The Jewish Culture Club works to promote Jewish culture and reinforce its timeless traditions. The club also seeks to educate other students at WJ about the unique Jewish customs and beleifs.
“The purpose of the club is to celebrate Jewish culture and holiday customs,” said co-president senior Aylat Lifshitz.
The club’s meetings usually take place around Jewish holidays. Recently, the club hosted a chocolate seder to celebrate the upcoming Passover celebration. The club also built sukkot, structures typically built during this fall holiday, out of graham crackers and celebrated Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, with apples and honey. On Purim, club members filled hamnestashen, a baked pastry that is supposed to represent the ear of Haman, an evil man who attempted, and failed, to eradicate the Jews in his land, and ate them.
“You don’t have to be Jewish to come to meetings and some people come because they’re curious to know about a holiday that isn’t as well-known as Rosh Hashana,” said Lifshitz. “ In this community acceptance is not a huge problem, but I think it’s good that other people can learn about different religions and cultures because the more you know, the more accepting you can be.”
The club tries to incorporate food into all of its meetings because food is a fundamental aspect of Jewish culture. Foods can represent different historic occurrences and are used to commemorate these occasions. The Jewish Culture Club uses the rich culinary traditions to attract members amd educate others about Jewish traditions.