A weekend that was supposed to be one of celebration for the UNM community turned into one of mourning and reflection following Tuesday's terrorist attacks on the East Coast.
Sundown today marks the beginning of Rosh Hashanah, also known as the Jewish New Year, and is the beginning of High Holy Days, which is the 10-day period that ends with Yom Kippur, or Day of Atonement.
Hillel at UNM, the Jewish community on campus, is adjusting its celebration to reflect last week's attacks.
"We're offering dinner at 5:30 p.m. as planned, but prior to that at 4 p.m. we will have a reflection circle where people can come, share their thoughts and ask questions," Hillel director Dina Berger said.
She said the group will emphasize that Rosh Hashanah is a time of renewal and reflection.
"As much as it is a celebration, it is a time for prayer and to consider our hopes for a great year," Berger said. "Everybody is just at a loss for words for what happened to the week, which will make this even more of a paradox - it's a half celebration. The new year is a time of vulnerability and the events that have transpired force us now, more than ever, to think about what we all really want - which is peace."
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The group decided to go on with its planned Rosh Hashanah dinner because it could play a part in the healing process, Berger said.
"Monday night begins the Jewish new year whether we want it to or not," she said. "We have to grieve and accept what has happened, but we cannot let it consume us."
Tuesday's attacks marked a major change for the United States and the world, Berger said, and she added that preparing for Rosh Hashanah has helped her students prepare to adjust to those changes.
"Hillel is supporting a really strong evaluation and commitment for peace," she said. "We know that we are on a college campus where conversations about Israel and Palestine come up a lot, and now we really need to make sure those are peaceful conversations. Feeding hate doesn't help us at a time like this."
Berger was in Los Angeles during the terrorist attacks, and returned to Albuquerque Thursday night after a 25-hour train ride. She said that the Albuquerque Jewish community has done a great job reaching out and welcoming her students in her absence.
"People really turn to their faiths in times of crisis, and I was inundated with messages from students when I got back," she said. "I think we will all be ready to really embrace the true meaning of Rosh Hashanah. In America, and in Judaism, it's really a time of reflection and honoring the past. I think that's why, if anything, this year will have more meaning than just a superficial Jewish holiday."
While Hillel has been able to adjust, students from El Centro de la Raza canceled an event planned for Friday that would have celebrated el diecisÇis de septiembre, or Sept. 16, which is Mexican Independence Day.
"The biggest reason we cancelled it was obviously because of the attacks," said Chriselle Heredia, a UNM student and one of the organizers of the event. "There weren't a whole lot of people who felt comfortable proceeding with that kind of a celebration when it was really a time of mourning. We just didn't feel it was a good idea."
The celebration, which the students had been working on since the first day of school, would have included a Mexican flag-raising ceremony and a reading of "El Grito," or the Mexican Declaration of Independence, originally read by revolutionary leader and priest Miguel Hidalgo on Sept. 16, 1810.
"We were also concerned about our safety because you really can't bring together a big group of people saluting another country's flag so soon after an attack on America," Heredia said. "It doesn't feel right glorifying another country. We're all Americans and we feel what everyone else is, so we decided just not hold our celebration."
Heredia said it was a major decision that the group decided to cancel the ceremony.
"This is the biggest event we put together all year, and it means a lot because the campus has so many people of Mexican descent," she said. "It represents a celebration of our ancestors who died in the fight for liberty and freedom. It's not the type of thing we would just brush off. It's really a big deal."
The group hopes to adjust and hold some sort of event this week, Heredia said.
"Hopefully we can put something on as a time of reflection to take a moment to think about what happened on the East Coast and about the indigenous people in Mexico, who we really think about during independence day," she said. "It would be a time to reflect on things going on around the world."
by Iliana Lim¢n
Daily Lobo
