The day after the tragic shooting at Virginia Tech, NYU’s Jewish community responded by sending students and staff to Blacksburg, Virginia. Nicole Vengrove and Lindsay Katona, both seniors, accompanied the Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life’s Rabbi Yehuda Sarna to give support to the school’s Hillel and the campus as a whole. They wrote about their experience:

“It is 7:30 am on April 18, 2007. We are on our way back to New York City. The past 24 hours have been filled with horror stories mixed with inspiration, heroism and hope. Along with Rabbi Yehuda Sarna of the Bronfman Center, we went down to Virginia Tech to be in solidarity with the Blacksburg, VA community who continues to mourn the loss of 32 victims.

Upon being asked by Rabbi Sarna the night before to fly down to Virginia the next day, there was no way we couldn’t go. We arrived early Tuesday morning in Richmond, VA and drove over three hours to Virginia Tech. We had no idea what to expect, but we knew we had to be there. We stopped for gas at a town right next to Blacksburg, and after we paid for our gas, the girls working at the gas station handed each one of us a maroon and orange ribbon (the colors of the Virginia Tech Hokies). It was clear from this very moment how much the surrounding towns are a part of this mourning community.

As we continued driving, we listened to the 2 pm convocation on the radio. Before getting to downtown Blacksburg, we decided to stop at a CVS to get poster board and markers to make a sign. The woman who checked us out told us that one of the pharmacy technicians, who was also a student at Virginia Tech, was killed in the shootings. Everyone knew someone. Since the convocation was not over, and the building was jam-packed with students, faculty, families, and guests, we thought we would try to visit the local hospital, where those wounded on Monday were recovering. The woman at CVS gave us directions, and we headed to Montgomery Hospital. While we were not able to gain access to the hospital, we dropped off cards that were hopefully distributed to these young victims. We decorated our car with a sign that read “New York University Stands with You” and made a poster that read “New York Cares.” No one could believe we had come all the way from New York City.

We then went to meet Sue Kurtz, the director of Virginia Tech Hillel. Sue, her husband and daughter, who is a sophomore at Virginia Tech and lost a sorority sister, invited us back to their home. We wanted to help in any way we could, and once we got to campus, we realized that Sue was not only the anchor of the 1200 Jewish students at Virginia Tech, but also a widely respected voice within the University community. She spoke at the Convocation ceremony that day. It immediately became apparent that Sue was balancing her own process of mourning with her role as a wife, mother, mentor, and spiritual leader to the many students at Virginia Tech. She has very personal relationships with dozens of students on campus.

After recognizing how many people were seeking support from her, the three of us locked ourselves in her office. We listened to her 39 voicemails so that people could actually leave messages. We organized her emails and answered phone calls from the press. Rabbi Sarna offered her professional as well as personal support. After two hours locked away, we went with Sue and her family to the Blacksburg Jewish Community Center (JCC) where Hillel students and Jewish professors were coming together to say Kaddish. As we walked into the JCC, we were struck by the solemn silence that filled the room. Together, we stood and said Kaddish with this community. Everyone was in tears, some in hysterics.

One professor spoke about Liviu Librescu, the Israeli professor who was killed in the attack. He highlighted how he was a Holocaust survivor, and the irony behind him being killed on Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day). We walked out of this ceremony to Virginia Tech’s main campus to take part in the candlelight vigil. Everyone wore Virginia Tech colors and college sweatshirts. Thousands of people filled the space and knowing almost no one, we managed to feel safe and at home.

The vigil was powerful and when we think about it, it still gives us the chills. The president of the student body opened the vigil, followed by the editor-in-chief of the school newspaper. Everyone, all over the world, was watching this on TV. The speakers stressed the idea that Hokies are a family, and they are going to get through this. It was incredibly powerful. Everyone was holding a lit candle, and in one simultaneous rhythm, we all raised our candles in silence. One section of the crowd began singing Amazing Grace. It softly made its way through the crowd and everyone began singing together. It was as if this crowd of thousands of people was one person. Students began chanting school cheers. There was laughter and an energy that gave hope.

The vigil lasted about 30 minutes, but the crowd gathered late into the night. The three of us held our NYU Stands with You and New York Cares signs. Strangers literally came running up to us. They thanked us, hugged us, asked us why we came. They offered us a place to stay and told us their stories. 26,000 students and yet everyone knew someone affected by this tragedy. It is like a family. The sense of school pride and togetherness is inspiring and uplifting. We were told by reporters and Virginia Tech students that we were the only New Yorkers in the crowd. It was clear that just being there mattered to this community. Before we left, we placed our posters next to the boards that were set up for students to write their thoughts on. We signed our names on the posters. An hour later, we received this message:

“Lindsay, we have never met, but I still wanted to write you. I wanted to thank you for what you have done, for the contribution you put on the wall. The poster made me cry. I am so proud that you did that, it means a lot. I thank you and Nicole, I stood and looked at it for a couple of minutes and could not believe that. You supporting us like this, it means so much to everyone. Thank you. I lost a friend, and it really takes my breath away that people from all over are trying to help us cope with the loss…so thank you and God Bless you.”

