While many students sat in the union and talked Friday night, the Magnolia Room above the food court was filled with students of multiple religions coming together to learn some of the traditions of Judaism. All of the students came together in an event sponsored by Student Government’s LSUnity Week. The event was sponsored by Hillel, a Jewish student organization. Elka Smith, Hillel president at the University, said she was pleased with the turnout. Smith helped lead the services. The event was a Shabbat dinner, a dinner and prayer service that Jews attend in order to usher in the Sabbath. The event began with the lighting of the candles by a group of students from the University of Pennsylvania’s Hillel chapter. The students were in Louisiana in order to do service in Hurricane Katrina-affected areas, said Rabbi Mike Uram, UPenn Hillel director. Hannah Marcus, UPenn history sophomore, said the group volunteered in order to “explore the idea of being a millennial Jew.” Marcus said the group was excited to attend the Shabbat dinner in order to see the different ways in which different communities celebrated the Shabbat. Charles Isbell, director of Jewish Studies at the University, later explained the Kaddish prayer, which is a prayer of mourning. Isbell said he thought the event was necessary in order to further the education of many students. “Part of education is to understand not only your own world but the cultural and religious traditions of others,” he said. Many of the students in attendance came from different backgrounds and said they learned a lot from the event. “It’s interesting because I had no idea about all the different prayers and rituals,” said Ladorian Latin, mathematics graduate student. “I just knew about Hanukkah.” John Boyd, computer science junior, attended the event because he is in the process of converting from the Baptist faith to Judaism. Boyd said he thinks attending the event helped him learn about what to expect when he does convert. “There were some new things that I had never done before,” he said. Other students who attended were part of Hillel and were amazed at the number of students who came to learn about their faith. “I could not believe the number of people who were here,” said Ian Nicholosi, political science junior.
—–Contact Rachael Moreau [email protected]