The Geneseo Hillel (pictured above) held its first Family Weekend event last Friday, Sept. 20, where families participated in a challah bake, as well as in a cultural Shabbat service. This event gave students and families the opportunity to connect to the organization both culturally and spiritually (Leila Sassouni/Knights’ Life Editor).
Geneseo Hillel held its first Family Weekend event on Friday Sept. 20 at the Interfaith Center. This event, which was open to all Geneseo families and current students, involved student-led activities and a delicious falafel dinner.
While hours of event planning were dedicated to ensuring the event’s success, each board member took pride in the numerous smiling faces of family members who enjoyed attending the service with their child. Music vocal performance major sophomore Evan Panzer commented on the teamwork and the strong sense of community.
“There’s a lot of teamwork that went into this event. I think it was really great how all the components came together, and it was overall an exciting event. You know, we had challah baking, and then we had a beautiful service with a lot of audience participation,” Panzer said. “And of course [we also had] the falafel [for dinner,] which was delicious. It was nice to see our usual members here with their family members too, I thought that was great.”
Guests took part in a challah bake; each family was encouraged to make a roll to bring home or to eat while at the Interfaith Center. After this special activity, two of the board members led a student-run Shabbat service, encouraging guests to participate in the song-singing and the recitation of prayers.
For students whose parents did not travel to Geneseo this weekend, this Shabbat was bittersweet in the sense that they saw and embraced an incredible cultural experience with a new community of people.
Psychology major sophomore Misha Firstein-Rudder explained the uniqueness of the night and his positive experience in meeting new people from such different Jewish backgrounds and other religions.
“I feel like today was just super special to me. I haven’t really felt connected to any group here, especially because I feel like I connected to [such] few Jewish people here at Geneseo,” Rudder said. “And to see all these people here with their parents, their grandparents, it just made me really happy to see such a close-knit community so far away from home.”
Geneseo Hillel prides itself on its inclusivity and welcoming nature. Members encourage a positive environment, where people from different practices of Judaism can feel encouraged to both observe and practice religion as they choose.