On Wednesday September 30, the Heschel Interfaith club hosted students from the Cristo Rey School. Cristo Rey is a Catholic school based in East Harlem. While the majority of students at Cristo Rey are Catholic, the school provides a space for many students of other religions to safely, and peacefully practice their religions during the day. Students from Cristo Rey at our event represented many denominations of Christianity as well as some Muslim students. The students joined us and experienced some of the many minyaniim that Heschel has to offer such as Orthodox, Egalitarian and a Creative Expression Minyan. They joined us for breakfast in the Sukkah followed by a program in the new multi purpose room.
The Heschel students taught the students about the festival of Sukkot and explained the different customs and rules that goes along with the holiday. The Cristo Rey students presented on the similar themes from Sukkot that they see in the holidays they observe such as Palm Sunday. We sat in small groups to discuss the themes of Sukkot and how they apply to our own lives, and also had the opportunity to show some of the Cristo Rey students how to shake a lulav.
Yardena Gerwin
Grade 11