The Pavilion will extend its hours of operation to allow students more accessibility to kosher-for-Passover dining options during the eight days of the holiday. In a change from last year, the Pavilion remained open during the first two nights of Passover and will be open over the weekend.
During normal days, the Pavilion is not open from Friday evening through Monday morning, and during last year's Passover holiday, the Pavilion stayed closed through the first two nights of the holiday. Pavilion Manager Robert Lester said he did not recall whether the Pavilion reduced its hours last year, but said that he determines the Pavilion's hours each year based on the recommendations of Rabbi Rafael Saffra, the Rabbi for Rabbinical Supervision of Tablet K, which is responsible for ensuring that the Pavilion follows kosher law.
In the fall of 2006, when Lester and Saffra convened to discuss this year's Pavilion schedule, the pair decided to keep the Pavilion open for the entirety of Passover, including the weekends and during the seders.
"It seemed like there was a need for greater hours, and the need stemmed from conversations that happened throughout the spring of last year and the summer of last year," Lester said. "We adjust our hours according to the needs of the community that we serve."
The Pavilion will also provide kosher for Passover meals-to-go for students who need to eat in a hurry, which was not available last year.
For some students, the increased hours were not sufficient in accommodating demands for easily accessible kosher-for-Passover food. During this week, the Pavilion will be open for lunch from 11:30 am to 2 p.m. and dinner from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Allison Caley '09, who voiced complaints about the Pavilion's hours last year and has class from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., will not be able to visit the Pavilion during lunch hours.
"It's kind of frustrating in that there are such short time gaps and that you have to plan your schedule around that," Dan Leopold '10 said. "If people have class during those times, or if you have sports or a club you have to go to, it makes it pretty hard if you're trying to keep kosher."
Caley, for example, decided not to keep kosher this year because doing so was "so difficult." Caley did not know until Monday that the Pavilion was to remain open all week, but said that even if she had known, she would still have trouble fitting her meals into her busy schedule.
"If I kept kosher I wouldn't really eat at all," Caley said.
Despite frustrations with the still limited hours of operation, both students expressed appreciation for the added weekend hours.
In spite of the complaints about short hours, however, Caley and Leopold said they still value the Pavilion's additional days of operation.
