Bar-Ilan University’s International School celebrated Indian Holi with students from both BIU’s main campus in Ramat Gan and it’s Faculty of Medicine in Safed. Ms. Rakhee Mayuri, the first secretary of the Embassy of India in Israel, was an honored guest at the event. She was joined by Prof. Moshe Lewenstein, BIU’s deputy president, staff from the International School, Indian and other international students, and Israeli students.
Holi is a popular ancient Hindu festival, also known as the “Festival of Love”, the “Festival of Colors”, and the “Festival of Spring”. It is also a festival that celebrates the triumph of good over evil. It is a playful, joyous cultural event with singing and dancing and people throwing colored powder and water balloons at each other.
According to Suman Acharyya, a postdoctoral fellow in the Complex Networks Dynamics Lab in BIU’s Mathematics Department, and one of the organizers of the Holi Festival event, Holi is celebrated differently all over India.
“The most common celebration of Holi starts with a bonfire on the night before (like Lag B’Omer for Jews) and the next day, people come out and play with friends, family, and strangers throwing both powdered colors and watered colors,” he said.
Prof. Moshe Lewenstein
Prof. Lewenstein opened the event and welcomed Ms. Mayuri as well as staff and students from both campuses. All participants in the event had a green pass or vaccination certificate.
Ms. Mayuri was asked to say a few words. She spoke about how wonderful it was to see the effort that the university makes for the community of Indian students. She was happy to mention how the Embassy, the university, and the students had previously celebrated Diwali together and now the same for Holi, and she expressed a wish to see more students from India be integrated into Bar-Ilan University.
(L-R) Trishna Saha and Suman Acharyya
During the event, participants learned about the significance of Holi, including its mythological importance from Trishna Saha, a student in the Faculty of Medicine, before bringing out the colors and throwing them at each other. Many games were played and some of the Indian students performed traditional dances.
“This year’s celebration was very special for two reasons,” Acharyya said. “The first is the obvious reason. We are finally getting back to our normal lives after more than a year of lockdowns and social distancing. The second reason is that we finally had our friends from the Safed campus come to celebrate an event with us for the first time.
“We have celebrated a few Indian festivals at Bar-Ilan University with the help of the International School since I arrived here in 2018. I must say, we have an amazing International School team here. All the earlier celebrations were fantastic, but this Holi celebration is the best till now. We enjoyed it so much with the International School staff and the other students,” he said.
Yael Toledano, director of Academic Visits and Events at the International School agreed. “We all had a great time celebrating Holi with the students. Our campus turned red, green, and yellow as people threw colored powder into the air and at each other. Each color carries a meaning during Holi. Red, for example, symbolizes love and fertility while green stands for new beginnings. We also had a tasty meal that included typical Indian food and were entertained by traditional music and dance.
“After such a long period of social distancing, it was great to share this incredible moment with our students, to learn about their culture, and to be with them when they bring a taste of home to Israel, even for one day,” she said.
Nadav Weil is a first-year Political Science and Communications student who was born in Israel and grew up in the US. He too was excited to be sharing the Holi celebration on campus.
“Holi is a wondrous notion to me,” he said. “The plethora of vibrant colors and the religious meaning behind the festival were so meaningful. It was great when Trishna explained everything to us so we’d understand what was happening.
“My favorite parts of the event were undoubtedly the two Indian students who entertained us with a few traditional Indian dances as well as the adorable toddler of one of the students,” Weil said.
Trishna Saha and Suman Acharyya closed the event with words of thanks.
“We thank Prof. Lewenstein and Prof. Dekel for their unconditional support of us, and the first secretary, Ms. Rakhee Mayuri, for being with us today despite her very busy schedule. We are thankful to all who have come from the Safed campus to make today’s event a successful one.
“Finally, we thank you all for your participation in making today’s event more colorful. Without your active participation, it would’ve been too boring!”
See more photos from the celebrations here.
