As Washington University students gather this weekend for Relay for Life, one of the largest fundraisers of the year, the Jewish community will be preparing for its own gala event: Purim.
Efforts have been made to integrate the two events, allowing students to partake in both.
Students will have the opportunity to hear the megillah read at the business school adjacent to Francis Field, the venue for Relay. And for those most imbued with the spirit of Purim, there will be a Costume Contest.
The university’s Israeli dance troupe, Magniv, will also be performing on stage, followed by open dancing.
Relay, which runs from 6 p.m. on Saturday to 6 a.m. on Sunday, is a fundraiser for the American Cancer society; last year Washington Universities event was the largest of any American university.
The megillah reading will take place at 10:15 and the costume contest will take place from 11:40 to midnight; for more information view the Facebook event.

In an effort to reach beyond Hillel regulars and involve more students with Jewish Life on campus, Washington University Jewish Student Union has unveiled a new program, “Jew Time.”
Intended as a way to give Jewish students on campus a chance to interact without committing to a specific Jewish organizations, Jew Time will meet on a weekly basis at 8:00 on Wednesdays in Friedman Lounge.
The opening event will feature Jewish-themed Pictionary, Charades, and cookie cake.
The new effort comes specifically as an attempt by JSU President Alex Freedman to involve more Freshman with Jewish Life on campus and to increase attendance at Hillel dinners on Friday night.
For more information about Jew Time, visit the Facebook Group.

A campaign to raise funds for renovations at the Chabad House has reached almost half its $850,00 goal, reports the Jewish Light:

Its new building is located at 7018 Forsyth Blvd., just a few doors down from the western edge of the main Washington University campus. Chabad on Campus received funding from the Rohr Foundation to help purchase the property.
Rabbi Hershey Novack, director of Chabad on Campus, said the group’s fundraising campaign aims to raise a total of $850,000, with around $300,000 for renovations, and the rest to pay down the mortgage on the property.
So far, $450,000 has been raised in the campaign’s private phase from “parents, alumni, friends of Chabad and Jewish and secular organizations,” Novack said.
Novack said that even though the renovations have not been completed, the move alone has already brought more students in.

More than 1,200 members of the Washington University and St. Louis communities gathered in the Athletic Complex on Thursday night, February 1, to see the Idan Raichel Project perform. The concert sold out both its approximately 250 community tickets and its 1,000 student tickets. Raichel, whose music fuses Ethiopian, Arabic, Hindi, and South African beats, appeared as the main act of a multi-cultural concert sponsored by the Jewish Student Union, and co-sponsored by many other student organizations. On Friday night, the eight members of the project who are currently touring ate Shabbat dinner with students at Hillel.
The Student Life was on the scene, providing photo coverage.

Over 100 students and members of the St. Louis community attended the presentation of Combatants for Peace on Monday night, January 29 in Ursa’s Fireside.
The panel discussion, which involved two former Israeli and Palestinian combatants, had as its goal to spark discussion about the Arab-Israeli conflict and facilitate meaningful discussion, towards a peaceful end.
The speakers were Sulaiman al Hamri and Shimon Katz. Al Hamri is the Palestinian coordinator for Combatants for Peace. His long history of peace work includes co-founding Combatants for Peace in April 2006, and working with other Israeli peace groups such as Taayush. Katz served in the Israeli Defense Forces as a combat solider and came to his views of non-violence during his travels in India after leaving active duty.
“My family has spent a total of 25 years in Israeli prisons — we have paid the price in the conflict, yet I remain committed to peace,” said Al Hamri, declaring “it’s a duty to retaliate against an occupation — whether for national motives or religious motives, but it is also a duty to do so peacefully.”
Katz said that “as an Israeli citizen I am obliged to go to the army, just like I am obliged to pay taxes, so I work to find a middle path that will allow me to remain true to my values.”
Junior Aviva Joffe, co-president of Students for a Peaceful Palestinian Israeli Future, which sponsored the event, told CampusJ that “The perspective we were trying to present was that dialogue is a means of bringing peace,” adding, “I was really pleased by the event because people asked challenging questions — a lot of what SPPIF tries to do is ask the hard questions.”
Those attending the forum were intrigued by the unique perspective presented by the former combatants, and the commitment of the participants to the peace process.
“It was nice to hear directly from the [combatants] involved, instead of the media,” said Tyson Meyer, a member of the local community who attended the forum.
Andrea Ginsburg, a senior who attended the forum, said “it made me really happy to see all the people here, It’s good to know that people want peace.”

Katz (left) and al Hamri (right) speaking to students after the forum