Oct. 7 will mark the one year anniversary since the largest terror attack in Israel’s history and the largest Israeli civilian massacre ever. In October of 2023, 364 people were killed at the Supernova Sukkot Gathering (a music festival) by the Islamic Nationalist militant group Hamas, and 40 were taken hostage.
With the impact of such an event reaching those outside of Israel as well, the Jewish groups across the globe have been finding ways to bring back hope to communities not only in relation to the Oct. 7 tragedy, but also in regards to the Israel-Hamas war itself.
One of these groups can be found on UNLV’s campus. On Sept. 24, Chabad at UNLV hosted a festival, “Let Here Be Light!” at Alumni Amphitheatre from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., free of charge for anyone who wanted to stop by.
Activities at this festival included making an artistic Jewish wearable, making beaded jewelry with one’s Hebrew name, participating in a mitzvah, spray painting with Hebrew stencils, taking pictures in front of a Western Wall photo op, eating Jewish kosher cuisine, putting on tefillin, singing, dancing and watching a demonstration of how a shofar is made.
Cody Poura, a third year student at UNLV, said “It’s so exciting. I can’t say I’ve ever seen a shofar being made before, so it’s definitely fun. It had a lot of meaning to me that we’re able to be proud and on campus and religious at the same time.”
One of the major goals of this event is for attendees to be able to enjoy themselves proudly, Jewish-ly and joyfully. Chabad hopes that their presence is felt on campus and in a positive light.
Poura claimed the significance of this event has on the community of Las Vegas is “Huge, huge, huge. Just to get it out there that there is a Jewish community on campus is huge by itself, and then for people to come off campus to come and see what’s going on. There’s passerbys right now staring, and I love to see it.”
Freshman UNLV student and president of Chabad Aviva Hafter emphasized that this is the first year UNLV has put on this event courtesy of Chabad International. With so many in the local community impacted by the war overseas, the aim was to bring light to the Jewish communities on campus.
“I think a lot of the time hope can be lost, especially in the Jewish community with what’s going on in Israel right now. An event like this kind of just brings the community together, brings light and makes everybody just feel comfortable and like they’re at home,” said Hafter.
Chabad at UNLV is an organization on campus that meets multiple times a week and is intended to bring a sense of community to Jewsih students on campus, whether they be local or away from home during their collegiate experience.
“I hope the people who come to this event will leave kind of gaining a feeling for a sense of community and that they’re not alone, especially in times like this. There is light in the world,” Hafter said.
Even for those who are not Jewish, the “Let Here Be Light” festival was meant to be a welcoming setting, one where students of any background can stop by, say hello, get some good food and get to know a bit more about the Jewish community.
Poura said, “I’ve definitely gained a better understanding of why we do some things that Jewish people do. On top of that, I think it’s important to just gain the eye of the community and get an understanding that everybody’s here, everybody’s happy and everybody’s very loving and welcoming. People have a lot of misconceptions about communities before. To come up and say hello, it makes all the difference with that.”
For those interested in Chabad UNLV, Poura urges students to keep an eye out for Chabad posters around campus because there’s always free food and a good time.
