On Monday, Nov. 6, Hebros hosted its first-ever Hebros B’nai Mitzvah Reception. Kent State University students were invited to visit the Hillel Center to take part in games, enjoy food and learn about Jewish practices.
Hebros is a Jewish men’s student organization for Kent State students. The group partnered with Hillel to put on the B’nai Mitzvah Reception. The purpose of the event was to help Jewish students celebrate their culture and introduce Jewish culture to non-Jewish Kent State students.
“Our hope is to educate students on Jewish traditions, one of those traditions being the Bar or Bat Mitzvah,” said David Brondfield, a senior computer information systems major and president and founder of Hebros.
As students entered Hillel, they were greeted with festive decorations and music. Students had the opportunity to enter a raffle to win multiple prizes, including a PS5.
Students could then go down to the basement, where they could dance and deck themselves in glow-in-the-dark objects in true Bar and Bat Mitzvah fashion.
A Bar or Bat Mitzvah is a coming-of-age ceremony for a Jewish boy or girl and signifies when they become a Jewish adult. This means that they are responsible for their actions and how they would like to practice Judaism.
“The glow-in-the-dark accessories and batons along with the early 2000s music is very true to a Bat Mitzvah,” said Hannah Sietz, a first-year peace and conflict studies major.
Later in the night, there was an opportunity for people to read their speeches from their own Bar Mitzvahs and Bat Mitzvahs.
“These are speeches from when we were 12 or 13. My Bat Mitzvah was seven years ago, and so it was fun to go back and see what I wrote for my speech,” Emily Dubin, a junior psychology major, said.
People who did not have their own Bar or Bat Mitzvah also had space at the event to be able to read a speech that would have been said at their event.
It was a night of celebrating and learning as both Jewish and non-Jewish students enjoyed the event and festivities.