: rought To You By . . .

See YOur Byline Heie!

The Detroit Jewish News with support from the
Stephen H. Schulman Millennium Fund of the
Bloomfield Township-based Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit.

jewish@edu is written by Jewish college stu-
dents from Metro Detroit.You can submit stories,
photographs, art, reviews, opinion — all require
some Jewish component. kcohen@renrnedia.us

for college students by college students

True
Partnership

GVSU Hillel works
with Grand Rapids
Jewish community.

By Carrie Subelsky
and Becca Gold

Grand Valley State University's
Hillel has a long history work-
ing with the Jewish community
of Grand Rapids and plans to
continue this partnership. Our
students take active roles with
the Jewish Federation of Grand
Rapids as well as Temple
Emanuel community service
initiatives.
GVSU Hillel prides itself
on maintaining this strong
relationship with the greater
Grand Rapids Jewish com-
munity; these programs are
extremely popular with the
students.
GVSU Hillel participates
in the Adopt-A-Family for
Chanukah program through
the Federation. This past year,
we raised money through
T-shirt and bake sales to buy
clothes, books and toys for a
needy family.
Hillel students also have
taken part in Mitzvah Day at
Temple Emanuel and helped
out with various activities,
including preparing food bags
for the children's food baskets.
These projects mean a lot
to Hillel members as well as
the community. Hillel is seen
throughout the Grand Rapids
Jewish community as a partner
in community service initia-
tives. Hillel members strive to
take part in tikkun olam (repair
of the world) and strengthen
our relationship with the
growing Jewish community.
GVSU Hillel plans to par-
ticipate in these projects
again; and we are adding new
programs this coming school
year. We plan to volunteer at
the Temple Emanuel Hebrew
School and also take part in
holiday services, temple events
and community programming.
One of our goals is to edu-
cate our campus community
about Jewish culture and tradi-
tions. Through our program-
ming, we strive to create a
sense of family and a relation-
ship with the Jewish students

TRUE PARTNERSHIP

on page 24

www.theJEWISHNEWS.com

IFNext Issue:

ish
I

jewish@edu will be back with another issue in
November, before winter break. But the IN will
run college stories under the jewish@edu extra
banner as we get them. So keep 'em coming!

AUGUST 26, 2010 / 16 ELUL 5770

•

Building
Steam

WMU Hillel grows
its membership
and programming.

By Erin Kaplan

VOLUME 1, NO. 2

Students at some Michigan colleges may have to choose between High
Holiday services and their first days of classes.

Holiday Dilemma

Early Rosh Hashanah overlaps some first days of classes.

By Stephanie Steinberg

R

osh Hashanah lands on the "worst possible
day" this year, says University of Michigan

sophomore Yossi Lichterman of Huntington
Woods.
Every fall, college students contemplate whether or
not to miss classes to attend High Holiday services.
With Rosh Hashanah falling during the first week of
school for some universities this year, students are faced
with a more difficult decision: Miss Rosh Hashanah or
miss the first day of class?
The first night of Rosh Hashanah — Sept. 8 — falls

on the first official day of classes for the University of
Michigan-Ann Arbor, Eastern Michigan University
in Ypsilanti and Western Michigan University in
Kalamazoo. All three schools excuse absences for reli-
gious observances. But university officials say students
must inform their professors of any absences before
school starts if they want to avoid attendance problems.
It can get complicated. For many U-M courses, stu-
dents must attend the first two days of class to enroll
in the course. Students missing their first class because

HOLIDAY DILEMMA on page 24

When I flip through my vin-
tage 1960 Western Michigan
University yearbook, I smile
as I turn to a picture of three
students; the caption reads
"WMU Hillel." I am proud our
registered student organiza-
tion (RSO) is older than 50
and proud of how much we
have grown, specifically, in
the past few years.
I recall the beginning of
my freshman year, the fall of
2008. Shabbat dinners were
only held once or twice a
month and attracted about 20
students. Soon, the executive
board began to attract new
members; freshman joined,
played a role and gave input.
Now I am going into my
junior year. More than 20 pro-
grams are set that our board
planned over seven months
of school. We no longer see
just five tables of students,
the same faces every week.
Instead, I see new faces. More
and more students attend our
Shabbat dinners.
I recall last fall when our
board realized our programs,
our organization, our mission
were too big for the 50-per-
son Kiva programming room.
I think back to our 80-stu-
dent Chanukah party, over-
flowing the President's Dining
Room in our student union, to
the administrators in the back
of that room, to our university
president who kicked off the
party with a speech and lit
the menorah.
I think back to our 70-per-
son Passover seder overflow-
ing a fraternity house, and
finally, I remember seeing
more than 75 familiar—and
unfamiliar faces — at Buster's
Bat Mitzvah, an event so
large that we qualified for
campus activities funding.
How did an organiza-
tion's membership base and
program attendance quickly
double, then triple and qua-
druple? It is because more
Jewish students are attending

BUILDING STEAM

on page 26

August 26 • 2010

23

