Flooded With Challenges

The flooding may not have been biblical, but it was enough to cause $200,000 in damages to the University of Maryland’s Hillel building, the primary home for Jewish life on campus. 

A torrential rainfall, accompanied by a tornado warning, on Sept. 10 filled the building with ankle-deep water—soaking walls, ruining carpets and spoiling merchandise. 

Now leaders are seeking to raise funds to repair their building and serve Jewish Terps during the pandemic, even as they continue to complete a capital campaign for a new Hillel building.

And all this just eight days before the start of the High Holidays, the holiest time of year on the Jewish calendar. 

“Who would have thought my 25th year as a Hillel director would be my hardest?” wrote Ari Israel, executive director of Maryland Hillel, in a GoFundMe campaign. 

As the water swelled that Thursday afternoon, a text message went out to Jewish students on campus asking if anyone could come to the building to help. Soon, some 25 had arrived to vacuum, unclog drains and seal openings under doors.

Ashley Wilbur ’21 braved the rain to come to the Hillel building from her apartment in Terrapin Row. She taped electrical cords to walls to keep them away from water, stuffed old T-shirts into gaps under doors and moved anything off the floor that could get wet. 

Wilbur decided to lend a hand because of the crucial role Hillel has played in her college experience. “I’ve been going to Hillel since freshman year—it’s where I ate lunch, it’s where I would go to hang out and do homework, it’s where I met most of my friends from college,” she said. “It was important that I could give back to them so their building wouldn’t be ruined and it could continue to be used in the future.”

Students “trekked here in the middle of a downpour to salvage their Hillel,” said Elan Burman, assistant director of Hillel. “It speaks to the Maryland culture of caring and looking out for each other and not just living in an isolated bubble.”

The GoFundMe effort comes at a time when Hillel faces not just the emergency costs of flooding damage but is also working to raise $20 million for a new building to support the approximately 5,800 Jewish students at Maryland.  

On top of that, Hillel is also facing the unique challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to the crisis, Hillel has had to abandon its usual large-scale Friday night dinners and welcome-back barbecues, and has instead pursued a “highly individuated model, which is highly resource-intensive,” said Burman. The organization has launched a program in which student volunteers deliver care packages and kosher meals to students isolating and quarantining.

On Rosh Hashanah, Hillel offered outdoor, socially distanced, masked services for 50 students at a time at various spots on campus. Altogether, some 400 Terps attended. 

Yom Kippur, which will be observed Monday, has been beset by another complication: anticipated rain. As the flooding generally affected offices, most of the rooms typically used for prayer are still usable if indoor, reduced-capacity services are necessary. Other spaces on campus may also be used to accommodate the number of students who wish to attend. Students who want to observe the holiday but don’t feel comfortable gathering in person in small groups can participate through online services. 

“We feel completely overwhelmed and grateful for the extent of the response” to the joint crises, Burman said.