As the Jewish community celebrates Passover this week, some UB students are finding it difficult to follow dietary customs that come with the major holiday.
To follow their traditions, some Jewish students have signed up for special lunches at Hillel, and many more have taken advantage of the Passover sections at Wegmans and Tops, but keeping kosher can still be hard on the UB campus.
Passover, which lasts for eight days, commemorates the Jewish exodus from slavery in Egypt with several traditional symbols. One of those traditions is to refrain from eating bread or any leavened bread products during the holiday.
"When the Jews were leaving Egypt they didn't have time to cook their dough," said Jordan Austin, a junior psychology major. "They didn't have time for the bread to rise so they had to bake it the way it was."
"That is why we eat matzah (unleavened bread) during Passover," said Andrew Weiss, a freshman business major.
Given the limited diet of those celebrating Passover, there are very few dining options on campus, especially with Bert's Kosher Deli closed for the semester.
"There are no places on campus that carry kosher food," Austin said.
"We aren't allowed to eat anything with yeast and corn syrup," said Maura Pellettieri, a freshman English major. "Only kosher foods."
The dining halls have kosher sections, but many Jewish students said the small tables are hardly enough.
Andrea Jacobs, director of Hillel, said some students who choose to celebrate Passover at UB gather at the Hillel office in The Commons.
"The (Faculty Student Association) pays for the kosher food used for the Passover celebration at UB and about 45 Jewish students attend," she said.
Weiss also bought food for his room at local supermarkets.
"I usually shop at either Martin's or Wegmans. Both have a pretty slim selection of kosher food," Weiss said.
Students closer to their families for the holiday said it's easier to keep kosher.
"My whole family usually keeps kosher so I don't have to worry about it when I am home," Pellettieri said.
"I was in Israel last year, and the whole country celebrates Passover so I didn't have to worry about it," said Danielle Bergman, a freshman undecided major.
According to Jacobs, the Jewish population makes up about 10 percent of UB undergraduates, or about 1,500 students.
Of those students, many of them are nonobservant for Passover, but for those that do celebrate, there is a lot to do in preparation for the week, Bergman said.
Some said they wished Bert's Kosher Deli would stay open during Passover, giving them another food option.
"You can't expect the university to accommodate all of the people celebrating Passover if they don't have enough staff," Austin said. "Hopefully in the future it can remain open."
This year, Passover started Saturday night and will run through this weekend. Along with the dietary laws, Jews celebrating Passover start the holiday with two meals called seders filled with prayer and more symbolism to remind participants of their ancestry.
"The word seder means order. We gather together and read the haggadah, which is a book that tells the story of our ancestors," Bergman said.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
