Jewish Student Union/Hillel

Passover Seder registration is now live!

Follow these links to register yourself and guests for the First Night Seder, Second Night Seder, and a special Sunday Passover lunch on the beach.

Passover is rapidly approaching and JSU/Hillel will again be “home” to students during those eight days. Last year, JSU/Hillel provided a wonderful feast to more than 130 students attending the First Seder and provided breakfast, lunch, and dinner throughout the holiday – for free! This year, we expect to see record breaking numbers yet again at our Seders, and we plan to feed at least 60 students per meal.
Passover is always a special time at JSU/Hillel. Our building is filled with students and faculty throughout the week, eating, talking, studying, and interacting – everything that should happen at JSU/Hillel. As in years past, we look forward to providing students all Passover meals free of charge. However, this requires a significant amount of effort and funds. We are asking you to help make it possible for us to continue our tradition of providing meals at this time of year. Attached is a list of sponsorship opportunities for the Passover week. We hope that you will participate as best you can and take the opportunity to enhance Jewish life on campus. Any and all contributions are greatly appreciated.
Curious what Passover at JSU/Hillel is like? Check us out at jweekly.com  and YouTube.

To donate to provide Passover meals at the College of Charleston, visit this website: go.cofc.edu/passover

S.S. Solomons Scholarship: Established in 1957 by the estate of Zipporah M. Solomons, the S. S. Solomons Scholarship assists Jewish students at the College of Charleston with financial need. Four scholarships are awarded each year in the maximum amount of $2000. The scholarship is not automatically renewed each year.

You can find the application here: Solomons Scholarship for Fall 2012

Come hear Tizmoret from Queens College in New York perform with the Chucktown TrippinTones!

FREE concert Wednesday, January 18th at 7 pm in the Simons Recital Hall

Students participating in the Oxfam America Hunger Banquet

By Alex Hoff (’14)

Not even a single complaint was heard from the students sitting on the floor were given nothing but half a cup of white rice and a glass of water to eat at a dinnertime gathering labeled a “banquet.” These approximately 25 individuals were randomly chosen to represent the half of the world’s population that earns less than $986 per year and frequently goes hungry.

To the left of the students sitting on the floor were 11 students sitting at two tables, representing the world’s upper class, chowing down on fettuccini alfredo, an abundant salad, and sweet tea. To their right were approximately 25 students sitting at four tables, representing the world’s middle class, eating salad and drinking tea. Will Boyer, a junior at CofC, had only one word to describe his given upper class status: “gifted.”

More than 60 people came to Oxfam Hunger Banquet on November 16^th from 7-8 p.m. It was sponsored by the Jewish Student Union and the Center for Student Engagement. Oxfam is an international relief and development non-profit organization.

The goal in organizing the banquet was to simulate how poverty and hunger manifest themselves locally and globally, according to Sarah Steinberg, Jewish Student Union Social Action Co-chair and one of the co-chairs of the banquet. “This event is a metaphor for how food and other resources are inequitably distributed in the world,” Steinberg said.

As students arrived they were each given a random card with a first and last name written on the card. The card also contained a description of the individual’s background and his or her socio-economic class. Each student sat in the portion of the room designated for his or her socio-economic class.

Steinberg and the other co-chair of the banquet, Joanna Ginburg, welcomed the students. They defined each socio-economic class and described the typical lifestyle of afforded to people in each class.

Ginburg said that people’s lives often end up in cower through no fault of their own. She asked students from each class to stand as she read scenarios that altered their socio-economic positions. Two students standing in the middle class heard of how their land was taken by the government and they received no compensation.

“I invite both of you to make a place for yourself in the low-income group,” said Ginburg as two random students at the upper-income tables hesitantly moved to the floor.

While the students ate, Ron Pringle, the director of the Low Country Food Bank, discussed the problem of children going hungry in the Low Country.

“Fifty five thousand children, younger than you, are in the tri-county area alone, that are at risk of going hungry– living at or below poverty; that’s the reality,” Pringle said.

A short video montage was shown towards the end of the banquet. The video contained images of people in Third World countries.

Ellen Brandwein, a volunteer for the Jewish Student Union, said she was glad she came to the banquet. She learned of the benefit of such events.  “I’m glad to be here and to see that there are these programs that try and save people from hunger,” Brandwein said.

Paul Bradley, a senior at CofC, also learned a valid lesson from his perspective of the event in the lower class. “I think from this event we should take from it the fact that hungry people are around us, so don’t waste that food that you didn’t want,” Bradley said.

Though the event had a large number of guests and was executed without flaw, Mimi Lewis, a coordinator for the banquet, believes the success of the event can only be measured in the future.

“The thing about this sort of event is that the ultimate goal is that it moves people to action in some way,” Lewis said.

Thank you, Alex, for sharing this article!

For more information on Oxfam America, check out their website here.

Yesterday we had over 30 students from the Jewish Student Union/Hillel and the Black Student Union who traveled together to the Carolina Youth Development Center (CYDC) for a day of games, arts and crafts, and food! CYDC is a home for abused and neglected children in the Lowcountry, and an organization we have worked with for many years now.

Thanks to all our volunteers who made the day so special!

Special thanks to Andolini’s and Papa John’s for donating the pizza and to Jewish Studies and Gildan Clothing Warehouse for donating supplies for tie-dye.

Oxfam America Hunger Banquet: A Taste of World Hunger

This year, as part of the Center for Civic Engagement’s Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, we are hosting College of Charleston’s first ever Oxfam America Hunger Banquet!

A hunger banquet is an interactive and empowering event which simulates the world’s inequalities. Participants share a meal, discuss worldwide poverty, and learn more about local efforts to make a difference in the fight against hunger.  For more information about a Hunger Banquet, check out this website.

Admission is free. We encourage participants to bring 1-2 canned food items. This donation will go to the Lowcountry Food Bank to feed the poor and hungry of coastal South Carolina.

Students and community members can register for the banquet by clicking here or via the Facebook event.

Hope to see you there!