Last night, Hillel partnered with Emory Students for Israel (ESI) to present the Atlanta premier of the critically acclaimed documentary Faces of Israel. The film explores what it means to have a Jewish state. Do the two characterizations — democratic state and Jewish state — work well together? What happens when they don’t?

The event, which drew an audience of about 100 students, faculty, and community members, was organized by Charlie Punia (B‘12). During the screening, the film’s director, Amy Beth Oppenheimer, led an interactive discussion on what it means to have a Jewish state. Audience members had the chance to respond to key issues in the film, share their own opinions, and ask questions to make for a provocative discussion.

Photos and more after the break

Hillel's lessons guide how we shape our Jewish community on campus as an inclusive and welcoming space.

A 1945 Hillel organizational booklet written under the direction of Abram Leon Sachar, one of the founders of Hillel, explains why the name “Hillel” was chosen:

Last Thursday I skipped class, something I don’t normally do. But last Thursday, I had somewhere important to be.

Last Thursday I attended the Southeast Rally for Gilad Shalit at Centennial Olympic Park, along with about 15 of my fellow Emory students. Despite the fairly large number of people in attendance, it was not a riotous or enthusiastic crowd. Unlike other rallies I have attended, this one was tinged with a certain melancholy I wasn’t expecting. The speakers shouted words of encouragement and hope, but that was the not the feeling of the rally. Instead, there was a sort of hopelessness to the rally: the cheering was muted and the smiles few. No one wanted to be here; no one wants to have to attend this type of rally. But perhaps it isn’t the amount of energy or enthusiasm we bring to the rally; perhaps the very fact that we attended was enough.

On a cold Sunday afternoon on November 7, students across Atlanta gathered at the Marcus Hillel Center for the Global Day of Jewish Learning. An event unprecedented in scale—with over 250 communities participating world-wide—the Global Day united Jewish communities from Sao Paulo to Seattle, from Azerbaijan to Atlanta.

Erica Morris (C‘13) and Ethan Sobol (C‘13) organized the day and were featured as guest teachers. Erica led a session on miracles and Ethan taught Jewish perspectives on the environment. According to Erica:

“The best part of the day was the knowledge that every one of us was connecting with the texts and each other in a deep and truly wonderful way.”

The Global Day celebrated the completion of Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz’s 45-volume Talmud translation and commentary in Hebrew. His commentary is also being translated and published in French, Russian and English; a Spanish edition is being prepared. The translation took 45 years, and the accomplishment has been called “one of the great egalitarian projects of modern Judaism.”