High Holidays

To ring in the New Year, we will be having something of a “Rush Hashanah”
celebration this Sunday, the 2nd of October at the Sloss House on campus from 5:00 to 7:30 p.m. We will have a main course of some sort provided, and we would ask that those in attendance bring something to share with the rest of the group. The main course at this time has not been determined but we will provide something satisfactory to the more restrictive dietary requirements of the group. Despite its being Kosher, Giraffe will not, in fact, be served. Although with a neck that size I would anticipate Kosher slaughtering would not be particularly tricky if we were to ship it off to the skilled hands of Postville. We will hopefully have good turnout, despite the late notice, so that we can discuss what we are all planning on doing for these holidays and how the organization of Hillel can best facilitate their being actuated. Contact friends and have them come along to compensate for the short preparatory time! We will also at this time try to collect information for carpooling for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services. Some of our membership would be more comfortable observing with the Ames Jewish Congregation, and others with the orthodox or conservative services in Des Moines. Given the restrictions on travel that the holiday will impose, people may need lodging if they are to observe in other cities, and hopefully we will be able to find some way to organize that for Yom Kippur. The rabbis of the congregations in Des Moines have shown a great amount of interest and volition in catering to the interested
I.S.U. Jewish population, so we should exploit that in ways that are mutually satisfactory. Finally we were hoping to again build a Sukkah somewhere on or near campus. This would provide a good opportunity to increase community awareness both individually with passersby, and perhaps through media outlets as well, since much of the journalistic coverage we have had this year has had to deal with somber and/or polarizing events. A Sukkah-building would presumably be a relatively neutral discussion point amongst ourselves (not building it under a tree this year to maintain Kosher) and amongst the community (what IS that thing?).
I hope to see or hear from as many of you as possible with our busy schedule of events over the next several weeks. Please contact us somehow-weather it be Evan at 563 542 7997 or
isuemj@iastate.edu or in the form of comments here on the website. Let us know where you want to go for services, if you need rides, if you are giving rides, what side dish you want to bring a side-dish to Sunday's dinner...