Students flock to observe Shabbat

Fifteen hundred legs of chicken, 16 cases of kugel and mountains of salad were consumed at a campus-wide Shabbat celebration on Friday. Over 1,600 people attended the ceremonial dinners organized through the program "Shabbat Across Penn."

The event was organized by the Jewish Heritage Program, which sponsored 65 dinners located throughout Penn's campus, varying in size from five to 100 participants. Groups including college houses, the men's rugby team and societies affiliated with the Law and Medical schools took part in the program.

In addition, because the event was part of Greek Week, the dinners were attended by large numbers of fraternity and sorority members. Some Greek houses even hosted dinners.

"Since Greek Week coincided with Shabbat Across Penn, we wanted to incorporate both events and increase overall participation," said Wharton sophomore Seth Cohen, a member of the JHP and executive vice president of the InterFraternity Council. "The dinners included 885 people from the Greek system."

Shabbat Across Penn took weeks to organize and included not only donations of time and supplies, but also special orientation training sessions.

These "How-to Shabbat Dinners" explained the meanings behind the food, prayers and rituals in order to instruct members of the Jewish community on how to properly conduct the ceremony.

JHP provided the staple dishes for the dinners, including chicken, challah, kugel, grape juice, salad and soda. Different Shabbat dinners were then personalized by their leaders through the preparation of hors d'oeuvres and desserts from family recipes.

"The event was really gratifying to see," JHP Executive Director Rabbi Menachem Schmidt said. "Besides enjoying the food, we are able to communicate the importance of the community and traditions."

Since the creation of Shabbat Across Penn in spring of 2000, participation has greatly increased. The first program-sponsored observance included 975 students in 45 different locations. Since then, attendance has reached such a level that local bakeries can no longer handle the orders for challah. This semester, the ceremonial bread had to be ordered and brought in from New York.

According to participants, the event serves to strengthen the ties within the Jewish community and allows students to celebrate traditional holidays while away from home.

"Shabbat dinner is my favorite event in JHP," College senior Erica Keenholtz said. "I typically have 25 to 30 people at my apartment. We bring the food and cook the meal ourselves."

Each dinner allows both Jewish and non-Jewish students to be exposed to the traditions and observances of the religion.

"Our old group of people always returns both to welcome and educate the new members," said Keenholtz, a JHP social committee member.

Through the event, JHP hopes to demonstrate itself as a resource for students within the Penn community, recruit new members for the organization and provide cultural education -- in the form of food.

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