Ritual and Holidays

Often one feels the desire to be close to community during holidays. As a result, the Jewish life program tries to encourage community around these ritual celebrations either by marking these holidays through events on campus or accommodating students to access the Jewish resources of greater Richmond as a group. Weekly, as a campus community, on Friday nights we come together for Welcoming Shabbat. We also celebrate Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Hanukkah, Purim, and Passover as a community with ritual and social events on and off campus.

Shabbat

"More than Jews have kept Shabbat, Shabbat has kept the Jews." - Ahad Ha'am

As a ritual and communal practice, we welcome Shabbat every Friday. Most Fridays at 5:30pm there is Welcoming Shabbat where we join together to light the candles, drink the wine, eat challah, and say blessings over it all. In addition, we sing, share stories, laugh, and celebrate. Some weeks there are special dinners, programs, or themes for our celebrations.

About once a month, we host Shabbat on the Town where students travel from campus to a local congregation, celebrate Shabbat there, and have dinner as a community.

If you are looking for more additional worship opportunities off-campus, please explore the other Jewish Worship opportunities in Richmond.