Last Monday, September 14, several students hosted Minerva’s first Rosh Hashanah supper in the dining room of the Residence Hall. Inaugural Class student Dana Amir organized the event: “I wanted to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, and figured it would be a great opportunity to share with the Minerva community. I thought it would be quite intimate and that about twenty people would want to join, and could never have imagined it would grow into a seventy guests' event, with high logistics and two days of massive cooking.” Students Roiman, Ben Imadali, Mai Amit, Omer Ben-Ami, Guy Davidson, Devora Klionsky, and many others, including unexpected volunteers, spent two days cooking, decorating and preparing in the dining hall. “I feel so grateful for this experience. This opportunity showed me, and everyone, how collaborative, supportive and respectful our community is, and this is only week two at Minerva! I hope this event also gave some inspiration for more students from other cultures to share their traditional costumes, and give us a glimpse of their world.”
Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is celebrated every fall. “Rosh Hashanah” means “Head of the Year”. The holiday is filled with symbols meant to reflect what is expected of the new year. Key symbols include the shofar, a ram’s horn which is blown as a trumpet in specific patterns to call for people to repent their sins of the past year, and apples dipped in honey which represent the desire for a sweet year ahead.
Despite Rosh Hashanah being a Jewish holiday, the Minerva celebration displayed the ethnic diversity of the student body with approximately seventy students of different heritages attending the meal. For many it was the first Jewish tradition they had experienced. Inaugural Class student Dylan Neff said about his first time celebrating Rosh Hashanah “It was great to learn about another culture and experience different ways of celebrating. I really enjoyed it.”
More than seventy students attended the dinner, as Dana Amir explains some of the rituals of the night
Photo by: Omer Ben-Ami