Dolphins swam past the Jenny Lynn, a USF St. Petersburg trawler, as Rabbi Ed Rosenthal lit the Havdalah candle before a group of 24 students, faculty and staff from USFSP, USF Tampa and Eckerd College. He fanned the flame and held it low to the deck of the boat, trying to shield it from the sea breeze.
The celebration on Saturday evening, just after sunset, signified the end of Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath day. It was the first official event for USFSP’s Hillel, a Jewish organization that seeks to unite Jewish students and staff and provide opportunities for them to explore their Jewish identity.
Performing Havdalah on a trawler is not a typical way to celebrate, but Rosenthal expressed fascination with the water.
“The greatest connection to God is water,” Rosenthal said. He quoted from Genesis 1:2, referencing a passage that states the spirit of God was hovering over the waters during the creation of the world. Rosenthal said the Hebrew word for hover most correctly translates to the present tense, meaning the spirit of God is currently hovering over the waters.
To celebrate Havdalah, Rosenthal passed around a chalice of wine, which represents gladness. He then passed around a ball of spices to remind those aboard the Jenny Lynn of the “sweetness of the Sabbath,” and lit a braided candle, which represents the intertwining of the sacred Shabbat to everyday life.
He encouraged the group to try viewing the light of the candle through their fingernails. This practice originates in the belief that the only vestige humans possess of the perfect bodies of Adam and Eve is the human fingernail. Rosenthal noted that when a fingernail breaks off, it has a rare beauty.
Regional Chancellor Sophia Wisniewska, who said she is Catholic, joined in on the celebration. As she leaned toward the candle, holding her fingernails close to the light, she explained her reason for attending.“I wanted to learn something new, experience something with the students and learn about this tradition,” she said.
Because USFSP has a small Jewish student population, it is the last university in the state’s West Coast region to have a Hillel. Rosenthal is the regional director for Hillel throughout the West Coast.
David Kopelman, a senior, discovered the organization through a leadership project he was working on. Kopelman, who also worked to start co-ed professional business fraternity Delta Sigma Pi on campus, reached out to Rosenthal to bring Hillel to USFSP.
No other Hillel events have been planned for USFSP, but Rosenthal said more are coming. He is trying to involve USFSP students in a birthright trip to Israel, which is a free 10-day trip for Jewish students between 18 and 26. If it happens, students will go during Winter Break.
