Isabella Sotelo

“So basically, we are trying to build Jewish life on campus, and I hope that everyone who attends the service can take away a message they can use in their own lives,” said Eden Benezra.

On Thursday, Sept. 26, California Lutheran University’s Hillel Club hosted the “Hillel Chapel Takeover” in the University Chapel. The event provided a space to learn about the High Holy Days, a Jewish holiday that started on Rosh Hashanah and runs through Yom Kippur, a period of 10 days. 

“This is the start of the Jewish New Year, where people take the time to reflect on the past year to make the next year better,” said Dana Barbee, vice president of the Hillel Club. “It’s like how American traditions are making New Year’s resolutions, but with the added aspect that we look back at what happened previously to improve upon it.” 

The event provided students, regardless of whether they identify as Jewish or not, an opportunity to learn about and experience High Holy Days, consisting of prayers, melodies of Jewish phrases and traditional musical instruments. 

The takeover also invited a Jewish cantor David Shukiar, who performed a sing-along using the Jewish phrase, “Oseh Shalom,” which translates to “maker of peace,” generally referring to God. 

Shukiar said he wanted to look at the word differently, instead calling on the audience to be peacemakers as he discussed the conflict in Gaza, saying he believed that “at a time of violence,” the world needs “makers of peace.” 

“It’s almost like, you spend all year making mistakes and mistakes and mistakes, and we get to turn the page and start fresh, and that fresh start is like a blank canvas, and how the choices that we make will help to color that page in our story,” Shukiar said. “It’s like this fresh time where we can really dedicate ourselves to making a positive impact.” 

Eden Benezra, president of Hillel Club, said the takeover is special to her because it provides an opportunity to showcase the club to the university and give attendees the opportunity to learn about Judaism. 

“It is to build a Jewish community at the school,” Benezra said. “So basically, we are trying to build Jewish life on campus, and I hope that everyone who attends the service can take away a message they can use in their own lives.”

Ryanne Rojas, the university’s spiritual life engagement coordinator, hopes the event will form a community of people of different faiths together and help them learn and understand one another. 

Rojas said she grew up in an interfaith household, with a Jewish mother and an Irish Catholic father, and that she celebrated each faith’s holidays throughout her childhood.

“Interfaith community building on campus is huge for us,” Rojas said. “We have chapel takeovers with MSA, which is the Muslim Student Association. With Hillel, we have a chapel takeover for National Coming Out Day, which is for queer theology. We also do Indigenous chapel takeovers for our Indigenous Chumash community to come around Thanksgiving, so it is very important to us that we embrace and accept everyone on campus and their belief systems, and acknowledge all beliefs and intersections of all personal faith.”