition.”
After dinner, the group gathered in the kitchen for the Seder Plate ritual. The ritual began with three candles being lit. Then, three Hebrew blessings, led by Bruseloff, were recited over the candles, food and wine. For those who did not want to drink wine, grape juice was provided.
“For religious purposes, we are allowed to drink wine (at Passover) regardless of age,” Clark said. “It needs to be kosher wine, though.”
Not only does Hillel at CMU create a sense of belonging to its members, it helps them keep in touch with traditions such as Passover. They said they were thankful for the community the organization provides.
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