Almost every seat in the main hall of Hillel 818 was filled as the Jewish organization held its annual Mega Shabbat on Friday, Oct 18, welcoming the San Fernando Valley community to join in their end of the week celebration with song, prayer and food.
Fairy lights lined the walls of the main hall, and chairs filled the room, all facing the center. Rabbi Jess Yarkin, a full-time staff member at Hillel 818, sat in the middle with a group of student musicians who led the prayers.
Yarkin said that because their organization is typically only open for undergraduates, the purpose of Mega Shabbat is to allow friends and family members to experience their services, as well as give the Board of Directors an opportunity to see the program’s success through students’ voices.
“We had five different student speakers who all got to share from their perspective of how [they] felt boosted from [their] community this past year,” said Yarkin. “It really meant that our board members, community members, adults and everyone got to hear from the students, like how meaningful their Hillel experience has been.”
Cameron Sobelman, a Jewish Studies Major and vice president of Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity was one of the speakers. His message was about the current political and religious climate on CSUN campus.
“I think that right now it’s both the easiest and hardest time to be a Jew on campus. There are so many Jewish spaces that are becoming a lot larger,” said Sobelman. “It’s also harder because of the mixed rhetoric between antisemitism and other political activist groups, and I feel a lot of those discussions get muddied and make Jews feel unsafe.”
Sobelman described Shabbat as constant in his life, offering comfort during difficult times.
“It drives me throughout the week, I’m like, ‘oh I have Shabbat at the end, I always have Shabbat.’ It’s somewhat like a religious, mandatory relaxing day, like a self-care day,” said Sobelman.
During the dinner reception following the prayer, a table was set for eight hostages of Oct. 7 with a sign reading “We are not whole until they are all home”. Sobelman says this is common for almost every Jewish community center.
“I’m also a religious school teacher, at my Synagogue, we also have memorials and messages of bringing our hostages home,” said Sobelman.
Mega Shabbat was overseen by Executive Director Matt Baram. He said all of Hillel 818’s programs are free for everyone, so every dollar spent is fundraised. While they usually served home-cooked dinners to keep costs down, Mega Shabbat’s doubled attendance required them to hire a caterer.
“To get college students to RSVP in a timely manner… you know, that’s like the hardest part of the whole thing,” joked Baram.
Although Mega Shabbat is an annual event, it does not have a set date. The date is often chosen based on the weather.
“Usually it’s somewhere in October, November,” said Baram. “We want it to be nice enough to do the dinner outside because we can’t fit this many people around our tables inside.”
