Ella Kitchens, Editor-in-Chief
Denison’s Jewish student organization Hillel and the Spiritual Life Center (SLC) held a Passover Seder open to the Denison community on April 2, the second night of Passover.
The Welsh Hills Room in the Burton D. Morgan Center was filled with students and faculty commemorating the Jewish peoples’ exodus from Egypt during Hillel’s biggest event of the year.
The word Seder means “order” in Hebrew. The Passover Seder at Denison followed the order of 14 steps retelling the story of the Jewish peoples’ liberation from slavery in Egypt that occurred around 1313 B.C.E. On the nine round tables in the Welsh Hills Room were Passover Haggadahs, guides to the Seder.
Hillel and the SLC have been planning for this event for nearly the entire year, with food provided through Harvest Table and made by executive members of Hillel.
“We talked to them extensively about creating a menu for this event that would be kosher. So that’s what we got,” said Nicole Cohen-Sabban ‘26, president of Hillel.
In 2025, the Passover Seder was held in Moon Hall, but the Welsh Hills Room provided more space. The event required a lot of preparation working with the SLC.
“We do get some funding through the SLC, because obviously this event takes a lot of money to put on,” said Jonah Sela ‘28, treasurer of Hillel. “You can’t really get a cheap catering thing for like 70, 80 people. But that’s the biggest thing. We went through the quotes and stuff. We had to rent out the halls.”
“It’s a lot of work, it’s very gratifying, and I was very happy with the turnout this year and how much fun everyone had,” Cohen-Sabban said.
Leading the Seder was Angelo Dunlap, Denison’s Jewish life coordinator.
“For this [event], I help procure the items and since I do the Seder often in other places as well, I’m familiar with it,” said Dunlap. “Usually for the planning process between the house doing things and Hillel doing things, I also help. It’s a team, so it’s me, the SLC, and Hillel working together to do it.”
Dunlap, who also works as music director at Columbus Jewish Day School, arranged the songs and prayers he led throughout the night.
He picked out the song “Dayeinu,” meaning “it would be enough,” because of its message about gratitude.
“In the song specifically it talks about receiving the Torah, receiving freedom, getting Shabbat, all those things,” said Dunlap. “One of the core pillars of Judaism is being grateful for what you have and being happy with what’s in front of you because you never know when it could be gone.”
One of the prayers for the Seder also referenced a struggling nation, with the title “Especially This Year, a Prayer for Our Country.” Dunlap said that his final song also alluded to current times.
“The last song I did was Brich Rachamana,” said Dunlap. “That’s a prayer you’re supposed to say when you’re starting to run out of time usually or if you’re being chased by bandits. Like there’s literally a story that says only use this if you’re being chased by bandits. And I feel as though time is a bandit sometimes.”
“The main idea about Passover is remembering lest we not forget,” said Dunlap. “Because we don’t want to just go into the future and forget where we came from… so the idea is to remember so we as a people, Jewish people across the planet, will not lose our identity because this is one of those things that links all of us together.”
Apart from just the Passover Seder, Hillel works to create a safe space for Jewish students through weekly Shabbat dinners and other events. Not only Jewish students are welcome at Hillel, students of any background are encouraged to attend any events.
“I think that providing that space where you feel welcomed makes a difference so we’ve really been trying to open that community and help build that community here at Denison,” said Cohen-Sabban.