For those of you don’t know what “Hillel” is, it’s the Jewish Student organization on campus. For many years now, our goal has been to provide a place for Jewish students to feel comfortable and have a lot of friends in college that are of the same religion as they are. When many students come to college, they get lost and they can’t find any Jewish students beside themselves. Even though we do not actually have a building, we have a large group of individuals that host different events monthly. These events are not necessarily religious, don’t get intimidated, but they are there so we can connect with everyone and find common ground.
We host a Shabbat service once a month, which rings in the weekend. In the Jewish religion, Shabbat is a wonderful holiday because it brings in the day of rest (which is Saturday) and then Saturday night we celebrate a new week coming up! It’s a great holiday and something that our organization celebrates once a month in the Rathskeller.
Hillel also tries to host multiple social events during a semester. Whether its Karaoke or team bonding, we try to hold social events so students don’t get intimated when they hear “Hillel” and also so they can meet new people! Hillel is largely involved in the community. We have done multiple events with community programs in the Tampa Bay area and we have also helped our local downtown community as well. We love giving back and hope to do even more events in the future.
This semester we have implemented a new event. Since our campus does not have a building, we have implemented a new event called “Hillel: After Hours.” This event is every Wednesday and Thursday from 6:00-10:00pm in the Rathskeller. Do you have homework to do but want to do it with other Jewish students? Do you just want to meet other students and feel more welcomed? Well, come to Hillel: After Hours and listen to music, catch up with friends, relax or do homework in a cool environment. Bring your friends, everyone is welcome!