Three Schools Join Canterbury for Hanukkah Party

Canterbury’s Jewish Student Association (JSA) once again hosted a wonderful Hanukkah party this year in the Steers Center, but with a new twist—three other schools joined the festivities! We welcomed students from The Frederick Gunn School, Kent School, and Trinity-Pawling School to campus to help celebrate this joyous Jewish holiday. 

“During one of our JSA meetings, the students talked about possibly getting together with Jewish students from area schools,” said Director of Information Technology Matt Glaser ’81, Co-Faculty Advisor along with Director of Community Life EJ Soifersmith P ’27, ’27. “The Hanukkah party seemed like a perfect way to get started with that. We were happy that three of the schools we invited came.” 

JSA student leader Noam Hoffman ’24 was pleased with the results as well. “Having other schools attend the Hanukkah party turned out to be a great success,” he said. “It was about being connected to the community and showing people who we are and what we do. I enjoyed stepping back and seeing how many students were there—it was impressive!”

Now in its third year, the Hanukkah party featured some of the holiday’s traditional foods—Matt’s famous latkes with applesauce, Hanukkah gelt and other candy, Hanukkah cookies, and sufganiyot (jelly donuts). Surrounded by festive seasonal decorations, attendees enjoyed activities such as the dreidel game, Hanukkah gingerbread house kits, ping pong, and the lighting of the menorah. 

It was indeed a fabulous show of solidarity between the four schools—often athletic rivals during the year—in the true spirit of the holiday season. “We are already talking about what our next combined event will be,” Matt added.

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