The New Orleans Hillel Center kicked off the beginning of the fall school semester with a week of orientation events.

Hillel, the Jewish student organization for the New Orleans area, is a resource for Loyola, Tulane, Louisiana State University and University of New Orleans.

Festivities began Sunday with a Welcome Brunch.

More than 300 students from Loyola and Tulane and their families crowded into the Hillel Center at 912 Broadway St., to meet, greet and eat.

Students also filled out surveys about their interests.

Parents purchased T-shirts and holiday meals in advance before congregating at tables laden with bagels, cold cuts, fruit, coffee and orange juice.

Hillel is all about bringing students together, according to Kathryn Saffro, Jewish Student Life Coordinator.

“Students tend to meet other students on their floor and in their classes, and that’s it.

“More than anything, we want to provide an opportunity for [Jewish] students to meet each other.”

On Tuesday night, the crowd was back at the center for a barbeque.

During the school year, every Tuesday night from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., the Hillel Center serves a free kosher meal and is open for any activity students may want, whether it be using the big screen televison, playing foosball or studying.

This Tuesday, Hillel lay board member Alan Franco flipped burgers and hotdogs, the staff set out condiments and chips, and students, nervous about their impending first day of college or relaxing after their second, took the opportunity to talk with new friends or catch up with old ones.

Hillel took the party to campus Wednesday night with a firelit party on Tulane’s Sharp Quad. Students roasted marshmallows on barbeques and drank from root beer kegs. Students just walking by wandered over, drawn by the firelight and free food.

Tonight ends orientation week with Shabbat services in Tulane’s Rogers Chapel.

This will include candle-lighting and a musical, student-led service.

Afterward, students will celebrate the end of the first week of school in a tropical paradise: a luau-themed Shabbat dinner, complete with matzo-ball soup.

Students lead a wide variety of programs at Hillel, both on campus and in the community.

The orientation week is designed to introduce students to staff and their fellow students and allow them to become comfortable with the Hillel Center and atmosphere.

In the past three years, Hillel has gone from a rigidly structured organization with several specific board positions to a more loosely structured group that allows any student to create a program and get financing.

“We’re taking a step back and saying, ‘Welcome,'” Saffro said..

“It’s not about getting people to Hillel. We’re going out of our way to welcome students to college, New Orleans, and Jewish life on campus.

“We want to bring celebration to them on the campuses.”

After eating, Hillel Director Paige Nathan, Yoni Sunshine, and Johnathan Goldstein read off raffle winners at the Welcome Barbecue Tuesday night. Raffle prizes included Wing Zone gift certificates, T-shirts, and frisbees patterned as matzah. The raffle is a new addition this year to the Hillel Welcome barbeque. (Kate Kennedy)