St. Louis Hillel Brings Local
Flavor to High Holiday Services

As always, St. Louis Hillel has arranged for High Holidays services, meals and programs on the Washington University campus for Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur.  But a few changes are happening to bring a different feel to the holidays this year.  Reform and Conservative Services, led by students and local Rabbis, will feature talks on Jewish identity and community service from some of Washington University’s Jewish faculty and administrators.  Students will have the chance to join local families for meals and services or receive a Rosh HaShanah In-a-box and Shabbat In-a-box package for student led meals.

At services this year, members of Washington University’s Faculty and Administration will be delivering sermons and introductions to Torah readings.  Students will also be preparing many of the introductions to the Torah and Haftarah readings.

At the first day Rosh HaShanah morning Conservative service, musicologist and concert pianist Assaf Shelleg, the new visiting Israeli professor at Washington University, will speak on Jewish Identity, Music and Liturgy of the High Holidays.  At the first day Reform Morning service, Henry Webber, Executive Vice-Chancellor for Administration at Washington University will speak.  At the second day Rosh HaShanah Conservative morning service, Nancy Berg, Professor of Modern Hebrew Language and Literature, will introduce the morning’s Torah reading.

At the Reform Kol Nidre Service, Stephanie Kurtzman, Director of the Community Service Office and Assistant Director of the Gephardt Institute for Public Policy, will speak on Seeing Holiness through the Eyes of a Child.  At the Conservative Kol Nidre Service, Michael Landy, Executive Director of St. Louis Hillel, will speak on Making Choices with Too Much Information.
 
At the Yom Kippur Morning Reform Service, Risa Zwerling who is currently a 4 year advisor and is married to Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton will give the sermon. Ms. Zwerling, who founded and runs a program called Home Plate, where Washington University students are matched with local families for home cooked meals and a touch of home, will speak on Welcome to our House…Can I wash your feet? At the Yom Kippur Morning Conservative Services, Rabbi Allen Selis, the Headmaster of the Solomon Schechter Day School of St. Louis will speak on Appetite for a Healthy Planet.

Hillel has arranged Reform services to be held at the May Auditorium in Simon Hall, home of the Olin Business School on the Washington University campus. Reform services on Rosh HaShanah will be on Friday, September 18 at 6:45 pm and Saturday, September 19 at 10 am. Yom Kippur Services will be Sunday, September 27 at 6:30 pm, Monday, September 28 at 10 am and at 5:45 pm for the concluding Neilah Service, held at Hillel. Rabbi Dale Schreiber, Jewish chaplain at Barnes Jewish Hospital for the past seven years and an active member of Central Reform Congregation since coming to St. Louis, will be the guest Rabbi for the Reform service.  She is working with Reform Chavurah Chair, Ally Resnik, a sophomore from Arizona in planning the services and inviting students to participate.

Hillel’s Conservative High Holiday services for Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur will be held at the Alvin and Jeanette Goldfarb Hillel Building, 6300 Forsyth Blvd at the Washington University campus. Conservative services on Rosh HaShanah will be on Friday evening, September 18 at 6:30 pm and Saturday and Sunday mornings, September 19 and 20 at 9:30 am.  Saturday evening Services will be at 7:00 pm.

Yom Kippur Services will be Sunday, September 27 at 6:30 pm, Monday, September 28 at 9:30 am and at 5:45 pm for the concluding Neilah service.  Rabbi Allen Selis, is the guest Rabbi for the Conservative service.  He is working with Conservative Minyan chair Joshua Goldman, a Junior from Connecticut, in planning the services and inviting students to participate.

Students and community members can sign up for Kosher dinners and lunches for Rosh HaShanah and a pre-Yom Kippur meal that are all arranged by Hillel and prepared by the University’s Kosher Kitchen in Hillel.  Reservations can be made by calling University Dining at 314-935-7098.  Students can also sign up to be placed in Home Hospitality with a local family.  Families interested in hosting students can contact Hillel at 314-935-9040.  Many students who participate in these Home Hospitality meals build relationships with their hosts and return for other holidays, like Passover and for following years while at WashU and other local campuses.

Hillel is encouraging students who would like to gather as a group of friends to make a meal for Rosh HaShanah together.  With a Rosh HaShanah In-a-box kit, students receive apples and honey for ten people along with a booklet of prayers for the meal.  A Shabbat In-a-box, available each week, includes challah, grape juice, candles and Shabbat prayers.  Students can sign-up for these kits at Hillel and on its website.  Over 550 students were at Seders that used a Seder in-a-box kit last Spring.  This year, students will receive the kit in boxes donated and specially printed for St. Louis Hillel by Build-a-Bear Workshop.

All Hillel services are open and free to the public.  Hillel welcomes donations to support these services and programs.  Hillel has limited parking during the High Holidays. Parking information at Washington University can be found by calling the parking office at 314-935-5601.

For more about Hillel's schedule, see here.

For more information on St. Louis Hillel, High Holiday programs and schedules and other events, please call 314-935-9040, email hillel@stlouishillel.org or go to www.stlouishillel.org. 

St. Louis Hillel seeks to enrich the lives of Jewish undergraduate and graduate students so they may enrich the Jewish people and the world.  Hillel strives to help students create an enduring commitment to Jewish life through meaningful Jewish experiences that are relevant to them today and that they will remember into the future.