Two Passover Seders were held Monday night at the University of Tampa.
Passover is a reminder and celebration of the Jewish people’s escape from enslavement in Egypt thousands of years ago.
The Seder, a kind of ritual feast, is held to mark the beginning of Passover.
The UT chapter of Hillel held its first-ever Seder at 6:30 p.m. in the Plant Hall Music Room.
One hundred and two guests attended for a night of prayer, song and a traditional Passover meal.
Attendees included students from Hillel chapters of various regional colleges, including Eckerd, USF and New College.
Food was brought in from Lynn’s Catering of Tampa, Inc.
A separate, smaller Seder was held at 7:30 p.m. in the Brevard community room.
This celebration was hosted by the UT Chabad and organized by Rabbi Levi Rivkin and his wife Chana Rivkin.
This was the Chabad’s fourth annual campus Seder.
Louis Gold, UT Hillel chapter president, organized the Hillel celebration and Rabbi Ed Rosenthal of Suncoast Hillel led the Seder.
Gold said he plans for UT to host another Hillel Seder next year as well as additional Hillel events.
His goal for next semester includes hosting three Shabbat dinners each month plus one activity per month.
“Our goal is to expand Hillel at UT,” Gold said. “The main objective is to have Jewish students identify with Jewish culture, and to bring Jewish students together in a social setting.”
I hope there were security officers or TPD officers there checking IDs, a list turned in of ages and attendees 24 hours in advance, and C.A.R.E. monitors as well. I see a student not wearing a wristband saying she’s 21 years of age possessing alcohol. Tsk tsk, Hillel. You’re going to have to put on an alcohol-awareness seminar and clean my office next week.