This Fall, I'm Rushing Hashanah

That’s right. After my rush week fomo last semester, I’ve decided to just go for it. My Bubbe always told me to reach for the stars. Now I’m making my dreams a reality.

I know it’s a difficult process to Rush Hashanah. For one, it’s a total nepo-hire situation. Your mom has to have been affiliated with Hashanah in order for you to even be considered for a spot in the pledge class. Pretty exclusive tbh. And at the start of closed rush, you have to vow to never eat a cheeseburger or BLT again. But it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make. 

The trouble really starts when you get a bid. I’ve heard the pledge masters are pretty brutal. Brother Jacob apparently makes the pledges swing live chickens over their heads while reciting prayers on Locust, and Brother Moishe forces them to blow the Shofar in the Van Pelt Reading Room. Not to mention Brother Abraham, who makes them toss bread into the Biopond, and Brother Elimelech, who puts them on a diet of solely apples and honey. 

On the day of their initiation, the pledge class must fast until sundown to atone for their sins. Their fast is broken with a Manischewitz wine chug – using the aforementioned Shofars as funnels – in the Hillel basement. Finally, the brothers hoist them up on chairs, marking their official entry into the Hashanah brotherhood. Everyone sings Hava Nagila and dances the Horah all night long.

Despite the intense hazing, I am so thrilled by the chance to be part of a society larger than myself. To Rush Hashanah has been the best decision of my Penn career.