The Virginia Tech community taught us the importance of standing with others in times of need. They taught us what a true community looks like and we hope to bring this sense of community back with us to NYU. We as students must stand together. This has an impact on all of us. College students and professors’ lives were taken away in an instant, in an environment that is supposed to nurture learning and curiosity. It could have happened to any of us. Please join us at a vigil that will take place on Thursday, April 19 at 5pm in Washington Square Park. We plan on organizing subsequent events and hope to build a partnership between NYU and Virginia Tech students.”

Looking for a way to get away from the matzah post-Pesach? Check out these events on the Bronfman website, from an Israeli filmmaker to an all-night walk against cancer:

Monday, April 9th at 7:00 PM
Israeli Filmmaker Eytan Fox!
@ The Bronfman Center

Please join us as we welcome acclaimed Israeli filmmaker Etan Fox to the Bronfman Center. Etan Fox is one the top filmmakers of his generation. He is exceptionally talented, openly gay, and absolutely fascinating. Please join us for screenings of clips from several of his movies, and an intimate conversation with one of the most impressive Israeli artists and social critics of our time.

Website: http://www.socal.com/articles/1483-0.html
Contact: Sam Krentzman, 212-998-4130

Tuesday, April 10th at 7:15 PM
Mimouna Banquet for Mideast Cultural Exchange
@ Kimmel 802, Shorin Auditorium

Celebrate the end of Passover with a band, a bellydancer, and Moroccan food catered by Taim (Kosher for Passover)! Mimouna is a centuries-old Moroccan tradition, whereby Jews–at the end of Passover–give as a gift the rest of their unleavened food to their Muslim neighbors. Muslims prepare a yeast-filled feast for their Jewish friends.
Middle East Dialogue Group invites you to eat, celebrate and dance! See the work of the New Orleans interfaith relief effort, watch an excerpt of Catherina Hanna’s and Simnia Singer-Sayada’s Shalom Sahbity, and stick around for an open-mic night of music, poetry, spoken word, and cultural exchange.
Tickets at NYU Ticket Central–$5 NYU, $10 non-NYU ($7 and $15 at the door)
Proceeds benefit the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, which brings together Palestinian, Israeli and Jordanian college students encouraging regional cooperation in facing environmental challenges.
This event is cosponsored by the Bronfman Center, Arab Students United, Koach, Hillel, the Jewish Law Students Association, the Middle Eastern Law Students Association, the Islamic Law Students Association, the Afghan Students Association, the Persian Cultural Society, and the Pakistani Students Association

Website: http://picasaweb.google.com/jordunnjoe/UntitledAlbum/photo#5048258652443369666
Contact Jordan Dunn

Thursday, April 12th at 7:00 PM
Holocaust Survivor Bronia Brandman
@ Bronfman Center

Please join us in welcoming Bronia Brandman who will share with us her unique story of survival from Auschwitz and the stories of her family members who did not survive.
This program is a part of “Neighbors in Solidarity”, a collaborative initiative between FYRE, CMEP, and the Bronfman Center designed to promote awareness and activism regarding genocides both past and present.

Contact Aviva Jacobs, 212-998-4117

Thursday, April 12th at 7:15 PM
The King Davids of Comedy
@ Bronfman Center, Comix Comedy Club

The King Davids of Comedy is a Jewish-themed comedy show that we have 20 FREE tickets to! Performers will include Judy Gold, Steve Hofstetter, Jon Fisch, Dan Naturman, Jessica Kirson and Eddie Brill. We will meet at the Bronfman Center at 7:15pm and then will travel together to the Comix comedy club (353 West 14th St). Contact Lisa for tickets, she will put your name on the list!

Contact Lisa, 212-998-4116

Friday, April 13th at 8:00 PM
Sala’s Gift: My Mother’s Holocaust Story
@ The Bronfman Center

Every family has its secrets, though few of them have the power both to transform lives and to fill in crucial gaps in world history. But then, few families have a mother and a daughter quite like Sala and Ann Kirschner. “For nearly fifty years, my mother kept a secret. After surviving 5 years of Nazi slave labor camps, Sala Garncarz Kirschner came to America as a war bride and raised our family without ever speaking of her wartime experiences. I grew up in a happy and safe home, and became a scholar, writer, and a mother myself, but always wondered about the black hole in my mother’s past. It was not until my mother was scheduled for heart surgery in 1991 that she showed me a priceless collection of more than 350 letters and a diary from her years in the camps, documents that she had kept carefully hidden in a cardboard box. In that moment, my mother changed my life.
Author Ann Kirschner will share with us the story of what happened to her mother, to the letter writers, and to herself when she found received Sala’s Gift.

Contact Cindy Greenberg, 212.998.4123

Saturday, April 14th at 6:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Relay for Life
@ Coles Sports Center 181 Mercer Street

Join Hillel @ NYU’s Relay for Life team to raise funds for the fight against cancer! At the event, we’ll camp out overnight, walk around the track, and meet lots of new people. There is an incredible tribute to cancer survivors and caregivers that starts off the night and a moving ceremony honoring those who have fought the disease. It’s a night full of fun, hope, and remembrance.

