The Margie K. and Louis N. Cohen Center for Jewish Life invited students to unpack boxes, eat pizza and light candles for the first night of Hanukkah when the new buiding opened on Dec. 4, 2007.

The facility’s opening allowed the Hillel organization to move from its temporary location in Urbana back to its familiar location at the intersection of Fifth and John streets.

The $8 million Cohen Center includes a new lounge, multipurpose spaces with wireless Internet access and kosher kitchens for cooking meat and dairy. Joel Schwitzer, executive director at Hillel, said the building also houses a free self-service coffee bar called Café Sababa, which is Israeli slang for “hip, cool or neat.”

The most obvious difference between Hillel’s previous building and the Cohen Center is in the amount of space available, said Samantha Staley, senior in LAS and external co-president of Hillel’s leadership council.

“This is more space than I could ever imagine,” Staley said. “Freshman and sophomore year, the original building was a lot smaller, and when you walk into this building on the same property, you can never imagine where all the space came from.”

In addition, increased kitchen space has helped the facility because having room for new ovens allows for production of higher quality food, Staley said.

To use the kitchens at the Cohen Center, a person must be certified by the Chicago Rabbinical Council in knowledge of kosher food preparation rules or be under the supervision of such a certified person, called a mashgiach.

“Generally, in the real world, mashgiach’ are older,” said Michael Kerendian, freshman in Engineering. “But here, me and a few others split up the jobs into shifts we can handle with our schedules.”

In warmer months, cooking at the Cohen Center may spread to the new rooftop deck, where Schwitzer said Hillel will host barbecues and Sukkot celebrations.

“I think that there are so many features that are going to attract students to the Cohen Center,” Schwitzer said. “We’re excited that it’s going to be a place where Jewish students feel comfortable hanging out but also that their friends are going to want to come, too. We think that Hillel is at its best when it’s a place where everyone can gather and enjoy one another’s company.”

The idea for Hillel’s new gathering place began to take shape about five years ago when Schwitzer was hired as director, and it gained momentum when the Cohen Estate made the namesake donation.

Other donations came from parents, alumni and community members.

Schwitzer said that the Libman Company, a home cleaning product manufacturer, has matched donations coming from people who live outside Chicago and its suburbs, and the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago has also made a donation.

Hillel has raised about $6.5 million of the project’s $8 million total, he said. He expects to be almost finished fundraising by the building’s dedication ceremony on March 30.