Hillel Dedication Ceremony Unites Community, Campus in Fellowship

By Leland Fiegel
Web Manager

The Roy P. and Nan Ans Hillel House was dedicated at an event this past Friday.

The dedication featured remarks from Washington College President Mitchell Reiss, Hillel CEO Wayne L. Firestone, WC Hillel President and junior Ashley Carol-Fingerhut. Rabbi Peter E. Hyman delivered the invocation.

The program also included a reading from Interim Director of the Rose O’Neill Literary House Jehanne Dubrow of her original prose poem, “Poem on the Dedication of the Hillel House, at Washington College, on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.” Master Printer of the Literary House Press Mike Kaylor will be making a handset broadside of the poem in honor of the dedication.

A reception followed the dedication ceremony.

The house, located at 313 Washington Ave., directly across from the campus green, recently underwent extensive renovations and will now serve as a gathering place for WC’s Jewish community and other members of Hillel.
According to Carol-Fingerhut, half of the organization is not Jewish. In fact, Hillel’s goal is “to make sure everyone is included in order to expand their knowledge of Judaism, Israel, and everything that Hillel is.”
The house was not paid for by the school, but through private donations secured by a committee chaired by Dr. Roy Ans ’63. So far, the committee has raised more than $208,000 out of its total goal of $350,000.

Carol-Fingerhut’s plans for the Hillel House include a place to “get together, meet, have Shabbat dinners, celebrate other Jewish holidays, learn about Israeli culture,” and goes on to say that “having that on campus means a lot.”

In addition to a gathering place for WC’s Hillel community, the Hillel House will also be a place for Jewish students to have kosher food. According to Carol-Fingerhut, the only place to get kosher food on the Eastern Shore is the New York Kosher Style Deli on High Street in Chestertown. The fact that the Hillel House will offer kosher food will be, as Carol-Fingerhut puts it, “a huge deal, especially for those students who are straight kosher.”

According to Hillel advisor Dr. Ryan Kelty in an Elm article from last semester, other renovations include knocking down two walls to create a larger space for student gatherings, and making the house compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines.

According to Carol-Fingerhut, the house has been well-received so far.

Compared to other Hillel organizations, WC’s still has a way to go to get on the level of other universities’ Hillel organizations, such as the University of Maryland’s, which actually keeps staff on hand in its house.
“I hope to expand to that point where we have Hillel staff, like many other Hillels have,” said Carol-Fingerhut.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *