What we do

Butterflies made by Whitman students during our Yom Hashoah Memorial

Hillel-Shalom is a very active organization on campus. In addition to offering a wide range of special programs to Shalom members and the broader Whitman community, we schedule regular programs including:

• Weekly celebrations of Shabbat at "Fridays @ Five." Hillel-Shalom members gather to light the Sabbath candles, snack on student-baked challah and traditional sweet wine, and schmooze with friends. 
• Monthly gatherings at Congregation Beth Israel. The local synagogue offers monthly services on the first Friday of the month.
• Social events. These events are a chance for students to gather just for fun. A social event might be a movie night, a pizza party, a group discussion, or a night at the bowling alley in Walla Walla... We always welcome new event ideas!
• Tzedakah. As is traditional, Hillel-Shalom members participate in service projects in the Walla Walla area.
• Holiday celebrations. Congregation Beth Israel hosts services for the High Holidays in Fall, as well as celebrations for other major holidays. Hillel-Shalom members organize and lead a Passover Seder each spring.
• Group Retreat. This event is a favorite among Hillel-Shalom members. Students gather off-campus for an evening or overnight of discussion, eating and celebration.
• Yom Hashoah events. Usually co-sponsored with the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life, the group brings a Holocaust survivor or scholar and creates a educational display in the Reid Campus Center. For example, as the names of children who died in the Holocaust were read, origami butterflies were created. The project was Inspired by "I Never Saw Another Butterfly," a book of children's poems and artwork from the Terezin Ghetto.

In addition to these regular programs, Hillel-Shalom is proud to present special events and occasional guest speakers. Guest have included:

• Musical groups including Shawn's Kugel, The Mazeltones, and The Abbas and Imas
• Performer and producer Ben Sidran, formerly of the Steve Miller Band - BenSidran.com
• Notable Holocaust speakers such as Klaus Stern and Alicia Appleman-Jurman
• Prize-winning author and Holocaust educator Yaffa Eliach (who designed an exhibit featured at the National Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C.)