Students, community members gathered for evening of solidarity
With the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, and the subsequent anti-semitic graffiti in a Brooklyn synagogue a few days later, this week has marked a tremendously hard time for members of the global Jewish community.
In response to the initial incident, on Nov. 2, Jewish students and allies gathered at Happy Goat Coffee Co. for a Shabbat dinner, hosted by Hillel Ottawa, for an evening of community, remembrance, and gratitude.
Hillel Ottawa is a city-wide organization that seeks to promote Jewish culture and community, and has two separate subsections—Hillel UOttawa and Hillel Carleton—that are both clubs on their respective campuses.
The evening’s events, which began at 7 p.m., had around 100 attendees including students taking a Jewish cultural class in Carleton, Jewish students from both university organizations, and other community members wanting to voice their support.
Dovi Chein, a U of O alumnus, and the executive director of Hillel Ottawa, told the Fulcrum that he expected the night to be different from the regular dinners which they hold every month to foster Jewish culture across Ottawa’s university campuses.
“I didn’t realize the full extent for how traumatic this is for students until I met students the next day (after the shooting), and I’ve never seen such sadness for something that didn’t happen to them directly,” he explained. “Friday night will be a dinner that I think will catalyse a lot of unity and a lot of deep meaningful relationships.”
Shabbat is a weekly religious observance where, beginning at sundown on Friday and lasting for 25 hours, orthodox Jews refrain from technology and take a day of rest. While Hillel Ottawa organized their event to accommodate religious adherents, there were many attendees who came for the cultural aspect, and to be with community.
“We decided that we wanted to bring all Jews together because a lot of people felt like they wanted to do something—like they wanted to be with their brothers and sisters,” explained Jordan Wise, a fourth-year management student at the U of O, and the VP for Hillel UOttawa. “There’s 11 people who aren’t with their friends (and) family, so we wanted to be together.”
The evening began with a dinner, followed by a brief prayer, and singing. After everyone had finished eating, members of Hillel Ottawa, and other supporters, gave speeches about their feelings about the events in Pittsburgh—and what it meant to be Jewish in Ottawa.
Speeches ranged from organizers’ childhood memories to the pride, and fear, that students’ feel when wearing their kippahs—religious skullcaps that denote faith for practitioners of orthodox Judaism.
“Shabbat is supposed to represent a day of peace and rest,” Lindsay Eiley, a fourth-year business student at the U of O and the president of Hillel Ottawa told the Fulcrum before the dinner. “Last Saturday, that peace was ripped away from all of us, so of course this Shabbat will feel different and so will every Shabbat after that.”
Indeed, Eiley explained that Hillel Ottawa was not alone in trying to promote solidarity through Shabbat dinners.
“There is a hashtag being spread on social media this week—#showupforshabbat—to encourage people who wouldn’t usually go to synagogue to come in solidarity.”
While the evening featured many moments of heart-wrenching sadness and speeches, many people managed to remain happy during the dinner as they laughed and enjoyed one another’s comradery.
“Despite (the weekend’s events), I continue to feel nothing but proud and grateful to be Jewish,” explained Eiley, “and I will never hide that no matter what kind of target it puts on my back.”
