Joining Hillel

 I’ve joined a Jewish organization at school, Hillel! They are very nice and welcoming! I honestly have never met a nicer group at school.

So, I first registered for an event they were hosting, a talk by a Holocaust survivor. The story was very moving, I’ve never heard an account in person like that. When it ended, I approached someone—the same person who introduced the speaker and ended the event—and told them I was interested in joining Hillel. They asked me for my details and also asked me if I was Jewish. I said “not exactly,” I mean, I’m a Jew-to-be, so I told them that I am converting to Judaism. And later that evening I received an email confirming my membership!

And, I just want to underscore that joining a club in person like that was a monumental step coming from me. Talking to someone new is something that I find very difficult, but this time I could actually do it! I really wanted to join, and I guess that helped me.

Since then, I have attended more events from Hillel. My second event was a talk by a Palestinian advocate. I really wanted to attend this one and hear the perspective and thoughts of someone who is from Palestine.

When I arrived at school, I noticed they had changed the venue. The event was going to happen in the Student Center, in a very small conference room. The venue was now across the road, in University Hall, the biggest building on campus, and at the very top floor. I took the elevator to the seventh floor and when the doors opened I was welcomed by countless police officers. I was a bit scared and didn’t know where to walk, but one of the officers told me to go down the hallway. There was a big line; people had to check in before going into the conference hall. Many people didn’t register beforehand and they were backing up the line.

When I finally walked in, I first looked out the windows. The view was incredible; campus is already on top of a hill, and I was in the tallest building. We were facing the opposite direction from New York City though, so that was a shame.

Walking further into the hall I found two sides of the room to sit at. On the left side people seemed to be students, and on the right teachers and other visitors. The left side, however, was already pretty cramped, so I decided to sit at the far right of the hall.

Then, just minutes after the event had started, most people sitting on the left side of the room stood up at once. They shouted something in a foreign language and left. It was scary, police didn’t do anything. The speaker kept talking all throughout.

Just think about it for a moment, the Palestinian speaker is here sharing his opinion on how to solve the conflict in Israel, and those people, claiming to support a ‘free Palestine’ do something like that; to an actual Palestinian! Anyway, the speaker also mocked the situation.

Afterward, when people were asking questions, someone in the row behind me started talking. He claimed to be an English teacher at the university. He was just reading from a paper and never asked a question; he was rambling on about some statistics. His question was more like a statement justifying the actions by Hamas and people started getting mad. Someone asked him loudly: “Sir, what’s your question?" Before soon, everyone was shouting and telling him to shut up. Even the speaker—still holding the microphone—shouted at him, telling him to sit down and shut up. Police came in this time and dragged him out of the room.

I was very overwhelmed by the noise. I get a weird response when people shout at each other. I cried a bit, but it was not too bad. I managed to calm down and the event ended quite happily, despite those incidents.

I greeted the person I had approached to join Hillel and offered to help clean up but there was nothing to clean, so they just thanked me. They told me we were going to have a planting event for Tu BiShevat and I told them I would attend.

I later realized that I had class at the exact time of the Tu BiShevat event, so that day I arrived earlier to school and went to to venue of the event to at least help set up things. I met the same person again who signed me up to Hillel and told them I might just make it to the event after class. And I did, most people had already left, but some hadn’t. I started talking to someone while I decorated my pot. I’m so glad to be meeting some Jewish peers!

I wrote ‘טו בשבט’ on my pot and drew a little tree. They had some seeds left over, so I selected Spearmint because I was told the plant smells very nice. So now I’m waiting for the seeds to grow.

It’s been great being part of the Jewish community at school, everyone is really kind; even though I’m a bit awkward, they are respectful.

I’m looking forward to more Hillel events. Next Friday we are having a Shabbat dinner, and later we are baking some Hamantaschen for Purim!