Passover is next week. As we come together with our families and with our communities, I am reminded of the power of welcoming the stranger. It’s a lot of what we do at Hillel of San Diego.

Each year, hundreds of young people come through our doors, sometimes because their parents told them to, sometimes because their friends brought them, and sometimes because they are feeling like a stranger and want community. Each year we welcome them and celebrate them for who they are— through learning together, through shared meals, through late nights, and through lots of laughter. Every person who walks through the Hillel of San Diego doors no longer has to feel alone.

This year we are hosting seders at all four of our campuses and as one organization functioning across four universities, that means students have four opportunities to participate in the rich tradition of Passover. We are expecting nearly 500 participants to join us and I want to share what that really means.

That means that we’ve kashered our kitchens for Passover so that student leaders can come work with our team at the beginning of the week to learn how to cook a seder meal– empowering them to know how to create their own Jewish homes and host their own seders some day. That means that our staff are working with students to create unique Haggadahs that reflect the story in ways that are meaningful to them— teaching our next generation that they have the power to create their own Jewish practice that feels authentic for them. That means that Jewish students and their non-Jewish friends will come together and practice a tradition that generations of Jews have practiced for centuries— reminding each person that they are part of a special community.

That is the power of a Hillel of San Diego Passover experience. That is the power of Hillel of San Diego to help shape our collective Jewish future.

May your own Passover be filled with joy and good food!