Students celebrate Passover

Jewish students celebrated the Passover holiday with Seder meals last weekend and with kosher for Passover meals the rest of the week.\nSeder meals, celebrated in observance of Passover, retell the story of Israel's exodus from Egypt and offer thanks for the freedom that followed. Many of the foods eaten during the meal symbolize a part of the story, according to www.passover.net. \nChroset (made from apples, nuts, cinnamon, Concord grape wine and sugar) symbolizes the mortar enslaved Israelites used to build the pyramids, the Web site said. \nMatzo, or unleavened bread, replaces breads that rise to remember that when the Jews left Egypt they did not have time to let their bread rise before making the journey, according to the Orthodox Union Web site, www.ou.org.\nFoods that meet the holiday's dietary restrictions can be found at the Helene G. Simon Hillel Center, 730 E. Third St., where many Jewish students eat during the eight-day holiday. \nThe Hillel Center celebrates two Seder meals the first two days of Passover and serves lunch and dinner the remaining six days.\nEggs, fruit slices, matzo, pears, potatoes and Gefilte fish (fish dumplings) are among the foods available. \nThe Hillel Center prepared for Passover by re-cleaning the kitchen and getting rid of all nonkosher for Passover foods. This traditional practice sets Passover apart from the rest of the year. \nSome of the foods will be distributed to food banks, while others will be sold to a non-Jewish neighbor for a dollar and re-purchased at the end of the holiday. Hillel sold some of its food to its cook, who is not Jewish. \nThis year there was also a special women's Seder, which connected the themes of exodus and freedom to women's issues.\nPassover is one of the most widely observed Jewish holidays, said Margo Hamburger, Hillel's outreach and public relations director. Whereas some holidays are observed by going to synagogues, she said, Passover is observed in the home, making it more accessible and a family holiday.\n"Not going home is like not going home for Thanksgiving," Hamburger said.\nFreshman Calli Schiller observed the Seder meals at the Hillel Center this year. She would have liked to go home, she said, but being from Texas, she didn't have the money this year.\nSchiller said she missed her father's cooking and leading the Seder meal with him. Shesaid she found celebrating the Seder here different because she used a different prayer book and was a participant instead of a leader. \nBut she said she finds celebrating on campus has helped her connect with other Jewish students.\n"Passover brings Jewish students together because Hillel is the only place you can get kosher food," Schiller said. \nShe has seen the same students many times at meals and had a chance to meet some new people.\nCelebrating the Seder with family makes it that much more special for freshman Matthew Schildkret, who went to New York to celebrate this year.\nHe spent time with his extended family and stocked up on Passover kosher foods, such as matzo pizza, to help him make it through the rest of the week at IU.\nIt's hard to get Passover foods in Bloomington, Schildkret said, but on the East Coast those foods are readily available.\nFor Hamburger, the food associated with the holiday shows being Jewish is cultural as well as religious. \n"Some students who eat kosher at Passover don't eat kosher the rest of the year. It's good because it makes them think about what it means to be Jewish for at least eight days," Hamburger said.