Approaching Passover, Hillel Members Reflect on School Year

In a year of challenges, joyful surprise, and growth, the Jewish student organization has met the needs of students and connected with the community.

This Friday, the Washington College Hillel chapter will host fellow students, faculty, staff, and members of the larger Chestertown community for a Seder, three days before the start of Passover to enable the outreach event without preventing anyone from celebrating with their families on the holiday. While the emphasis on sharing the ritual dinner and some of  its meaning— celebrating as a community, educating about Jewish culture and custom, and lifting the voices of all oppressed peoples—echoes last year’s Intersectional Seder, this year’s event will hew more closely to Jewish tradition, answering a desire from Hillel students during this extraordinary year.  

Early this academic year, Hillel was continuing its modest progress, tabling in Hodson Hall and sharing apples and honey for Rosh Hashanah, holding bagel brunches, and welcoming new members. 

Then Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7. The Israeli invasion of the Hamas-led Gaza Strip, antisemitic incidents, and fear and uncertainty all followed shortly afterwards, deepening a need for Jewish students on campus to simply be in community. 

“After the October 7 events, we did just open up the Hillel House, and more people than I expected took advantage of a safe space,” said math professor Gabe Feinberg, who advises Hillel with biology professor Aaron Krochmal. “I was a little surprised but really glad those people had a place to go and trusted us.” 

That trust has developed through the approach that Feinberg and Krochmal encourage and that the students in Hillel have fully embraced, one that emphasizes creating a welcoming space and responding to the needs of students.  

As a result, Hillel has attracted students who identify as culturally Jewish, as religiously Jewish, as spiritual but not religious, including students raised in traditions other than Judaism. There is no religious test to join Hillel. Instead the group seeks to cater to the needs of its members, religious, cultural, and otherwise. 

Skye Hass ’24 (they/them/their), the outgoing president of Hillel, said Hillel’s focus on what students want and need rather than following a strict plan has allowed them to learn about and embrace their heritage after growing up without a Jewish community.  

"I greatly enjoy all the cultural celebrations because that is what I was raised with,” Hass said. “Making latkes in the winter for Hanukkah, that's a very big joy for me because it's one thing that stayed throughout my entire life was making latkes with my mom. Being able to celebrate Hanukkah with community outside of just my mom has been extremely fulfilling.” 

Hanukkah this year was noteworthy not just for Hillel but for the entire Chestertown community. For the first time, Chestertown had a menorah downtown alongside other holiday displays in December, and scores of community members, students, faculty, and College administrators gathered for the lighting on the first night of Hanukkah. 

During the spring semester, Hillel has continued to offer bagel brunches about once a month when anyone on campus is invited for some food and conversation in Hillel House, and the Hillel membership has continued to hold Shabbat dinners about as often as well. Other than those formal events, Hillel members have embraced using the house simply to gather, enjoying movie nights or other more spontaneous moments, something Feinberg said he and Krochmal have been hoping to see develop since the spring of 2022 when they became the group’s advisors.  

In March, Hillel member Sara Sypolt ’26 led a workshop on “Mitigating Anti-Semitic (Micro)aggressions” with the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Team, for which she serves as a facilitator. Sypolt and other Hillel members helped to develop the workshop as a new module for the education-focused JEDI, and a cross-section of students, staff, and faculty attended the workshop at Hillel House, the first time it was offered. 

“We had a lot of people who were really receptive. We had good conversation about how antisemitism is perpetuated,” Sypolt said. “A lot of antisemitism is in microaggressions. We can disrupt it, and we should disrupt it as best we can.” 

Sypolt will also be presenting in Hillel House as this year’s winner of the Roy Ans Fellowship in Jewish-American Studies, which provides a $2,500 stipend for a sophomore or junior completing a research project related to the Jewish-American experience in any area of study offered by Washington College. Sypolt studied Jewish queer literature through an intersectional lens, and her presentation will share her findings of varied, unique experiences and the commonality those writers showed in their resilience in adapting to their religious and sexual identity.  Sypolt’s presentation begins at 4:30 on Wednesday, May 1, and all members of the campus community are invited to attend.  

Even with the Seder and Ans Fellowship presentations still to come to finish out the 2023-24 academic year, already Hillel’s advisors and students alike are looking ahead. Elections for next year’s officers illustrated how the organization has grown this year, as they were able to fill not only traditional board roles like president and vice president, but also elected chairs for religious events and for cultural events.  

Feinberg noted he is optimistic about Hillel’s future given the momentum with more students getting involved and embracing the organization and Hillel House. Incoming President Zoe Shevitz ’25 agreed that the increased membership and activity were encouraging this year and re-emphasized the focus on inclusivity as vital to Hillel’s identity. 

“We have really worked towards making Hillel a safe place for anyone and everyone to come. It's nice to see people want to learn about the Jewish religion and want to be involved in our holidays even if we’re just having dinner,” Shevitz said. “It’s a great thing to have people from all different backgrounds coming into Hillel. Everyone brings something different to Hillel. We’re all there to be a community. Seeing it grow this year was really important to me. I like to know that future students will have Hillel be a bigger part of campus.” 

— Mark Jolly-Van Bodegraven