Hillel seder creates home away from home for Jewish students

By Jennifer Silverman
Edited by Gina Vasselli
April 22, 2009

Two years ago, Hillel at the University of South Carolina began a tradition that has become one of the biggest events for the club each year - it's Passover seder.

The first Hillel Passover seder was held in 2007 in a private house where, as someone who was there put it, you couldn't run the air conditioning and the stove at the same time.

This year's seder was in a ballroom of the Russell House University Union with about 35 people.

The seder meal marks the beginning of Passover with a retelling of the story of Moses leading the Jewish people out of slavery in Egypt and an explanation of the seder plate. The plate is the centerpiece of the Passover table with six items used throughout the meal: a hard-boiled egg, horseradish, shank bone, charosets, greens, and matzah.

The egg represents the mourning of the destruction of the Holy Temple.
The horseradish represents the bitterness of being slaves in Egypt.
The shank bone represents God passing over the homes of Jews the night he killed the first-born children of Egyptians.
Charosets, a paste made with apples, wine, cinnamon and walnuts, represent human ability to build and make God's creations better.
The greens, usually parsley, are dipped in salt water to represent the slave's tears.
The matzah, unleavened bread, represents the quick escape the Jews had to make from Egypt.

Sophomore Abigail Magaro helped plan this year's April 9 event and sees Passover as the perfect time for everyone to get together, especially the students who can't make it home for a seder with their family.

Margo said she thinks it's good for college students to plan events independently of adults.

"If it's student led, the students get involved," Magaro said.

Hillel is one of two Jewish student organizations on the USC campus but for a long time was the only connection students had to a Jewish lifestyle. Tuesday night meetings have 10 to 15 people.

Before the student-led seder began, groups of two or three Hillel members had celebrated in the homes of Columbia Jewish community members.

In spring 2007, the executive board decided to do something together instead of dispersing students throughout the community, said Jackie Daitchman, president of Hillel at the time.

Hillel's first seder was in the home of Justin Young, a USC graduate who volunteered his house after the plans for the original location, a place no one now remembers, fell through at the last minute.

Daitchman described that event as "chaotic."

"The space was small and we were squished in, also the kitchen was pretty small; but in the end it worked out pretty well," Daitchman said. "Lots showed up who didn't RSVP; it wasn't the most organized, but it got done."

Last year, the seder remained off campus but was catered. Hillel charged $5 to pay for the caterers.

This year Hillel budgeted $1,500 and didn't charge students, but it did ask them to bring canned goods for the Harvest Hope food bank.

Junior Amanda Osofsky, the newly elected Hillel president who has attended all three Hillel seders, said the student-led seder creates the feeling of family for students who may not feel comfortable attending a seder in the home of someone they don't know. "I think it's important that students have the opportunity to celebrate Passover in a way that's really comfortable for them," Osofsky said. "I also think it's really important to celebrate Passover with your peers and to be able to celebrate with the people that you go to school with. It provides a low-key environment for everybody that's a lot of fun."

David Reisman, the new Hillel adviser, and his daughter, Lee, attended the Hillel seder for the first time this year.

Reisman, a biology professor, said having the students plan and lead the seder with minimal help from him gives them a sense of ownership.

"When people actually build it themselves, there is a feeling of community that comes from that," Reisman said.