It has been a solemn 10 days for practicing Jews and an important time for DePauw's chapter of Hillel, a national Jewish student organization.
The Days of Awe, or the High Holy Days, began with Rosh Hashanah, which fell on Sunday, Sept. 16, and finished with the end of Yom Kippur at nightfall Wednesday.
Rosh Hashanah, commonly known as the Jewish New Year, is a time for Jewish people to start thinking about the mistakes they made in the past year and to make resolutions for the next year. Yom Kippur is when the repentance begins.
Hillel enables local college and university communities with smaller Jewish populations to celebrate Jewish life on campus, and the many facets of Yom Kippur.
"You are not supposed to work at all, not even homework," Adam Cohen said, DePauw's Hillel faculty advisor.
Cohen said this prohibition of work is based on religious obligations and that Jews are also expected to fast for 25 hours.
"It is a difficult time, but we do the best we can," Cohen said.
Even for non-practicing Jews, this is considered to be an incredibly important holiday. Similar to Christians who say they only go to church on Christmas and Easter, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are comparable to those two days for Jews.
The central themes for Yom Kippur are atonement, repentance and confession of sins. Intensive prayer, fasting and time spent in the synagogue is typical for Jewish people observing this holiday. The purpose of Yom Kippur is to bring about reconciliation between individuals and God.
During the time of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, a common practice is to seek out people that one has wronged during the past year. A person asks for forgiveness and, if possible, corrects the wrong that has been done. Yom Kippur is viewed as a spiritual and moving day, because if one has observed the holiday properly by the end of Yom Kippur, Jews believe that they will have made peace with others and with God.
The number of Jewish students enrolled at DePauw is less than 30, a small number even at a school of 2,390 students. Though undersized, sophomore Alex Alfonso, the Hillel chapter president, said the Jewish community on campus is still diverse.
"All of us come from various religious and faith backgrounds within Judaism," Alfonso said. "This makes for a very unique blending of traditions in our services, as well as unique interpretations about this important holiday and its traditions."
Sophomore Melanie Studnicka, last year's Interfaith Jewish Intern at the Center for Spiritual Life, also offered details of her experience with the community.
"The diversity within the Jewish community allows me to further explore my own faith and what it means to me," Studnicka said. "I have developed friendships within the Jewish community that have challenged my own Jewish identity."
The ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur constitute a great bonding experience for the Jewish community.
The Center for Spiritual Life hosted Yom Kippur Morning service and Torah service Wednesday morning and a "Break the Fast" closing service Wednesday night. However, experiencing the holiday on campus is different for students than it would be at home.
In addition to the religious emphasis surrounding Yom Kippur, it is also considered to be a time to celebrate with family and friends, which can be difficult for students who are away from their homes and religious communities.
"It's hard," Cohen said. "You're away from home, not around the services you are used to."
Yet, no matter where the students are, celebrating Yom Kippur while in college is a challenge. Though this is a holy day, it is not meant to be festive. It is very solemn and personal, which can make a student's routine activities hard to complete.
But for DePauw students, the services and events hosted by Hillel provide a sense of familiarity and tradition, as well as a chance to participate in the traditional services and practices.