<body><div>The Rothenberg Hillel House celebrated its 10th anniversary with a rededication service on Friday. The service featured comments from Jewish Chaplain and Director of Hillel Marc Bragin, building namesake Alan E. Rothenberg ’67 P ’96 H ’10, President Julie Kornfeld and others, as well as performances from the Chamber Singers. A reception followed the service, featuring homemade challah, kosher hors d’œuvres and live music; there was also an RSVP-only dinner held in the Peirce Alumni Dining Room for students, faculty, alumni and guests.Initially dedicated on Oct. 24, 2014, the Rothenberg Hillel House provides all students, regardless of faith, a place to engage with and support Jewish life on campus. The building features a kosher kitchen, dining room, chapel, student lounge and the Chaplain’s office. Kenyon’s Hillel House is a part of the broader Hillel International consortium, which has over 850 college and university locations around the world. According to the Hillel International website, Kenyon ranks 41st of the top 60 colleges and universities chosen by prospective Jewish students. More than 15% of the College’s students are Jewish, according to Kenyon College Hillel.“Knowing that Kenyon had a Hillel was a big deciding factor in me going here,” Sadie Martinez ’27 said in an interview with the Collegian. “I really wanted to know that I was going to have a place to go for the holidays and I was going to be able to have a strong connection with Judaism while I was at school.”Bragin estimates over a hundred people attended the rededication, including Kenyon students, alumni and faculty.“So many people from campus, the surrounding community and from out of town, came together to celebrate this wonderful occasion,” Bragin wrote in an email to the Collegian. “It is heartwarming to see the donors realize the positive impact that their building has made on campus.”Friday’s service opened with remarks from Bragin, who emphasized the importance of the Rothenberg Hillel House on campus.“Literally, over the past 10 years, thousands of people have come through these doors,” Bragin said. “It is so amazing that this community recognizes the Rothenberg Hillel House — this place — as a place of safety, as a place of belonging and as a part of this community.”Principal Architect Peter Bloomfield reflected on his work with Bragin and Rothenberg on the Hillel House, before Hillel House Manager Olivia Braun ’27 spoke about the impact the Hillel House has had on her experience at Kenyon.“Kenyon Hillel has truly become my home away from home, and I think that that sentiment rings true for most of the students in this room,” Braun said in her remarks. “Not only is Hillel the place we go to gather on Shabbat and celebrate our group of Jewish holidays, Hillel is the place we go when we need a home-cooked meal, Hillel is the place we go when we need a quiet place to do homework or we want to watch a movie with our friends. Hillel is the place we gather as a community at the end of a very long week.”Hillel International Campus Support Director Ronit Sherwin described the impact of the Rothenberg Hillel House through the Talmud’s story of Honi and the Carob Tree, comparing the Hillel House to the tale’s carob tree: planted not for immediate, personal gratification, but for the benefit of the generations to follow.Following a performance of the prayer Yihiyu L’ratzon, sung by the Chamber Singers, Bragin asked the congregation to rise before presenting a new, silver brush plate cover for the Torah. Gifted by Associate Professor of Music Ross Feller and Assistant Professor of Dance Kora Radella, the Torah cover is adorned with depictions of the 12 Tribes of Israel.“The 12 Tribes mean history and connection with each other, and that’s exactly what Torah means as well,” Bragin explained. “We are all connected. We are all family. We are all shared history together.”Bragin adorned the Torah with its new cover, before inviting attendees to join him in reciting the Shechechiyanu prayer to celebrate the gift.Kornfeld, the College’s first Jewish president, spoke about the role the Hillel House plays in student life on campus, specifically noting the support it has offered Jewish students following Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.“Rothenberg Hillel House is, at its word, a home for everyone, open to all, regardless of their beliefs,” Kornfeld said. “Its programming, including the weekly Shabbat celebrations, bring together a diversity of students, faculty and staff in an always welcoming environment.”Rothenberg shared his experience of Jewish life at Kenyon. When Rothenberg first arrived as a student in September 1963, the College lacked a designated space for Jewish students on campus.“There were more than a handful, but less than two handfuls of Jews on campus,” Rothenberg told attendees. “Occasionally we’d have a service, more small… and often we’d have a dinner at a faculty house. But the Jewish faculty, by far, outnumbered the number of Jewish students.”When Rothenberg’s daughter, Sara Rothenberg ’96, attended the College, Rothenberg realized that there were many more “handfuls” of Jewish students than before, with no place to come together and no full-time Jewish chaplain. Following a discussion with former Kenyon President Robert Allen Oden, Rothenberg raised funding for the endowment of a full-time Jewish chaplain. The College also donated the Kat House, an old women’s dorm, to Hillel.Though Kenyon finally possessed a Hillel house, the Kat House was decrepit, with a cracking foundation and slanted floors. It didn’t even have enough space to celebrate the High Holidays, which had to be held across campus in Weaver Cottage instead. When the College announced in 2004 that the Kat House needed to be torn down, Rothenberg saw an opportunity to raise funds to build the Hillel House that stands on West Brooklyn Street today.Rothenberg attested to the significance of the Hillel House to the Jewish community. “Whether you’re Jewish or not Jewish, it’s a loving place for people to come together to celebrate and to build community, which we need so much more of in the world we find ourselves in here today,” he said.Toward the end of the service, the Chamber Singers performed the Prayer of Peace, Oseh Shalom, before Bragin blew tekiah on the shofar. Friend of both the Rothenbergs and of the College, 11th Bishop of Ohio Mark Hollingsworth offered a benediction, as he did at the building’s initial dedication. Hillel House Managers Braun, Martha Chestnut ’27 and Charlotte Hecht ’25, ended the service by leading attendees through the Shabbat blessing.“I did not know the history of the Hillel House at all,” Martinez said, reflecting on the event. “I knew it was relatively new, but I wasn’t sure how Hillel had started at Kenyon, or anything like that. And so getting to hear essentially the conception of Jewish life here at Kenyon was really spectacular.”“I think it’s an old Hasidic saying… It says that you’re alive as long as someone remembers you,” Bloomfield said in his remarks. “My hope is that there will be experiences in this building — the people you meet, the things you learn — that will go on in your lives, and maybe in the lives of your children, long after the building may not even sit here anymore.”“The past 10 years the Jewish population at Kenyon has grown and it continues to grow with each incoming class of students,” Bragin wrote. “The Rothenberg Hillel House provides a safe, welcoming and warm environment for students and the community to gather together.”Olivia Braun ’27 is a sports editor for the Collegian.</div></body>

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Hillel’s 10-year rededication offers glimpse into the past

The Rothenberg Hillel House celebrated its 10th anniversary with a rededication service on Friday. The service featured comments from Jewish Chaplain and Director of Hillel Marc Bragin, building namesake Alan E. Rothenberg ’67 P ’96 H ’10, President Julie Kornfeld and others, as well as performances from the Chamber Singers. A reception followed the service, featuring homemade challah, kosher hors d’œuvres and live music; there was also an RSVP-only dinner held in the Peirce Alumni Dining Room for students, faculty, alumni and guests.