This week, campus Hillels all over the world celebrated Purim with dance events, Megillah readings, carnivals, service packages, and lots of different occasions marking this vacation that facilities Jewish resilience and pleasure.
“Purim is… the ultimate reminder that our happiness and our success will pave our future, not [someone else’s] darkness,” mentioned Tess Hewitson, a pupil chief at Hillel of Metro Detroit.
Finding pleasure within the midst of darkness feels particularly related proper now. Students in Israel are persevering with their research whereas navigating sirens and shelters, and college students within the United States are carefully following developments and potential safety issues associated to the battle with the Islamic Republic of Iran. But moments like these could make it much more essential to concentrate on Jewish resilience and pleasure.
At the University of Colorado at Boulder Hillel, Purim programming centered on one of many 4 conventional mitzvot of the vacation: matanot la’evyonim, giving items to the poor. In many communities, that mitzvah has expanded to incorporate broader service and volunteer alternatives. CU Boulder Hillel’s Purim Service Carnival blended significant service with the festive spirit of a carnival.
Alongside basic Purim actions like masks making and a photograph sales space, 50 college students packed meal kits for Circle of Love, which serves meals to unhoused folks on the Boulder Bandshell, and wrote letters to remoted seniors by Letters to Our Elders.
“The carnival celebrated Purim through both joy and giving,” mentioned Shira Finke, program supervisor at CU Boulder Hillel.
“The Purim story represents Jewish resilience and the power of responding to darkness with light and celebration,” Finke mentioned. “Being able to bring that spirit to our students, especially through a program that extends joy to others in need, feels incredibly meaningful.”
Purim carnivals are a longtime custom in lots of Jewish communities, and Hillels are not any exception. At Rutgers Hillel, college students embraced the vacation by reconnecting with childhood pleasure.
More than 175 college students arrived in costume to play basic carnival video games like ring toss, “find the special duck,” and bean bag toss. Game tickets could possibly be redeemed for prizes that felt straight out of childhood, together with paint-your-own-mug kits, magic develop capsules, themed rubber geese, and bubble wands.
“This year’s Purim Carnival was a real joy to create and was inspired by childhood carnivals,” mentioned Alex Prowisor, Rutgers Hillel vacation chair. “It was so fun watching many young adults put on their ‘child’ costumes to play games and win prizes.”
At Oregon State University, Hillel hosted its annual McMenamins Purim Party on the Pacific Northwest landmark McMenamins restaurant. The prime flooring was reworked right into a celebration worthy of Queen Esther, full with a Megillah parody play, aggressive video games of pool, and a crowd-favorite costume contest.
“We’ve had students dress as their favorite Hillel staff, [bring to life] current memes…, and super creative students who make their costumes from scratch,” mentioned Yael Raich, a pupil chief at OSU Hillel. “The McMenamins Purim Party is a staple of OSU Hillel tradition, and we’re excited to see how its legacy lives on.”
Other campuses put a novel spin on the vacation. At the University of California, Santa Cruz, Hillel hosted its second annual Purim-themed homicide thriller, “A Night of Masks and Mischief.”
During the occasion, employees and board members turned actors portraying characters from the Purim story. Students stepped into the position of investigators, questioning suspects, analyzing clues, and dealing collectively to determine a wrongdoer. The night included costumes, a dramatic coronation scene, Persian Jewish meals, raffle prizes, and a photograph wall.
“We were most excited to give students a meaningful and memorable way to connect with Jewish tradition by combining immersive storytelling with joyful Purim celebration,” mentioned Zion Tunstall, director of Jewish pupil life at UC Santa Cruz. “Students got to engage with the story of Purim in a new, fun, and exciting way, connecting with their Judaism through creativity and community.”
One pupil participant summed it up, saying, “This is honestly my favorite event of the year. I’ve been looking forward to it since the first murder mystery we did last year, and I already can’t wait for next year.”
Food additionally performed a central position in lots of celebrations, reflecting the Purim custom of sharing festive meals and treats. At John Carroll University, the Hillel group joined the campus-wide Tower Time custom, a weekly midweek gathering by the clock tower on Saint Ignatius Plaza hosted by a special pupil group every week.
For their Purim version, Jewish college students introduced hamantaschen from an area bakery and invited their mates to brighten masks whereas studying in regards to the vacation.
“We don’t have many Jewish students on our campus, so we don’t get to have many campus-wide events around holidays,” mentioned Orli Peleg, a pupil chief at John Carroll University Hillel. “It’s exciting to have the campus community come together for an event about a Jewish holiday.”
Hamantaschen have been additionally entrance and middle at Hillel of Metro Detroit’s celebrations, which included a baking competitors and a poker-themed occasion referred to as “Hold ’em and Hamantaschen.”
“Seeing how hyped different groups on campus are for the perfect Purim chaos is unique,” Hewitson mentioned. “It has been energizing to see people who usually stay in their own lanes, the poker crowd, the bakers, the competitive types, all get excited about the same event.”
Because Hillel of Metro Detroit serves college students throughout a number of campuses, organizers aimed to create an occasion sufficiently big to deliver everybody collectively.
“To me, Jewish joy is extremely inclusive,” Hewitson mentioned, ”It’s so significant to me to show that everybody is welcome to the celebration and that being inclusive makes our personal group stronger. When the entire campus is having a good time, it makes our Jewish college students really feel like they’re a part of one thing vibrant, seen, and value standing up for.”
However your campus celebrated, all of us at Hillel hope you had an incredible Purim.