Maryland
LGBTQ University of Maryland students prepare to celebrate Hanukkah
Eight-day festival to begin Thursday night
A number of Hanukkah events for LGBTQ students will take place at the University of Maryland this week.
Queer Jewish students and allies are welcome to attend Crazy Cozy Chill Chanukah Celebration on Sunday at the University of Maryland Hillel. Hamsa, home to queer Jewish life on campus, hosted a study break with hot drinks, snacks and games and a chance to welcome Hanukkah early.Ā
The first night of Hanukkah is Thursday.
Chabad UMD is hosting a menorah lighting on Thursday in front of McKeldin Library and plans to mention the war between Israel and Hamas, according to Rabbi Eli Backman of Chabad UMD. The event is going to be a focus on the positivity and the message of the Hanukkah story.Ā Ā
āWeāve been around for thousands of years and all those whoāve tried to make sure that we didnāt live to see the next generation (is) no longer here,ā Backman said. āThat message will really resonate at home for the holiday.ā
The story of the Maccabees is one of the few stories where Jewish people fought, Backman said. In Jewish history, people donāt see a military response in many of the other holiday moments.
āIt should give us a boost of energy,ā Backman said. āA boost of strength (and) a boost of hope.ā
Part of the Hanukkah storyās message is that Jewish people were in a position that they needed to form a military to secure their borders, Backman said. And they succeeded.Ā
For some, celebrating Hanukkah depends on the people theyāre around, Florence Miller, a sophomore English and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies who is Hamsaās president, said.
Miller is agnostic and does not find themself to be a religious person, but the thing that has kept their Jewish faith is the people about whom they care are Jewish and the sense of community that comes from being Jewish.
āI just wanted to do a Hanukkah event,ā Miller said. āItās been a good refresher with how the semester has been.ā
Miller last year attended a Hanukkah party and played a game of dreidel, a spinning top with four sides marked with a Hebrew letter. The people who were in attendance wanted to bet something, but the only thing they could find were pinto beans.
āWhen I took them out of my pocket one got stuck in there,ā Miller said. āI still have that bean.ā
For some Jewish students itās important to go to Hanukkah events like Hamsaās celebration to be around like-minded Jewish people, Yarden Shestopal, a sophomore American Studies major, said.
āWhich is why I like Hamsa,ā Shestopal said. āSince weāre all queer people or allies we kind of share that mentality of acceptance.ā
Being part of the Jewish community at the University of Maryland has opened Shestopal up to how diverse the LGBTQ and Jewish communities are. Shestopal this year, however, debated whether or not to put his menorah up on the windowsill of his apartment because of the rise in anti-Semitism due to the war in Israel.Ā Ā
āIām pretty sure I am going to put the menorah in my window,ā Shestopal said. āThe only way to combat anti-Semitism is to stay visible.āĀ
Several University of Maryland students lived in Israel before or during their time at the university.
Elisheva Greene, a junior animal science major, went to seminary, a school for women to learn about Torah, during the pandemic. Greene said celebrating Hanukkah while a war is happening is going to be a similar feeling.Ā
āIām able to do what I can from over here by supporting my family and friends,ā Greene said. āThe biggest thing I can be doing is living my life as a Jewish person and showing that I express my Judaism and Iām not afraid.ā
Greene recalled they could not go more than 1,000 feet from home for two months and Hanukkah took place during that time. While it was difficult, Greene said people still put their menorahs on their windowsill.
āKnowing the resilience the Israelis have and the fact people like to show their Jewishness (is not) gonna stop me,ā Greene said. āLike thereās a war going on but youāre gonna be a Jew and youāre gonna flaunt that.ā
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