Rice University President Reggie DesRoches and his wife, Paula Gilmer DesRoches, hosted Rice Hillel students, faculty and alumni on Friday, March 27, to welcome Shabbat and celebrate the Rice Hillel community. <\/p>\n
Annual Shabbat gatherings at the Rice president\u2019s home began in 2004 and continued for 16 consecutive years until the COVID-19 pandemic limited in-person gatherings. This year was the first Shabbat at the President\u2019s home since 2019 and the DesRoches encouraged students to return next year.<\/p>\n
Shabbat at the President\u2019s home continued this year\u2019s Rice Hillel tradition of student-led Shabbat programming. Rice Hillel student interns Eitan Feldman and Mira Goldstein welcomed everyone and introduced the university president, who expressed his support for Jewish life at Rice.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been able to form a strong community that has extended beyond organized events,\u201d said Austin Lambert, a Rice sophomore. \u201cFellow Hillel members have become some of my closest friends at Rice. My participation in Jewish life significantly adds to my overall college experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Justin Feder, a first-year student, offered a d\u2019var Torah that included an insight into Rice Hillel\u2019s activities. \u201cThis past year, Rice Hillel has been growing and evolving,\u201d said Feder. \u201cWe\u2019ve held consistent, weekly student-led Friday night Shabbat dinners on campus in magisters\u2019 homes and tonight at the president\u2019s home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Feder\u2019s remarks connected the parashah to how Rice Hillel encourages students to explore Judaism.<\/p>\n
\u201cJudaism today isn\u2019t just about being commanded to practice Judaism in a particular way. It\u2019s about choosing to show up, engage and create meaning in whatever way works for you,\u201d said Feder. \u201cJust as the rabbis took ownership of the Torah to create the Talmud, we have the freedom to shape what Judaism looks like in our own lives and at Rice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amelia Wigder, a first-year student, led the Shabbat candle-lighting, followed by Feldman and Goldstein, who led Kiddush.<\/p>\n
Gabi Brent, a first-year student, facilitated Hamotzi by encouraging everyone to gather close and either touch the challah or place their hand on the shoulder of someone who was touching the challah. Physically connecting with the challah in this way has become one of Rice Hillel\u2019s Shabbat traditions.<\/p>\n
In another nod to the tremendous sense of community to which Lambert referred, Ulrika Shragge, Houston Hillel\u2019s Springboard fellow, extended the evening by taking more than a dozen students out for ice cream after Shabbat at the President\u2019s home concluded.<\/p>\n
\u201cReggie and Paula\u2019s home was full of conversation and community,\u201d said Rabbi Kenny Weiss, Houston Hillel\u2019s executive director. The non-student guests very much appreciated the opportunity to hear our students\u2019 passion for Jewish life on campus.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn turn, the students learned a great deal from the alumni and community guests, who shared their hopes for the future. I am particularly grateful to Rice University for helping make this special event possible.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rice University President Reggie DesRoches and his wife, Paula Gilmer DesRoches, hosted Rice Hillel students, faculty and alumni…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233231,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57,90243],"class_list":{"0":"post-233230","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-houston","9":"tag-houston-headlines","10":"tag-houston-news","11":"tag-rice-president-hosts-shabbat-evening"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}