Sukkot at Hofstra

Wednesday October 12, 2011 the Dean of Students area and Office of Student Leadership and Activities were invited to join Rabbi Dave and Rabbi Meir in the sukkah located outside of the Student Center. We enjoyed conversation, bagels and a few moments out of our day to learn about one of the major festivals in the Jewish calendar. I was not raised in the Jewish faith so this gave me, and many of the OSLA staff, the opportunity to learn about an important part of the Jewish faith and the history of celebration. As we learned in the Hofstra Hillel handout about Sukkot, "The name "sukkah" means "temporary hut" or "booth", referring ot the temporary dwellings the Jewish people lived in during their 40 years of wandering in the desert following the Exodus from Egypt. By re-enacting their life in flimsy huts, we have a heightened awareness of major themes of the holiday: our lives are fragile, G-d is the source of our blessings , and we must be grateful for those blessings."
What an amazing way to remind myself and the staff that we are in an educational institution and the more we can become aware about each other and our students' lives the more effective we are in our positions.

We hope you get the opportunity to stop by the sukkah (in Hofstra blue and gold) located outside the student center closest to Alliance Hall (North Campus) or read more on facebook.com/hofstrahillel to learn about events occuring for Sukkot through October 20th!