MARCH 18 • 2021 | 19

H

illel of Metro Detroit, University 
of Michigan Hillel and Michigan 
State University Hillel are all pre-
paring for a second-year Passover under 
COVID restrictions, some in similar ways 
and some different from 2020.

HILLEL OF METRO DETROIT (HMD)
will be purchasing Friendseder kits from 
The Well for students free of charge. 
Additionally, prior to Passover, HMD will 
be hosting a virtual community “Chocolate 
Seder” on Wednesday, March 24. 
“We’re going to go through a Passover 
seder trivia-game style so that it’s an edu-
cation piece as well, and every piece of the 
seder will have something chocolate corre-
sponding with it,
” Brittany Begun, associate 
director of HMD, said. “Instead of an egg, 
you might have a chocolate egg. We’re try-
ing to find different things that correlate.
” 
HMD will also be making Passover bags, 
including “everything you would need to 
get through the week of Passover that we 
can provide for students,
” according to 
Begun, including matzah and other snacks. 
The bags are free, and there will be different 
pickup locations for them.

While they didn’t expect to celebrate 
Passover this way for a second year, HMD 
is still hoping to support their students 
through this as much as possible.
“Last year, there was so much unknown, 
we didn’t really know how we could provide 
things to our students or what it was going 
to look like,
” Begun said. “This year, we’re 
much more prepared, and students are 
taking an active role in planning all of these 
pieces and being a part of it.
” 
For questions, reach out to Begun at 
brittany@hillel-detroit.org. 

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN HILLEL
will be offering similar options, including 
the first night’s seder free for every student, 
with three ways to do that. Students can get 
individual take-out, get small group cater-
ing with roommates or they can cook their 
own meal and get reimbursed.
Rav Lisa Stella, director of religious life 
and education for U-M Hillel, is doing a 
Zoom seder in her home on the first night 
for anyone who wants to join. 
“We just want to make sure that nobody 
is alone on seder night,
” Stella said. “For 
Passover last year, students were mostly 

home. So, students who are staying on cam-
pus are actually experiencing Passover in 
this kind of a situation for the first time, and 
that’s really important for us to remember.
”
U-M Hillel is also having prep options, 
including virtual workshops for students 
who are running a seder for the first time. 
Additionally, U-M Hillel is putting 
together materials going into “swag bags” 
for students that sign up for the seder 
meal. The bag will include a seder plate 
puzzle (see photo), as well as anything 
students need for a seder experience like a 
Haggadah, candles and seder plate foods.
While the first night’s seder meal is free, 
U-M Hillel is also providing paid meals. 
People can pay for a meal for the second 
night’s seder and lunches and dinners 
through the rest of the holiday, though 
Shabbat dinner will be free, as usual. 
There will be three different pickups 
for the paid meals, with all forms on the 
U-M Hillel website. Reservations are 
being taken until capacity is reached, with 
prices being $22 for each meal. For whom 
the cost is prohibitive, they should get in 
touch with Stella at lstella@umich.edu. 
For further information, visit 
michiganhillel.org/passover.

MSU HILLEL is continuing to keep every-
thing COVID-safe, doing seder’s virtually 
on the first and second nights of Passover.
MSU Hillel will be offering free to-go 
meals for students for the two seders. 
Additionally, they’ll be offering a seder-
at-home option, reimbursing students for 
hosting on their own. 
Similar to U-M Hillel, MSU Hillel will 
be offering Passover dinner meals that are 
available for purchase by students, with a 
free Shabbat dinner. 
Nate Strauss, director of Jewish stu-
dent life for MSU Hillel, realizes this 
year is a completely different experience 
than last year, one of the reasons for that 
being how acclimated students have got-
ten to Zoom. 
“There’s been a change,
” Strauss said. 
“Zoom experiences used to be not super 
fun or not as engaging, but over the past 
couple months and definitely since the 
beginning of the summer, we’ve noticed 
that Zoom experiences are incredible, and 
there are really amazing things happening. 
We want to continue that for Passover.
”
For more information, you can visit 
msuhillel.org/passover. 

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

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Passover on Campus

Hillels plan for seders under COVID restrictions.

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

