GreekChat.com Forums - On the other hand, seeing this more often would be great!

Wouldn't it be great to see more stories like this than the stupidity of KKK costumes at Halloween?

Indianapolis Star
October 1, 2002

Reason for hope amid the gloom of big stories

SANDY SASSO

As I sit to write this monthly column, I am overwhelmed by the big
stories in the news: the possibility of a war with Iraq, a shaky
economy, the ongoing crisis in the Middle East and the persistent
threat of terrorism.

I was just settling into the Jewish New Year. Echoes of prayers for
forgiveness and reconciliation still lingered in my mind and moved my
soul. In the synagogue, there was the hope for renewal. Yet the world
outside remained unchanged.

While we had been praying for peace, the world had been planning for
war. Then just as I was about to lose faith in the possibility of a
good year, I received an e-mail from a student at Butler University
that told a story of promise.

Hilary Edesess, a junior at Butler, and a number of students from
Hillel, the Jewish student organization on campus, had decided for
the first time in the history of the university to celebrate Sukkot
by building a Sukkah, a temporary shelter reminiscent of the tents in
the wilderness and the agricultural huts used during the harvest in
the land of Israel.

Sukkot is a weeklong festival, which recalls the 40 years of
Israelite wanderings in the desert after the Exodus and celebrates
with thanksgiving the harvest of the Promised Land.

None of the students knew much about building, but they managed to
create their own Sukkah out of wood, screws and random pieces of
metal. They were proud of their accomplishment. But later that
evening, as Hilary passed by the Sukkah on her way to homecoming
festivities, she noticed that the structure had completely collapsed.
A full day's work had turned into a pile of debris.

She speculated about the cause. Could it have simply been the result
of poor craftsmanship, an unfortunate act of nature or a deliberate
attempt at the desecration of a Jewish symbol?

Hilary wasn't sure the Sukkah could be repaired. All the metal braces
were badly misshapen. Nonetheless, she woke up the next morning
determined to find a couple of friends who could help reconstruct the
Sukkah. When she called her friend at the Phi Kappa Psi house on
campus, she was told that he and several other fraternity brothers
were outside.

When Hilary arrived at the Sukkah location, she did not find a pile
of debris. Instead she found 15 young men of Phi Kappa Psi with power
drills, saws and hammers. They had almost completely finished
restoring the Sukkah. None of the students who were helping to
rebuild the structure was Jewish.

While incidents of ethnic profiling and anti-Semitism have begun to
raise doubts about the ability of a diverse humanity to learn to live
together, a group of college students managed to teach us differently
and restore our faith.

The early Pilgrims modeled the holiday of Thanksgiving after the
biblical Sukkot. Sukkot is a time of rejoicing and hospitality.
Everyone is welcome in the Sukkah. The ancient rabbis also suggest
that messianic redemption will come during Sukkot. Every week, Jews
pray that a Sukkah, a canopy of peace, be spread over Jerusalem.

Well, a week ago, messianic redemption did not arrive, and a canopy
of peace was not spread over Jerusalem. World news did not get any
less somber. Nevertheless, 15 fraternity brothers taught us what it
will take to rebuild our world.

So, to the Jewish students who were eager to celebrate their Judaism
on campus and to the non-Jewish students who believed they had a
responsibility to make certain they could, we say "Way to go!"

Being true to our faith requires not only that we live out our own
particular religious tradition, but also that we help others to live
out theirs. The world situation may not improve in the days ahead,
but for one beautiful, sunny afternoon near the end of September, it
did. And that can be enough reason for hope.

Great work!