Abbe Center Newsletter Spring 2011

First-Class Mail US Postage PAID Geneva, NY Permit No. 69

2011 Passover Schedule Monday, April 18 6:30 p.m.: Passover Seder at Abbe Center

Tuesday, April 19 noon: Kosher Lunch at Abbe Center 5:45 p.m.: Community Seder at Temple Beth-El ($5 fee)

Thursday, April 21 6:30 p.m.: Matzah Pizza Night at Abbe Center

Friday, April 22 6:30 p.m.: Kosher Shabbat Dinner at Abbe Center

Sunday, April 24 11 a.m.: Matzah Brei Brunch at Abbe Center

Tuesday, April 26

In addition to the community Seders, there will be a Passover Food Station in Saga Dining Hall throughout the week. A Passover option will also be available in the Café.

Contacts:

It is very important that students make reservations to attend the Seders and provide a $5 fee, payable to Temple Beth-El. Contact Lorinda Weinstock at lweinstock@hws.edu for more information. Hillel will also have a table in the Scandling Campus Center during lunch on Friday, April 8, Monday, April 11, and Tuesday, April 12, to answer questions and make Seder arrangements.

Lorinda Weinstock Abbe Center Director and Hillel Adviser LWEINSTOCK@HWS.EDU

Jenna Lohre ’12 Hillel Co-President JL3176@HWS.EDU

Hunter LaCroix ’12 Hillel Co-President HL3584@HWS.EDU

RSVP for Shabbat dinners SHABBAT@HWS.EDU

HOBART AND WILLIAM SMITH COLLEGES 764 South Main Street Geneva, NY 14456

9:30 a.m.: Yizkor Service at Temple Beth-El noon: Kosher Lunch at Abbe Center

Spring 2011

• 2011 Passover Schedule • Meet Tina Wasserman • Finding Common Ground • Tribute to Debbie Friedman • Winter Photos and Events • Holocaust Remembrance Day

HOBART AND WILLIAM SMITH COLLEGES

Abbe Center for Jewish Life

Spring 2011

Meet Tina Wasserman

Finding Common Ground

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I love Hobart and William Smith, and I love HWS students. I spend time in the Abbe Center for the sheer joy of watching students reconnect with their heritage and get excited about it.

—Author Tina Wasserman

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uthor of the highly successful cookbook Entrée to Judaism: A Culinary Exploration of the Jewish Diaspora, Wasserman has become an important part of the Abbe Center community. “When I visit campus, I see a generation of students whose connections to their cultural roots have been strained by time and distance from their culinary heritage,” says Wasserman, who recently offered a workshop on Challah braiding.

Her influence in the Abbe Center kitchen is boundless. The building’s true kosher kitchen was named in her honor by her husband, Trustee Dr. Richard L. Wasserman ’70, and “Showtime” Joe Hatfield prepares kosher Shabbat dinners using recipes from her book.

“Whenever Tina’s on campus, she joins us for Shabbat,” says senior Andrea Rocchio, former co-president of Hillel. “Her influence has helped us become more closely connected with Jewish cooking and culture.”

In addition to sharing her passion for Jewish food and culture, Wasserman has also become a mentor and friend during her frequent visits. “I have met few people who are as actively caring as Tina Wasserman,” says Hunter LaCroix ’12, Hillel co-president and Hobart Student Government president.

Specializing in contemporary kosher cuisine and trained in nutrition and education, Wasserman holds degrees from Syracuse University and New York University and is a popular food educator. She has been a scholar-in-residence in communities across North America.

In 1994, she was elected to Les Dames d’Escoffier, an international culinary society that honors women in the food and beverage industry. She is one of only four Dames in the country honored as an expert in Jewish cooking and culinary history.

The food columnist for Reform Judaism magazine, her writing has been featured in newspapers and magazines throughout the country, and she has appeared on live radio and television and featured on NPR and “Good Morning America.”

Gifts to support the Abbe Center for Jewish Life at HWS may be directed either to the Abbe Center Program Fund or the Abbe Center Endowment by visiting www.hws.edu/studentlife/abbecenter or contacting Bill Greer P’11 at greer@hws.edu or (315)781-3779.

Winter Photos and Events

or students of faith, the Abbe Center for Jewish life is a place to connect with the community. This semester, several non-Jewish students have made the Abbe Center their home. “Our house is alive with the spirit of faith,” says Matthew Hynd ’13, Abbe Center resident and president of the Episcopal Fellowship.

