Northwestern Hillel and Chabad’s annual MegaShabbat brought about 500 students and community members together at the Ryan Fieldhouse Friday.
From sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, Shabbat is a Jewish holiday celebrated every week. It’s a day of rest for Jews to spend time with friends and community members, starting by sharing a meal.
Communication senior and Student Chair of the MegaShabbat Committee Alex Angrist said she celebrates Shabbat every week and NU’s MegaShabbat was a larger version of the weekly Shabbat celebration.
“While the values surrounding MegaShabbat are inherently Jewish — because it is a day of rest that we as Jewish people celebrate it — it really is an accessible way for everyone to just come together and be with each other and be present, which I think is a universal value,” Angrist said.
The MegaShabbat included religious services for three different denominations of Judaism: Reform, Conservative and Modern Orthodox. Afterward, community members and students met at the Ryan Fieldhouse for a mocktail hour, followed by a performance from NU’s premier Jewish a cappella group ShireiNU and blessings for the food and wine or grape juice.
Jeremy Berkun — a Bienen junior, NU Hillel Religious and Spiritual life co-chair and ShireiNU member — said seeing all the community at once is “beautiful.”
Berkun said he looks forward to MegaShabbat every year and that he led the Conservative services on the night of MegaShabbat.
“We have this big, wonderful experience for people who may not feel super comfortable coming to Hillel or Chabad all the time,” Berkun said. “They’ll get this opportunity to have a wonderful meal and a wonderful experience with other Jewish people.”
Angrist said planning for the event takes months of preparation, with preparations starting at the beginning of Fall Quarter. The committee consisted of Communication freshman Seth Black-Diamond, Weinberg sophomores Benjamin Barrish and Talia Dauer and Weinberg juniors Haley Shamah and Sophie Perel.
NU Hillel and Chabad also partnered with the NU sustainability organization Cats who Compost. Executive board member and Weinberg sophomore Veronika Tretina said Cats who Compost rent buckets for composting and that all the food and silverware at MegaShabbat were compostable.
Weinberg freshman Abby Pearson, who is also an executive board member for Cats who Compost, said the waste was retrieved by an independent company to do industrial composting.
“It’s a good thing we made sure to compost this event, otherwise all of that would have gone in the trash,” Pearson said, during the mocktail hour. “It’ll just be really cool to experience a different culture that we’re not used to.”
Perel, a member of Hillel and Chabad, said she loves MegaShabbat because it brings everyone together. Perel said she was also on the planning committee last year.
She added that even though many of her friends are not Jewish, she likes that they look forward to Shabbat.
“They ask me, ‘Hey, when’s MegaShabbat next year?’” Perel said. “That’s kind of what I like; everybody loves this event, regardless of background. There’s nothing better than a Shabbat dinner. (MegaShabbat) means community. Not only the Jewish community, but the Northwestern Community.”
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