As rain poured down on Iowa crops, in a corner of the Johansen Student Center’s ballroom, refreshments sat on tables and a small group of students prepared to celebrate the harvest.
Drake Hillel hosted an event on Oct. 6 to celebrate Sukkot, a Jewish holiday that celebrates the harvest. Students were invited to come learn and celebrate the holiday.
Originally, the event was going to be hosted outside of Johansen Student Center on Sammons Plaza, but had to be moved inside due to rain.
“Sukkot is a harvest holiday,” said Scott Kruse, the social programming chair of Hillel. “We wanted to have the event outside, because during the harvest you’re supposed to be outside in a sukkah, where you can see the stars through the roof. We wanted it outside under the lights [of Sammons Plaza] to represent that.”
At the event, Hillel provided snacks like cheese, crackers, zucchini and pumpkin muffins, fruit trays and lemonade.
“We just came off the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, so with this, we just decided we were going to have some snacks, and just have a chill, laid-back kind of event for Sukkot,” Kruse said.
According to Kruse, Sukkot is “one of the fun holidays,” where Jewish people share meals under a sukkah, a temporary shelter built specifically for the Sukkot holiday.
There were about nine people in attendance.
“We think the turnout for the event was lower because of the rain,” said Lauren Dragon, president of Hillel. “People really don’t like to be out when it’s raining.”
For the rest of the semester, Dragon believes that Hillel’s upcoming events will have higher attendance.
“A lot of the Jewish holidays are actually over, so we are going to have a lot of fun events,” Dragon said. “We have craft nights and a Just Dance event coming up. We get bagels sometimes. I think those events are the best ones, because if you aren’t religious, you can just come to the event and not have any pressure.”
Macy Gardner, the vice president of Hillel, and Kruse explained one of the traditions of Sukkot, the shaking of a plush version of the lulav and a fabric version of the etrog, a yellow-green lemon-sized fruit covered in bumps.
“The lulav is a palm branch, myrtle and willow tied together, and this is an etrog, which is a citrus fruit mainly grown in the Middle East,” Kruse said.
Gardner then demonstrated the shaking of the lulav in each direction, north, south, east and west and said a Jewish blessing while facing east.
Kruse looks forward to continuing his work on Hillel this semester as the social programming chair.
“I’m finishing up my first year on the board for Hillel, and plan to be involved for the rest of my college experience,” Kruse said. “I’ve planned a lot of our events, including holidays, but also fun events like craft nights, charcuterie nights and our bagel brunches.”
While Dragon was a little disappointed the event had to be moved inside, she was glad Hillel was still able to celebrate Sukkot.
“Having an event outside, especially events like this surrounding the harvest and being outdoors, means a lot for Jewish students on Drake’s campus,” Dragon said. “Because we don’t really have any spaces on campus that are Jewish, it was really nice to almost have a space that could have been Jewish and related to the holiday. With the rain, I’m just glad we were still able to hold the event.”