“Living here, I have learned a lot about Jewish life, culture and events, but I have also shared a lot about my own faith,” agrees Ali Sana ’13, a Muslim resident. “Over the past year, I have realized that all of the stereotypical and historic reasons for conflicts between the Jewish and Muslim religions are false. Our faiths are actually very close compared to any other monotheist religions.”

In following with both Jewish and Muslim traditions, all of the residents of the Abbe Center observe a kosherstyle diet, so Hynd has had to give up cheeseburgers and bacon.

But the adjustment is a small price to pay for the relationships that have formed in the house.

“We have developed a deep and abiding respect for one another’s faiths,” Hynd says. “We share a reverence for one another’s tradition that skips right over the stages of anxious tolerance and ignorant pluralism. Our differences have brought us closer together than I could ever have imagined possible.”

Tribute to Debbie Friedman

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n Friday, February 18, Temple Beth-El, HWS Hillel and The Abbe Center for Jewish Life hosted a tribute to the late popular Jewish composer and singer Debbie Friedman.

Held in Temple Beth-El, the service featured Friedman’s music and was followed by an Oneg Shabbat.

During the tribute, Lindsey Hagan ’12 and Jenna Lohre ’12 spoke about Friedman’s impact. “She touched the lives of so many kids and adults,” Lohre, co-President of Hillel, said. “It’s a blessing to be singing her songs here tonight.”

“Growing up, Debbie Friedman was an integral part of my life,” said Hagan. “To my sister and me, Debbie Friedman was Jewish music. Her tunes and melodies were an embedded part of our family’s traditions. From her, I learned lessons about my faith and lessons about life.”

Between 1971 and 2010, Friedman, a popular composer of Jewish music, recorded 22 albums. Her work, which employed both English and Hebrew lyrics, was inspired by such diverse sources as Joan Baez, Peter, Paul and Mary, and a number of other folk music artists. She is best known for her setting of “Mi Shebeirach,” the prayer for healing, which is used by hundreds of congregations across America.

Members of the HWS community gather at the Abbe Center for a Kosher Shabbat Dinner with special guests Tina Wasserman and Rabbi David L. Reiner.

Author, food columnist, chef and award-winning cooking instructor Tina Wasserman conducts a challah braiding workshop at the Abbe Center for Jewish Life.

• Purim: Students baked hamantaschen in the Wasserman Kosher Kitchen.

• Spiritual Life: In February, the Abbe Center sponsored a lecture by Michael Faber, the Jewish Chaplin at Ithaca College. Students from across campus learned about “Taking Care of Your Mind.”

• Tu Bishevat Dinner: The Abbe Center hosted a special four-course dinner to celebrate The New Year of the Trees. Tina Wasserman consulted on the meal, and each course featured a recipe from her cookbook, Entrée to Judaism.

• Laugh: Sander Gilman challenged the notion that minorities should be able to laugh at themselves. Gilman, a distinguished professor of the liberal arts and sciences as well as professor of psychiatry at Emory University, also had dinner at the Abbe Center.

• Challah Braiding: In January, chef and author Tina Wasserman taught students how to create a six-strand braided challah bread.

• Heritage Day: Members of Hillel joined the campus community to share and celebrate different faiths and cultures.

• Bagel Brunches: The Abbe Center hosted four Lox and Bagel Brunches in January, February, March and April.

Rabbi David L. Reiner offers the keynote address at a worship service in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Reiner urged all who attended to continue to work for equality.

• Tzedakah: Students continue to sell Hillel T-shirts to raise money to support the Hillel Relay for Life team. The students are also organizing a Mother’s Day card sale to benefit local women’s shelters.

Yom Hashoah: The HWS community will observe Holocaust Remembrance Days.

For more details, visit the Colleges’ Daily Update (www.hws.edu/dailyupdate/). Planned events include: A Film Unfinished: A screening of the Sundance-winning documentary and discussion led by Professor of Religious Studies Michael Dobkowski.

Reading of the Names: Students, faculty and staff members will read the names of Holocaust victims one after another— dramatizing the unfathomable notion of six million deaths.

Bearing Witness to Hope: The community Yom Hashoah Service at the Jewish Community Center of Rochester will feature Holocaust Survivor and Hidden Child Sally Wasserman and several HWS students.

Vigil: The community will conclude the observance with a candlelight vigil.