24 | SEPTEMBER 17 • 2020
H
illels at Michigan uni-
versities are usually
buzzing with activity
around the High Holidays as
they work to prepare Jewish
learning, programing and wor-
ship opportunities for students
across their schools. But this
year, COVID-19 has required
Hillel staff to reimagine the High
Holidays on campus.
“We’
ve never seen anything
like this — everything’
s different,
”
said Sam Appel, assistant director
of Hillel of Metro Detroit, which
serves Wayne State University
and five other schools in the
Detroit area. “Summers are pret-
ty slow for Hillel, but it’
s been
wild, rebuilding everything from
scratch. Nothing’
s the same any-
more, and the sooner we realize
that and lean into it, we can
make some really cool opportu-
nities.
”
Hillels have already been
through a virtual holiday season
when the start of the pandemic
interrupted Passover plans on
college campuses. Digital engage-
ment became key during the
spring, and they’
ll continue this
model into the fall, with activities
and programs that have usually
been held in person with big
groups now happening online
or outdoors in small groups.
At Hillel of Metro Detroit, this
might look like a virtual tashlich
meditation event or a traveling
pop-up sukkah.
“The idea we’
re talking about
now is we’
ll drop off a sukkah
and a bunch of signs that cele-
brate Sukkot at someone’
s house,
and then they’
ll tell us whose
house it goes to next,
” Appel said.
“They’
ll have an opportunity to
eat a snack in the sukkah and
to do the prayer, and we’
ll help
them and teach them that pro-
cess if they’
d like to know.
”
Hillel at the University of
Michigan plans to make use of
the warm weather at the start
of the school year. Their high
holiday programing will include
meditative walks in the univer-
sity’
s arboretum, community
service activities and “reverse
tashlich” where students help
clean up the Huron River.
“We’
re also hearing that our
students are craving connection,
but nervous about group size and
restrictions, so when we tell them
that we’
re offering programming
that is highly controlled by RSVP
to maintain safety or will be done
virtually online, they seem both
relieved and excited to partici-
pate,
” said Director Tilly Shemer.
At Michigan State University,
tashlich is the one activity that
will be held in person, with
social distancing in effect. But
“I’
m also going to do an online
version of that, because there’
s so
many people who are off campus
who might not be near a body of
water or just want that program-
ming online,
” said Rabbi Jenna
Turow, the new rabbi at MSU
Hillel.
ONLINE PRAYER
Virtual programing will extend
to High Holiday services, too.
This fall, MSU and University of
Michigan Hillels will broadcast
their services online. University
of Michigan’
s Hillel will also
focus on empowering students
to host their own small gather-
ings to observe the holidays, and
they’
re waiting until school is
in session to determine wheth-
er their services will have any
in-person component, said
Shemer.
“That might look like students
being trained to lead part of the
service in their own home with
a small group,
” Shemer told the
Jewish News.
At MSU, Turow thinks the
switch to virtual might allow
more students to participate in
Hillel’
s high holidays program-
ming. MSU Hillel runs Hillel
Campus Alliance of Michigan,
which provides Jewish program-
ming to universities outside of
Southeast Michigan.
“That’
s actually kind of the
cool thing about it being online
is that students at other cam-
puses can all come to services
because it’
s available to them,
”
Turow said. “Otherwise, it’
s just
me — I’
m the only one — so I
would not have gotten to do ser-
vices for all the schools.
”
Turow, who just began at MSU
Hillel this summer, said she’
s
curious to see if participation in
Hillel services increases among
MSU students, too. Many Jewish
students who stay in Michigan
for college decide to go home
for the High Holidays in normal
years, but the ongoing pandemic
makes going home for anything
more complicated these days.
“From what I’
ve heard, for
the most part, students at MSU
would generally go home for
holidays, and it’
s not that big of
a group” at Hillel, she said. “I’
m
curious to see if there are going
to be more people attending
because it’
s available online.
”
Allison Bloomberg, a senior
at the University of Michigan
and member of the Hillel
International
Student Cabinet, is
going to stay in Ann
Arbor for the High
Holidays this year.
She might go home
to West Bloomfield
for the afternoon
to pick up some of the food her
mom is cooking for the holidays,
she said, but she won’
t stay the
night.
“This year, I’
m not going
home, but it’
s only because of
COVID. I don’
t want to expose
my family to whatever I’
ve may
or may not have,
” Bloomberg
said. “
And also, because the ser-
vices are going to be on Zoom
anyway, I don’
t really see a point
in going home.
”
Bloomberg, whose fam-
ily belongs to Adat Shalom
Synagogue in Farmington Hills,
plans to watch the service with
a roommate who also grew up
going there. She and her room-
mates will hold a break-fast din-
ner for Yom Kippur — though
it’
ll most likely just be for the six
of them, she said.
One big plus about every-
thing being online this year is
that schedules are more flexible
now, Bloomberg said. In years
past, she’
s decided to stay in Ann
Arbor for the holidays anyway
because she didn’
t want to miss
important lectures.
As Bloomberg put it, “there’
s
not going to be as big of a con-
flict with classes now that every-
thing’
s online!”
Virtual High Holidays
Come to Campus
College Hillels across Michigan
plan online and outdoor activities.
MAYA GOLDMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Rosh Hashanah 5781
WIKIPEDIA
Allison
Bloomberg
“We’ve never seen anything like
this — everything’s diff
erent.”
— SAM APPEL OF HILLEL OF METRO DETROIT
University of
Michigan Hillel