Purim at University of Pennsylvania

Purim is a natural one for campuses, and at the University of Pennsylvania Purim was everywhere, thanks in part to students who gathered in the front of the freshmen Quadrangle and handed out 400 packets of Mishloach manot to freshmen, says Rabbi Levi Haskelevich, Chabad representative to U of Penn.

At the Alpha Epsilon Pi house on the campus of Drexel University members of AEPi and the Jewish girls “ABY” Society listened to the megilla reading; at the CopaBanana, Chabad arranged non-stop megillah readings to accommodate the overflow crowd at the venue; scores of students were heard drowning out Haman’s name on 40th Street at one o’clock in the morning on a week night; the Baal Shem Tov band performed with lead singer Benny Schmidt and many students came in costume; student magician Barry Silver, worked his magic on the crowd.

Hundreds of students attended the POUR SOME PURIM ON ME IV – the Annual Purim carnival—a fundraiser cosponsored by more than 10 campus organizations (among them: SDT, AEPi, PiKAPP, THETA, SAE, COLLGE DEMOCRATES, TEP, THEOS and JHP). Trading in their academic posture students got busy with Twister, throwing darts, balloon shaving and face painting. May competed in a cake eating contest while a free sushi bar kept them well fed. A mishloach manot table with information about the Purim holiday drew many, among them many students who stopped to lay tefillin.

With all of this, Chabad reached countless students during Purim with the universal messages of Purim–Jewish unity, the triumph of good over evil, and the mitzvot of charity and sharing.