The Making Of...

Covering this story was simply a matter of making sure I was in the right place at the right time. As soon as Prof. Nicholson gave me the idea to cover Rosh Hashanah, I knew exactly whom I wanted to use as a source and exactly what I wanted to ask the source about. Luckily, in my past experiences with the Hillel at SU I have gained a vast knowledge of how things work there and who is in charge, so contacting my source was easy. Once I set an appointment to make sure he knew I was coming, all I had to do was go on with my schedule for the day: attending services. After services, where I had to tactfully hold up my recorder while going unnoticed, problems started to arise. I soon figured out why working on deadline can create a lot of stress. My services (reform services, held at the Hillel center) let out around noon. The conservative services, though, went significantly longer. In fact, that service didn't let out until 1 p.m. My source, the Executive Director of the Hillel, who happened to have been experiencing his first Rosh Hashanah as Executive Director, was at the conservative services. He left early to come meet me, but by the time he got to the Hillel, there was a bit of a food crisis. Reform attendees had been eating for about 30 minutes already, and they were beginning to run out of food. I was able to steal him away from his duties for 15 minutes, where he told me about all of this and also opened my eyes to the fact when Syracuse is in session, the school adds 40% to the total Jewish population in Syracuse. Lowell Lustig really told me a lot about how Hillel accommodates so many people during the High Holiday season and Passover, which happens in the spring.