An Oasis in the Chaos
Excerpt from Hillel International NEWS & VIEWS, by Dionna Dash
When schools began announcing campus closures in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, students’ lives became increasingly uncertain. Steady class schedules, club meetings and social gatherings disappeared, leaving students with an overwhelming sense of loss and chaos.
…Rabbi Melissa Simon, senior Jewish educator at North Carolina Hillel, found that her students wanted to use the few remaining weeks of the seminar to take their minds off of the chaos surrounding them.
“I asked students how they were feeling about the sessions, and they said it would be helpful to focus on parts of their lives unrelated to the virus,” Simon said. “They wanted to take a break from school and the stress of their daily lives while the rest of their routines kind of fell apart.”