As students in the University of Kansas Jewish community begin to head home for the semester, KU Hillel is reflecting on its first full semester since the onset of COVID-19.
Being such an unusual semester, the KU Hillel team worked with the changing guidelines as they were announced and kept their students safe.
“This semester was definitely challenging and not easy to do our work with so much unknown,” said Ira Kirschner, KU Hillel assistant director. “Ultimately, this new reality became normal, and we focused on our mission of supporting our Jewish students.”
Despite working with many unknowns, KU Hillel was still able to create interesting events for students. For much of the semester, Shabbats and other programs were able to be held outside, allowing the community to come together at the end of a long school week. This was especially great for those who had spent much of their week on Zoom classes.
There were wonderful bagel brunches at Potter Lake, which is on campus and easily accessible to KU students, and a variety of events including kickball, yoga and ice cream socials at nearby parks. KU Hillel also had successful holiday events for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
“The High Holidays are so important to our students and many were unable to travel home for them, so we provided an outdoor Rosh Hashanah service led by student song leaders and Rabbi Neal Schuster,” Kirschner said. “After services, we provided to-go dinners as well as picnic blankets for students to gather at least six feet apart and eat outside.”
With a forecast for rain, Kol Nidre services for Yom Kippur were moved inside and students enjoyed picking up their pre-fast dinner and hopping onto Zoom breakout rooms to socialize before services.
The success of KU Hillel’s programming came from its students. Kirschner attributed a lot of the programming and planning to the KU Hillel interns, as well as other students involved in Hillel. Further, he commended all students who attended events, interacted on campus and reached out to KU Hillel for help.
“Students wanted to get more involved and were craving this community,” he explained.
Along with outdoor programming, KU Hillel had success with online programming. Their marquee event, Rock Chalk Shabbat, shifted to a virtual format this semester and incurred even more success than in previous years.
“Our students loved being together virtually, and many invited their families to join them, too,” said Savannah Kannberg, KU Hillel Development & Marketing director. “We had students’ parents joining in from their hometowns, which was such a wonderful way to share what we had been up to this year.”
As the fall semester wraps up, and KU Hillel’s staff begins planning for the spring, they will keep in mind the similar guidelines while ensuring their students are still staying connected within Lawrence’s Jewish community.
“We are thankful that we were still able to safely meet students in person, and we were proud to follow the guidelines,” Kirschner said. “We feel that we rose to the challenge of following the guidelines while providing a Jewish community and resources.”
KU Hillel will continue with programming through the long winter break — which goes until Feb. 1. The team is putting together interesting virtual options for students, from book clubs to learning fellowships on Jewish advocacy, as well as social options (including weekly drop-in times to hang out on Zoom and see each other).