New Hillel Inaugurated

President Neil L. Rudenstine dug in yesterday, officially inaugurating the groundbreaking for the construction of Rosovsky Hall, Hillel's new building.

Several others, including Geyser University Professor Henry Rosovsky, for whom the new building is named, participated in the ceremony and symbolically overturned the moist earth at the construction site.

"The new building is to represent the specialness of the group's condition, but also the openness of the group's condition," Rudenstine said of the Hillel membership before an audience of 110 students, faculty and benefactors, who huddled beneath a tarp to stay out of the rain.

Construction on the site, located at the corner of Mount Auburn Street and Plympton Street on the former site of the Fly Club garden, began two weeks ago. The new building is expected to open during commencement week in June 1994.

Just as the ceremony ended, the sun came out, an omen that did not fail to cheer Rosovsky. "It's a terrific sign. Everything is fine."

"There are few things that would have made me as proud as this," said the professor, who is also a member of the Harvard Corporation and a former dean of the Faculty.

Joshua Z. Heller '94, the vice-chair of Hillel's Coordinating Council, said the new building would be "a sanctuary, both in its application as a place of worship, and in the sense of being a place where people can come and feel safe."

Rosovsky said after the ceremony, "My hope is that the building will not isolate the community, but will become an integral part of the services to the Jewish community and to the com- munity at large."

Rabbi Sally Finestone, acting director of Hillel, led the audience in the recitation of the Shehechiyanu, a Jewish prayer of thanksgiving. She then introduced Miznor Shir, the newly formed Hillel Choir, which sang one song.

The architect of the project, Moshe Safure, also addressed the audience. Safure said he designed the building to be a manifestation of the Jewish presence at Harvard."

The building plan contains several worship halls for different Jewish groups, yet each hall is unfinished, he said.

"Each room is incomplete, so that in the final account we all remember that each service is part of the whole.

Rabbi Sally Finestone, acting director of Hillel, led the audience in the recitation of the Shehechiyanu, a Jewish prayer of thanksgiving. She then introduced Miznor Shir, the newly formed Hillel Choir, which sang one song.

The architect of the project, Moshe Safure, also addressed the audience. Safure said he designed the building to be a manifestation of the Jewish presence at Harvard."

The building plan contains several worship halls for different Jewish groups, yet each hall is unfinished, he said.

"Each room is incomplete, so that in the final account we all remember that each service is part of the whole.