By Sarah Natchipolsky

The University of Maryland’s Jewish community sipped hot chocolate and spun dreidels at Hillel’s annual Hanukkah celebration on Dec. 3.

Maryland Hillel served traditional food like fried potato pancakes called latkes and jelly-filled donuts known as sufganiyot. Attendees could also write letters of thanks to university dining hall and housekeeping staff as part of a community service project.

“I wanted to come to see friends, take a break from studying and eat some food,” junior psychology major Nicole Wohlberg said. “It’s really just like a nice environment and relaxing during a stressful time.”

While Hanukkah does not start until Dec. 22 this year, the event’s organizers chose to host it the week before finals to give students a chance to unwind. Over 200 people RSVP’d to the celebration, said Maya Guthman, Hillel’s Springboard Innovation fellow.

“Hanukkah falls during winter break this year, so we still wanted to provide some kind of Hanukkah celebration,” Guthman said.

Freshman business major Aidan Thurm thought that attending the event would be a great way to support the Jewish community and meet other Jewish students who he might not see regularly at other Hillel events. 

“There’s a lot of different sects of Judaism and a lot of different people that are more affiliated than others,” Thurm said. “But Hanukkah is really one of those holidays that everybody knows and can appreciate, and it’s just one of the ways that Hillel tries to bring the kids together.” 

The event also featured a raffle, as well as a table where students could guess how many pieces of gelt – chocolate coins given to children during Hanukkah – were in a jar. 

Freshman letters and sciences major Zev Roberts said that he enjoyed the fun atmosphere of the celebration. He saw the event as an opportunity for Jewish students to experience the holiday together.

“I came out here because I really like socializing with Jews from a bunch of different backgrounds and all coming together,” Roberts said. “And it’s nice to be around people with the same values.”