Club Spotlight: Jewish Club

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Students congregate inside the sukkah on the Great Lawn Sept. 29. By building the Sukkah, the Jewish Club hoped to educate students — both Jewish and non-Jewish — about Jewish heritage and traditions (Staff photographer/Talon).

The Jewish Club brought Jewish traditions to campus by putting a sukkah, a hut, up on the Great Lawn, serving pizza in it and telling interested students about the tradition Sept. 29.

To celebrate the holiday of Sukkot, which is the Jewish holiday that commemorates living in the wilderness as well as the “Clouds of Glory” and the fall harvest, the Jewish Club chose to share the tradition of building a sukkah, which is done during this weeklong holiday, with the rest of the student body.

“The Jewish holiday of Sukkot is seven days long. You build a sukkah and you are supposed to eat in the sukkah,” club Vice President Sarah Goldberg said.

Club member and sophomore Ofir Feuer shared the goal of the sukkah: educating students, including those who are Jewish, about the tradition.

“[T]here are many people who are Jewish but don’t do much to celebrate the holidays, or they will celebrate it without knowing why,” Feuer said.

Principal Kevin Buchanan visited the sukkah and ate pizza with the students.

“I think it is perfectly wonderful that some of our faith-based clubs want to share their traditions and festivals and beliefs exhibiting them on campus. It was nice,” Buchanan said. “I think it will educate students and make them more open-minded to other faiths.”

The Jewish Club has built this sukkah twice before.

“They don’t advertise. They just put the sukkah there and they allow people to walk up and ask about the symbolism and what the various things mean,” Buchanan said. “I thought it was very educational. They weren’t pushing their faith on anyone, and it was just a club having an activity.”

The sukkah also provided an opportunity for Jewish students to celebrate their heritage.

“[S]ome people like me have families that aren’t religious, so they don’t do these things and they are able to appreciate doing them with Jew Crew or at school,” Feuer said.