Hundreds attend Shabbat dinners

Transcending lines of religion, race and ethnicity, more than 750 members of the Penn community united last Friday to share in the spirit of the Jewish Sabbath as part of the annual Shabbat Across Penn Program.

The program, which was sponsored by Hillel, coordinated a number of Sabbath dinners all across campus in an effort to get as many Penn students to celebrate Shabbat as possible. In total, nearly four times as many people partook in Shabbat activities last Friday than on any other given Friday night, according to organizers.

To achieve this goal, the event's planners organized several dinners for anywhere between 10 and 85 people, which were hosted by a diverse group of both individual students and student organizations ranging from Greek houses to Penn Dance to several college houses to Hillel itself. Hosts were able to pick up the complimentary dinners from the Steinhardt's kosher dining hall.

And although there was certainly a religious component involved, this type of diverse participation was one of the principal goals of the event, which was ultimately designed to unite all types of students.

"Shabbat Across Penn brought together a lot of people that wouldn't have normally celebrated Shabbat dinner with those who would have and exposed people who aren't Jewish to the concept of celebrating Shabbat," said Shabbat Across Penn Co-Chairwoman and College junior Laura Ainsman. "It united them all and showed them that they had something in common."

Organizers enthusiastically welcomed participation from all members of the community, in particular targeting those who would not normally attend a Shabbat dinner.

"Our goal was to get the people who don't normally show up at Hillel every week to participate," said Hillel Shabbat Coordinator and College junior Jonah Rubin. "The Jewish community is not just centered around Hillel -- it exists across campus, and the event did a really good job of getting these people involved and getting them to participate."

In addition to offering a free meal to participants, the goal of bringing religion to the maximum number of people was carried out through a number of educational techniques, such as the Shabbat Notes prayer pamphlets. A spinoff on Cliff's Notes, the pamphlets contained basic Sabbath prayers and were designed to bring a religious component to the meal for students with limited knowledge of Sabbath prayers and traditions.

"Things like the Shabbat Notes were great," said College freshman Kate Wallis, who attended the dinner in the Quadrangle. "I wouldn't have celebrated Shabbat normally, but I decided to go because they made it so easy to go to dinner and to learn about Shabbat."

By making the celebration of Shabbat so accessible, organizers said that they were pleased with Friday's turnout.

"Shabbat Across Penn is a really fun and easy way for people to get involved," said Shabbat Across Penn Co-Chairwoman and College sophomore Dvora Wilensky. "The huge community response was evident in the number of people who participated, and it was really great to see so many members of the community united around Shabbat."

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.