SW Michigan Jewish Film Festival

April 19th – Celebration Cinema
http://swmichjff.9f.com/

The very first Southwest Michigan Jewish Film Festival will be held on
April 19, 2009 at Celebration! Cinema Crossroads in Portage. Join
us for five movies that will warm your heart, lift your spirits, and broaden
your horizons!

JUST ADDED!!

Rabbi Fully Eisenberger, campus rabbi at the University of Michigan, will be a guest speaker and lead an educational discussion following “Max Minsky and Me.” Rabbi Eisenberger is also a rock singer (with his own album) who will sing and lead singing after the double feature at 1:30 (“The Hope” and “Circumcise Me”). Don’t miss it!

Passover Seders

As they have done in recent years, families in the community are saving seats at their Seder tables for college students. This is a great way to connect with the Kalamazoo Jewish Community and can be a lot of fun.

If you would like to join a local family for a Passover Seder email (kazoohillel@yahoo.com) us with your name, a phone number to reach you at, and which night(s) you would like to go. The first night is April 8 and the second is April 9.

Last Shabbat Dinner of Semester

April 17 – 6:00 PM
Goldsworth Valley Pond Gazebo

It’s the best way to start the weekend and prepare you for finals week too. We’re hosting this one outside at the Goldsworth Valley Pond Gazebo. We take care of all the logistics and can’t wait to see you there before we all head our separate ways for the summer. Feel free to bring a friend too!

Learn About Passover

April 5 – 2:00 PM
Faculty Dinning Room in the Public Cafeteria, Bernhard Center

Join Rabbi Mordechai, from the Grand Rapids Chabbad, as he leads a discussion on Passover. Learn what the holiday is it all about and Brush up on the four questions in time for the first Seder.

Havdalah Service at Relay For Life

March 28 – 8:30 PM
Kanley Track

Come by Relay For Life and support the American Cancer Society. While we are there walking for a cure we will bring Shabbos to a close together and have a quick Havdalah service by our tent (look for the Hillel Banner). We’ll also have some good snacks to keep us going all night long.

Scoops With Hillel

March 24 – 7:00 PM
Coldstone Creamery on W. Main in Kalamazoo

Come eat free ice cream with WMU Hillel and don’t forget to bring your friends! Please do not hesitate to contact us for a ride!

Facebook event

WMU Alumnus to Compete in Maccabi Games

Chad Mahakian, a recent WMU graduate, will be competing this summer at the Maccabi games in Israel on the US team. If you did not catch the article in the Herald in print this week you can read it online here. Mazal Tov to Chad!

Class with Jeff (Update)

March 15 – 5:00 PM, Bernhard Center rm 204

The Class with Jeff with begin at 5:00 PM on Sunday. The topic for discussion will be about those (not-so) Platonic Relationships. Kosher pizza will be served.

WMU alumnus Jeff Surowitz is back in Kalamazoo and is hosting class. The topic is TBD and Jeff is a great resource for those burning questions you may have about being Jewish? After graduating from WMU Jeff lived in Israel and moved back to Michigan to work for the greater Jewish community.

Relay For Life Team

Relay For Life is coming up and Hillel has their own team! For those of you that don’t know, the American Cancer Society sponsors this community event to raise money in the fight against cancer. Many teams will be camping out at Kanley Track and in between walking around the track we will be having fun games and other activities to mix up the night. This is a great and fun way to raise awareness and funds for a great cause. Not to mention a fabulous way to earn community service hours! The event starts on Saturday, March 28 at 11:00am and goes until Sunday, March 29 at 11:00. We will need people to walk around at the event starting at 3:30 and are in half hour intervals.

You can join the team by clicking here. If you do not have an account with Relay For Life you can set one up through their web page as well. There is not minimum to participate but fund raising is made really easy through the web page.

Shabbat Dinner – March 13

March 13 – 6:00 PM
Kanley Chapel Social Room

Its all about starting the weekend off right! Join new and old friends for a relaxing Shabbat Dinner. This week we are mixing things up and will have Kosher Hot dogs (a few veggies too), chips, and all the right condiments.

Maybe if we eat like we’re at a Baseball game the weather will warm up quicker. As always Shabbat dinners are a great place to meet people and hang out. So bring a friend and see you there.

We are also welcoming a special guest, Nate Knappen who is a Presidential candidate for the Western Student Association. Elections are the week following.