Forty-five Rice University students crowded into the Duncan College magister’s home on Friday evening, Aug. 28, filling the house with conversation, Shabbat songs and the fragrance of dinner from Kenny & Ziggy’s.
With sophomore Hannah Guffrey leading songs on guitar, sophomore Justin Feder sharing a d’var Torah and other students leading their friends in the Shabbat blessings, the evening offered students a chance to set aside the first week of classes and welcome Shabbat together.
The gathering also marked the continuation of a Rice Hillel initiative that became an important part of Jewish life at Rice last year: weekly Shabbat dinners held directly on campus.
Now in its second year, the program brings students together each Friday evening in the homes of Rice’s residential college magisters.
The setting is intentional. By bringing Shabbat into the residential colleges, Rice Hillel makes Jewish life part of the places where students already live, study and spend time with their friends. And in a few weeks Shabbat will be hosted by Rice president DesRoches in his home.
The magisters’ homes also provide something difficult to re-create in a larger institutional setting: the feeling of gathering in someone’s home for Shabbat. Students share blessings, sing, eat and linger around the table, creating the kind of informal connections that often become the foundation of a strong Jewish community.
The weekly dinners are one piece of a busy start to the academic year for Houston Hillel at the many campuses it serves.
At Rice, students began the semester with First Day Donuts at Brochstein Pavilion and have returned to Hillel’s weekly Wednesday bagel lunches. Tabling and welcome activities have provided additional opportunities for new students to meet Hillel staff and student leaders, while returning students reconnected with friends after the summer.
At the University of Houston, Houston Hillel’s lounge in the A.D. Bruce Religion Center serves as a home base for Jewish students, as it has for more than 60 years. Welcome programs during the opening weeks of school brought students into the UH Hillel Lounge for food and conversation while introducing new students to the Jewish community they can return to throughout their time at UH.
The beginning of the academic year is especially important for Houston Hillel because relationships formed during these first weeks often shape a student’s connection to Jewish life throughout the year. A student who stops for a donut or bagel may return for a holiday celebration, a learning program or Shabbat dinner. Just as importantly, that student begins to recognize familiar faces and develop friendships.
The 45 students gathered at Duncan College offered a glimpse of what that can look like. Some arrived with close friends, while others came looking for a place to spend Shabbat. Together, they transformed a magister’s home into a Jewish gathering place on campus for the evening.
As Houston Hillel begins another year of programs at Rice, UH and other schools throughout Southeast Texas, the settings will vary from campus lounges and outdoor tables to classrooms and magisters’ homes. The purpose, however, remains consistent: to make Jewish community easy to find and meaningful to join.
And at Rice, every Friday evening, that means students know there is a Shabbat table waiting for them somewhere on campus.