JOSHUA SCHUSTER
Bulletin Staff
Hoping to sidestep anti-Zionist protests that have plagued San Francisco State University for years, San Francisco Hillel erected a sukkah on campus this week to promote Jewish culture, not politics.
"This is great to get some holiday spirit," said junior Vlad Shapiro, who is active in Hillel. "We certainly need more of that at the university, because at some holidays there has been negative feedback."
The first-ever sukkah on campus -- perched on the edge of the main quad -- was hard to miss. Pink and red sheets tied to two-by-fours served as walls, while large palm fronds were draped over the top.
For Jewish students, the sukkah made a strongly visible statement of the festive holiday.
Shapiro was confident the positive visibility of Jewish culture would attract a warm response from passers-by. "We put it up to have some fun," he said.
But politics were nevertheless at the back of some people's minds.
Sue Bojdak, program director at S.F. Hillel, hoped the sukkah would mark a turn away from the heated "anti-Semitism which is often in the context of anti-Zionism."
For the past few years, Bojdak said, Hillel had primarily presented itself through Israel-focused events, raising the ire of pro-Palestinian campus groups. She wanted the sukkah to change the perception of Hillel at the university.
"The sukkah doesn't have an Israel focus, so we hope it will draw less of a negative reaction," she said. "We hope the Jewish student body will feel safer and more recognized."
Hillel distributed fliers in dorms about the sukkah but avoided a larger publicity campaign so anti-Zionist groups wouldn't see it as an opportunity to rally, Bojdak said.
Carlos Corea-Whisler, a graduate student who is active in Hillel, saw the sukkah as a chance to reach out to a new student body that would not already be alienated from Hillel by past political issues.
"We have a diverse Hillel; that's our message to the whole campus," he said.
Corea-Whisler assembled the wood planks along with his wife, Jenny, other students and a few interested community volunteers.
The frame for the sukkah came from a do-it-yourself sukkah kit, which the Hillel plans to use again every year. Palm fronds, costing $5 each, came from Golden Gate Park. Hillel financed the project.
The sukkah kept 9-to-5 hours this week and hosted some Jewish studies classes. Other activities included a student-led conversation on environmental issues related to the holiday, and songs and storytelling led by Hillel director Michael Taller.
The hut offered inviting shade during the unusually warm week. Volunteers passed out nuts and fruit. They also had a lulav and etrog on hand for those who wished to fulfill the mitzvah of shaking them in the six directions -- right, back, left, forward, up and down.
Each night, Hillel had to dismantle the sukkah because campus rules do not allow a structure to remain overnight. Carlos Corea-Whisler thought the policy unfair "since the Jewish students who come to campus only at night won't have a chance for a Jewish experience."
As long as it stood, though, the sukkah welcomed all visitors.
Even Nation of Islam advocates, who were stationed next to the sukkah to pass out newspapers, dropped in with friendly curiosity. They were handed a flyer about Sukkot, and some Jewish students purchased a fresh-baked pie from the Muslims.
"One reason the sukkah is good as a visible part of the campus is it involves hospitality, which is something we want to project -- that we are part of the larger campus," Bojdak said.
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