thursday,december 11,2003
news
the university daily kansan 7A
7A
University students to observe Hanukkah during break
By Meghan Brune
mbrune@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
As finals end this semester,
Hanukkah begins.
Hanukkah, or the Festival of Lights, begins at sundown on Friday, Dec. 19, and continues until Friday, Dec. 26.
The Jewish holiday falls during the Jewish month Kislev, and celebrates the rededication of the Jerusalem temple more than 2,000 years ago. The Maccabees fought against the Greeks to reclaim their temple. The holiday also celebrates the miracle of a single jar of oil that burned for eight days.
And even though the holiday includes a tradition of exchanging gifts, the holiday is more than a "Jewish Christmas."
Hanukkah is an important celebration, but not one of the high holidays in the Jewish religion, said Leah Rutman, a junior from Minneapolis, Minn.
Rutman said that Hanukkah was a time for her family to get together. She said her family had a big Hanukkah party every year with all her cousins. They did
exchange gifts, she said, but not one for each of the eight nights.
"I think that is more a tradition for younger children," she said.
Rutman said that other holiday traditions included playing Dreidel, eating latke — potato pancakes — and lighting a candle in the Menorah for each of the eight nights.
The Menorah put in the window of a home to publicize the miracle.
She said that it was hard to celebrate her first year of college because she was away from home during the holiday. Hanukkah sometimes falls earlier in December because the Jewish calendar is different than the Roman calendar, commonly used in the United States.
"This year will be nice because Hanukkah starts on the first day of break so people will be at home." Rutman said.
KU Hillel, the Jewish student organization, has opportunities for Jewish students to get together, celebrate and learn about the holiday every year, Rutman said.
This year Hillel has held two pre
"In America, Hanukkah gets celebrated to a higher degree than in other countries because of its proximity to Christmas."
Christmas."
Polii Kenn
Hillel program director
Hanukkah events to prepare students for the holiday, a Hanukkahthemed Shabbat dinner last Friday and a party on Monday.
Poli Kenn, the program director of Hillel, said it was a small holiday, and it celebrated religious freedom.
"In America, Hanukkah gets celebrated to a higher degree than in other countries because of its proximity to Christmas," Kenn said.
She said that her children were sometimes confused when they did not see Hanukkah celebrated in public.
She said some Jewish families
Freshmen Aly Abrams, Leawood; Daniel Craven, Prairie Village; David Cohen, Topeka; and Rachael Glynn, Orlando, Fla.; played Dreidel, a traditional Jewish game during a Hanukkah Party at Le wis Hall last night. Hanukkah starts at sundown Dec. 19 and ends eight days later on Dec. 26. The party was sponsored by KU Hilil, an organization for Jewish students.
had different traditions such as doing community service or giving gelt, a gift of money to family.
part of which is expected to be to make it special," Kenn said. donated to charity.
Everyone has their own way — Edited by Doyle Murphy
International student: U.S. has changed since Gulf War
By Meghan Brune
mbrune@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
A tear came to his eye when Sohel Khan thought about all the people who had helped him when he was a young international student.
Khan, now working on his doctorate in electrical engineering, has been a student at the University of Kansas since 1990.
He said he had seen positive changes in the University and the attitude toward international students. He has been proactive in making efforts to educate those around them about his background, he said.
In 1990, Khan came from Bangladesh to work on his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering. Shortly after Kahn arrived, the Persian Gulf War broke out. Kahn, who lived in student housing, started to get menacing phone calls.
"I would come home to phone messages abusing me," he said.
An active student in high school, Kahn said he tried to protest the war on Wescoe Beach, but he found no support.
"Campus was not open to different opinions at that time," Khan said. "People would just shout,'Muslim,'at me."
The most frustrating part of the harassment, Khan said, was that when he was being targeted as a Muslim, he was actually atheist.
Khan said he had a hard time finding a job on campus, and he
said he thought it was because of his name.
When Kahn came to the University, his name was Sohel Islam.
In his country, the tradition is not to take the father's last name. Last names are given to reflect an individual.
After talking to his sister, who was also studying in the United States, he decided to change his name to his father's last name, Khan.
"After I changed my name, I got a job." Khan said.
Khan said it was hard as an international student to be away from home and watch the coverage of the war.
"You see all these things happening away from your country and you can't call home," Khan
said. "And here, no one was listening to our point of view."
International Student Services provided a place for him and other foreign students to go and get support, Khan said.
"It was a place to sit," he said. "The counselors were equipped with an understanding of international cultures and issues."
Khan said when he came back to the University in 1996 to begin work on his masters degree, he felt a closer tie to the Muslim religion. He began practicing, but he said he was more liberal than many of the people he saw on the news.
After the terrorist attack in September 2001, Khan said that he thought Americans were more willing to learn and not be satisfied with stereotypes. He said this attitude was different than what he had seen during the Gulf War.
"Back then they didn't know about the world," he said. "If you asked an American where South America was, they would point to Africa."
This year, Khan started a student organization called KU Crescent. The members of the group represent a variety of religions. His goal for KU Crescent was to increase awareness of the Muslim community and foster interfaith conversations.
Jennifer Duffy, the public relations chair for KU Crescent, said she met Khan her freshman year when he walked up to her in Mrs. E's cafeteria.
up to people and talking," she said. "He has an amazing gift for reaching out to other people."
Duffy, a junior from Colorado Springs, Colo., said her exposure to other cultures was minimal before meeting Khan. Now she is comfortable with other ethnic backgrounds.
"After 9-11, I think people are skeptical of Muslims," Duffy said. "They don't know any Muslims, and they are too afraid to talk to them."
Duffy said that Khan wanted to encourage people to talk and to lose their stereotypes of Muslims.
"Sohel is the most energetic, generous person I've met," Duffy said.
— Edited by Doyle Murphy
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