By Brittany Stoner, The Collegian
More than 500 Penn State students and local Jewish community members came out of the rain Friday night to experience an atmosphere of warmth, camaraderie and Jewish culture.
The second annual Blue and White Shabbat was organized by the Chabad Jewish Student Center of Penn State and co-sponsored by several organizations including the Jewish group Penn State Hillel and six fraternities and sororities.
Shabbat, which is Hebrew for Sabbath, is intended to be a time to “sit down, relax and enjoy each other’s company,” said Michal Berns, the public relations chairwoman for the Shabbat and student board president for Hillel.
Rabbi Nosson Meretsky, from Chabad, led the dinner from a table on the stage in HUB Alumni Hall. In his welcome, he told guests this was a special time for having the Blue and White Shabbat, as it is the Jewish calendar year of Hakhel, or “Year of Gatherings.”
During past Hakhel years, “Jewish men, women and children would gather at the temple in Jerusalem from all over Israel to hear the king teach the Torah,” Meretsky said.
Meretsky performed traditional blessings over the food, including the kiddush, which declares Jews are “going from a mundane, secular day into a holy day,” he said. Diners also sang the traditional Jewish song “Shalom Aleichem.”
Robyn Scheck (freshman-division of undergraduate studies) attended the Jewish dinner with other members of her sorority, Alpha Sigma Alpha — one of the co-sponsors of the Shabbat dinner.
“It’s kind of like a little bit of home at school,” Scheck said.
As the dinner continued, table captains hurried back and forth ensuring their guests had enough food as the smells of chicken and noodle kugel — a traditional casserole- type dish — wafted through the hall.
Meretsky also visited the tables while passing out blessed challah bread.
The evening concluded with a speech by former NFL player Alan Veingrad, who spoke about his experiences as a Jew while playing for the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys.
While the majority of students attending the dinner were Jewish, the event was open to non-Jewish students as well and gave them a glimpse of Jewish culture and traditions.
“We have our arms open to anybody, whether you’re Jewish or non-Jewish,” Berns (sophomore-media law and policy) said.
One of the table captains, Benjy Lombard (sophomore-energy business and finance), said the event is interesting for non-Jewish people to see.
Mark Magnotta (junior-aerospace engineering) is not Jewish but heard about the event from a diversity program coordinator. He felt his fellow diners “were very welcoming to everyone. … They made me feel at home, like one big family.”
Brad Rothseid (freshman-division of undergraduate studies) said he hoped the event would show Jewish unity by bringing them all together.
“I get the feeling sometimes that there aren’t that many Jewish people here at Penn State,” he said.
Amy Lukin (senior-nutrition) said she hoped non-Jewish students would see how oriented Jewish students are in their culture and religion.
“We’re a religion and we want to express ourselves,” she said.
