On College Campuses, Purim Partying Begins Early This Year
This year, Purim falls out during Spring Break, when most college campuses are ghost towns. But Chabad reps have figured out a way to Purim Party with students all the same.
Counting down to spring break cheers sleep-deprived and paper swamped college students. But the timing of the vacation has some Chabad campus representatives pulling sleepless nights.
When the Jewish calendar plays catch up to realign its lunar cycle with the world’s solar cycle, as it does this year, the holiday of Purim leaps ahead by an entire 30 days. At campuses across the country, this means the holiday that has made Chabad centers’ reputation as an excellent place to celebrate being Jewish biggest happens during spring or term break, when the campus is a ghost town.
"It would be a shame for students to miss out on Purim because school is out,” said Rabbi Elazar Green, director of Chabad Jewish Enrichment Center serving Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, PA.Rabbi Green is less worried that the students won’t be around to party with Chabad than he is that they will miss out on connecting with the spiritual side of the holiday.
“For many the first time they hear about the existence of Purim is in college,” he said. Concerned that their enthusiasm for the holiday will slip away because of the vacation overlap, brought Rabbi Green new appreciation for the obscure holiday of Purim Kattan, literally, “little Purim.”
This holiday, celebrated this year on February 19, shows up only during Jewish leap years. He and co-director Shira Green are hosting an Israeli night for the students on Purim Kattan. Over a pita and falafel dinner, with Israeli pop blasting in the background, the students will make Purim food gift baskets, mishlaoch manot, for Israeli soldiers.
“It’s a way to do something meaningful for Israel and talk to students about what’s going on in a month from now so they should be aware of the holiday even though we will be on spring break,” Rabbi Green said.