Students Head to Hillel for Start of Passover
Monday marks the first day of the week-long Jewish holiday of Passover.
Passover is the first of Judaism's three Pilgrimage festivals, the other two being Shavuot and Sukkot. The holiday commemorates the Jewish people's exodus out of Egypt over 3,000 years ago, and their birth as a nation under Moses.
USC Hillel welcomes the entire community to come celebrate and pray together.
Students like Jared Fleitman, a junior at USC, see Passover as a great way to bring friends and family within the Jewish community together. Fleitman said that his family is coming in from Orange County to celebrate with him at Hillel.
"I chose Hillel because I spend a lot of time there, and it's a community I like to be a part of, so I'm very excited."
The first day of Passover traditionally commences with a Seder, a ritual in which friends and family gather, read passages about the exodus, drink wine, eat matzo, and sing special Passover songs.
"Seders are always different," said Josh Faskowitz, a junior at USC. "That's kind of what's fun about it."
Faskowitz is just one of many Jewish students who will congregate at Hillel to take part in many Passover rituals. However, Faskowitz says that celebrating Passover as a college student is not easy due to the dietary restrictions.
"For about the next week or so I'm going to try and not eat bread. It's going to be hard in college; EVK (USC dining hall) just entices. They have a lot of good bread products, and their pizza is stellar, so I hope they come out with a Matzo Pizza, but I doubt it."
Passover is scheduled to end on the evening of Tuesday, April 2.