Contact Abbe Pick, 617-877-1008

For some, home is where the matzah is, according to Washington Square News reporters Rikki Reyna and Kate Thuma:

[…]
As unlikely as it may seem, matzo was the mold of choice for the first ever Manischewitz Matzo Sculpture Competition, sponsored by the Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life.
“Of all the proposals we received,” Manischewitz assistant brand manager and competition judge Arye Weigensberg said, “we chose to exhibit the sculptures that made the strongest, most interesting connections to home. The idea of home is different to different people and we wanted to see how they could manifest that idea using matzo.”
The matzo sculptures were unveiled Sunday night at the opening reception for “Home and Away,” the Bronfman Center’s new exhibition showcasing different artistic renderings of the idea of “home.”
[…]
For the matzo sculpture competition, Tisch junior Leia Weil and sophomore Erica Frankel were inspired by their recent Birthright trip to Israel when they chose to duplicate the Western Wall, one of Israel’s oldest and holiest sites. Weil and Frankel explained their selection in their written artists’ statement: “The Western Wall truly is the ultimate home. It is the home for God, the home for our prayers, the home of our forefathers and the home of the Jewish people, along with the rest of humanity.”
[…]
Jackie Miller, the Bronfman Center’s arts coordinator, brought to light the significance of using matzo as a sculpting material.
[…]
“This is definitely the time of year that ‘home’ will be top of mind for most students, as the spring holiday season is approaching,” Miller said. “Matzo is relevant to the home and to Passover.”
The overwhelming scent of wine and an enormous quantity of matzo (some of which was chocolate-dipped), brought the large crowd of more than 100 people into the gallery’s narrow space.
[…]
[First place winner and Tisch freshman, James] Donovan had selected the Washington Square Arch as the best depiction of his understanding of home. Weigensberg said that he was particularly moved by Donovan’s subject choice.
“NYU is where he gets his inspiration,” Weigensberg said. “This is home for him.”
Donovan was awarded a cash prize of $1,000, which he plans to use toward his future artistic endeavors.

Matzah sculptures will be on display in the gallery areas of the Bronfman Center on 7 East 10th Street through May 13th (or until they crumble or ants get to them…). New York Sun reporter Lenore Skenazy also caught the competition:

What can one fashion out of oversize crackers? The finalists in Monday’s contest came forth with matzo candlesticks, a matzo Wailing Wall, even a matzo video game, complete with mini matzo Mario. “Super Mario Brothers is a game of conquest but more notably of oppression,” the artist’s statement read. “You thought it was a game about pizza-eating plumbers? How could you be so naïve?”
[…]
The official theme was “Home,” contestant Eric Goldberg said, and his three little matzo dioramas were meant to represent his parents’ home, his grandparents’ home, and now (the one with the matzo futon), his own home, as an NYU student.
“They gave me a foundation,” he said of his family, and you just know that somewhere out there, there are two generations of Goldbergs very proud that their boy is spending his $39,000 education gluing matzos together.

Tanya Reinhart, the 63-year-old linguistics professor, has passed away. The Israeli activist died of a stroke, Nick Brennan reports for the Washington Square News:

Reinhart studied philosophy and literature at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem before earning a doctorate in linguistics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she first met Noam Chomsky, a world-renowned philosopher and political thinker who became her thesis supervisor. The two later became intimate friends.
[…]
“She was one of the most courageous and honorable defenders of human rights whom I have ever been privileged to meet,” Chomsky said.

This year, the holidays of Purim and Shabbat overlapped on the weekend in between midterm exams at NYU. Over 2000 students and faculty members took a break to attend festivities across the school this weekend including several Purim parties hosted by Hillel, Chabad and the AEPi fraternity.
The kick off for the weekend was the annual S2K - Shabbat for 2000. Darren Levy of the Washington Square News reports:

Friday night, the Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life hosted “Shabbat for 2000,” or “S2K,” at the Puck Building. A committee of more than 100 students planned the event - the largest student-run Jewish event in the United States - which offered a free dinner to anyone who wanted to see what Shabbat is all about.
“‘Shabbat for 2000′ is the time when the entire NYU community - students, alumni, parents, faculty and friends - come together to celebrate Jewish life at the university,” said Cindy Greenberg, executive director of the Bronfman Center.
[…]
“It’s a collaboration of the Bronfman Center, Hillel and more than a dozen other student groups,” Greenberg said. “This year more than 50 parents, alumni and friends of NYU made donations to support S2K.”
[…]
Tisch freshman Meg White, who was a volunteer at the event, said she wanted to participate even though she is not Jewish.
“Since I’m not Jewish, I wanted to experience a Jewish event because a lot of my friends are Jewish,” she said.
[…]
Sam Krentzman, Bronfman Center special projects coordinator, said the event was everything he expected.
“It looked like it was full of fun, happiness and community, and I think those were the things we were looking for, as well as a great Jewish experience,” he said.