Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Connections with shabbats and pancakes

Many people have found that their religous beliefs often derived from their cultural background or their family history.  For students at Towson, primarily those in Towson University's Hillel, they were given the opportunity to return to Israel to explore their Jewish faith.

A Towerlight article, Undeterred by violence, shared the experiences of the students' 10-day journey.   They had the opportunity to explore the land of Israel, meet with American soldiers and make connections with their religious backgrounds.  

"My biggest wow moment was while we were taking a hike around Jerusalem. We were taking this hike and they asked us to close our eyes. When they told us to open them again, we were staring at the Western Wall. Some of us started crying," [Emily Shevell] said.

On campus, I am always seeing something on the Daily Digest about Hillel hosting an event for students.  Sometimes its the Jewish House of Pancakes they hold on Tuesdays, other times its one of their creative Shabbats.  All of the events are open to any student and most of them are free.  This seems like a great way to reach out to students on campus.

Just yesterday when I was covering a story for the Towerlight, I attended one of their events.  One of the members of Hillel I interviewed just began to open up to me.  She talked to me about her experiences of transferring to TU, future plans with her communications major and her beliefs on Hillel’s efforts through the event. 

This is just one student who decided to openly discuss her beliefs.  I’d like to think more students on campus would be as generous to speak about their spiritual beliefs, but that is yet to be discovered.  Through more investigation, I’m determined to see how else students are speaking out and expressing their spiritual beliefs.


4 comments:

Jennie B. said...

Really well written and interesting. Your opinions at the end fit with the story and they left room for the reader to think.

Caitlin said...

Wow, Very interesting topic. I like how you shared your experiences.

Daniel J. Gross said...

Great post. I really enjoy your writing style and I think you're tackling a great topic with your beat. Keep up the good work with The Towerlight too.

jenny atwater said...

It would be interesting to compare the Hillel organization with other religious groups on campus. (Like the Newman Center). One of the Hillel members may be a good person for a profile piece.