This week students go back to teachers, homework and lectures. But for the Jewish students on campus, it is also a time for reflection and repentance.
Jews around the world are celebrating the High Holy Days, which began with Rosh Hashanah on Sept. 17 and will conclude with Yom Kippur on Thursday. Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is celebrated with services at synagogues across the country.
To celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the campus Jewish organization Oregon Hillel and the local synagogue Temple Beth Israel held services for its congregation, the nearly 1,200 Jewish students on campus and their parents last week, according to Hillel administrator Dawn Meckelson. Hillel will have morning and evening services for Yom Kippur on Thursday at Gerlinger Hall.
“Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are the most important Jewish holidays,” Meckelson said.
Meckelson added that because these services are specifically a Hillel affair, Eric Rosin, a student rabbi from California, will lead them.
“He is not a rabbi yet, and he is still more in the community with college-age students,” Meckelson said. “Those students are really going to be able to participate with the student rabbi and make it a service for them.”
Students will also read sections from the Torah and possibly perform the traditional opening prayer chant, Kol Nidre, as a part of the service.
“The Torah-reading portion and the singing portion are really important parts to the service and they are a great honor for anyone to perform,” Meckelson said. “So it is a big event for those students that are going to be doing it.” Hillel Director Hal Applebaum said Yom Kippur is the “Day of Atonement,” and Jewish people spend it by fasting and asking for God’s forgiveness.
Applebaum added that the High Holy Days include 10 days of repentance, during which Jewish people are supposed to ask God’s forgiveness for things they have done.
“During the period of 10 days, that is the time you are supposed to go around and make good with people and say, ‘I apologize if I’ve offended or hurt you in the past year,’ whether you did by accident or on purpose,” Applebaum said.
The days of repentance conclude with Yom Kippur, which is a fasting day and the holiest day or solemn day, Applebaum said. People begin fasting the night before Yom Kippur, at sundown, and continue until sundown on Yom Kippur. People not only stop eating during that time, but they also do not drink anything, including water.
“Fasting is not too bad, but the not drinking is,” Applebaum said. “Really religious Jews won’t brush their teeth because a speck of toothpaste might make its way down. They are very cautious about that stuff.”
Troy Grudin is one student who does fast, but admits that he doesn’t participate in the repentance during the 10 days. Instead, he tries to solve the problem before it happens.
“I don’t walk on eggshells, but I try not to put myself in the position where I offend someone,” Grudin said. “I try to solve the transgression at the time it happens.”
Those interested in attending the services on Yom Kippur can get tickets at Hillel during general office hours between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. this week. Space is available for 185 people at each service, and the group will accept voluntary donations.