University of Rhode Island students protected themselves from evil spirits by decorating their very own Hamsas on Thursday, Nov. 7 in the Norman M. Fain Hillel Center.
Director of Jewish student life Michael Schreiber has been hosting the Hamsa decorating event at the Hillel Center for years.
“This was kinda a crafting, wellness, self-care night put together by a couple of our students,” Schreiber said. “We had a couple of students come up with the idea to take care of themselves [and] connect with each other and we had this idea of doing a crafting night specifically around Hamsas.”
First-year students Sasha Greenberg and Maddie Reiser helped Schreiber in hosting the event.
Greenberg said that the Hamsa is a prominent Judaic symbol that performs as a protector to ward off evil spirits. The symbol can be compared to the Turkish Evil Eye, Greenberg said.
“We are decorating [Hamsas] tonight so that you can hang them in your dorm or keep them with you as a fun arts and craft activity,” Greenberg said. “[It’s] for members of URI to get together and to learn a little bit about the religion in case they didn’t know beforehand.”
The craft event started at 7 p.m. and ended shortly after 8 p.m. During the event, students gathered to decorate their Hamsa with a variety of paints, gemstones, yarns and other craft materials provided by Schreiber.
While creating personalized Hamsas, the students mingled with one another to learn more about each other. Reiser said that Hillel is a great place to meet new friends.
“It’s just a very welcoming environment that’s just definitely nice here – especially being Jewish with everything that is going on in the world right now,” Reiser said. “It’s just a very safe space where I know there is always someone to talk to.”
The Hillel Center is a welcoming space for both Jewish and non-Jewish students to come together and create a sense of community, Greenberg said.
“As [a] freshman it’s nice to have a place where you are able to express your religion and your belfies while also having the feeling of friendship and community,” Greenberg said.
Halfway into the event, Schreiber brought out another table to accommodate more space for students who join the event later on in the night. Schreiber made sure the event had the proper amount of resources to ensure all students could decorate a Hamsa.
Reiser and Greenberg concluded the event saying they felt accomplished with the turnout.
“We got to explain what the Hamsa was a little bit more so everyone understood more of the craft and what we were doing,” Reiser said. “I think everyone had a really fun time and got to know some of the other people that were here.”
As the event concluded, students shared with each other their fully-decorated Hamsas. Schreiber said he was overall very satisfied with the turnout of the students from the event.
“I’m very very glad to be able to service Jewish students and non-Jewish students in this space,” Schreiber said. “I was very pleased that we definitely met our goal.”
To learn more about upcoming events hosted by the Hillel Center for Jewish Students, visit their Instagram page at @uri_hillel.