Challah For Hunger in Studlife!

Click here to see a really great audio slideshow about Challah For Hunger through stud life online. Some really awesome pictures and great commentary from the people who have been baking and selling challah this semester! Also, yesterday 80 loaves of Challah were sold in about two hours! Great job guys!

Want to go green?

Going green has become the new trend in some many things, and now the Union for Reform Judaism is becoming part of the movement as well. Check out their website http://www.urj.org/green/ that gives a lot of info on the relationship between the environment and Jews and a lot more!

CNN: Pope outrages Jews over Holocaust denier

According to CNN, the Pope has re-invited a Bishop into the Catholic Church (who had previously been excommunicated) who has denied that Jews were killed in gas chambers. The article is really interesting and provides a lot of into on Jewish relations with the Catholic Church. Read the article and tell us what you think

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/01/26/pope.holocaust.denial/index.html

SAVE THE DATE!!

Tuesday, February 24th at 7:30, Anita Diamant (the author of the Red Tent) is speaking at Graham Chapel. Anita Diamant is an American author of fiction and non-fiction books. She is best known for her most successful novel, The Red Tent, which was a New York Times best seller. Join Wash U students for a book discussion on The Red Tent, Tuesday February 17th and 7:30pm. We will talk about the book to prepare for Mrs. Diamant lecture one week later. If you would like to be part of that discussion, contact Jessica@stlouishillel.org or 314-935-9043. You must RSVP for the book discussion no later than Feb 3rd.

Jewish Life and Leadership Event--This Thursday 7 PM Friedman Lounge

Now that we've got one semester behind us, come learn about how to get more involved in leadership positions with all the Jewish groups and institutions on campus. We'll have student representatives from Chabad, Hillel, CDF and UJE talk about the events, programs and groups that are operating on campus as well as who to contact in order to learn more information. Members of the JSU Executive Board will be on hand to answer any questions and provide more info about our upcoming elections! Feel free to bring your dinner and we'll also have free snacks and drinks!

Shabbat Rocks!

On Friday, January 23rd at 6:00pm, St. Louis Hillel will be hosting a "Shabbat Rocks" musical service. The service is multi-denominational, and designed to combine music from different traditions in Judaism to create a unique Shabbat experience. Through voice, guitar, and percussion, we hope that this interactive service will bring people together so that we can pray as one Jewish community through song. The service is open to anyone who would like to attend, both in the Washington University and the wider St. Louis Jewish community. No musical experience is necessary, just a love of Jewish music and a desire to pray as a community. We are excited to see you there!

Israel in the New York Times

Two interesting opinion pieces regarding the situation in Israel in the New York Times today. The first, which can be found here, is by Thomas Friedman who has written for many years about the conflict in the Middle East as well as other international affairs (Friedman incidentally lives on a huge estate on a major road like ten minutes from my house back in Maryland. His front yard is probably like 7 acres or something). The second article, which can be found here, is by Jeffrey Goldberg a writer for the Atlantic Monthly (Goldberg served in the IDF and worked as a prison guard). Both articles focus on the viability of a peaceful arising out of the current conflict.

Stand With Israel Shabbat Dinner

Come to Hillel for a special Stand With Israel Shabbat this Friday, January 16th. Services begin at 5:45 and dinner is at 7. You can make reservations on the Bon Appetit website or just come on Friday because we always order lots of food. See you there!

WE'RE BACK!!!

Hello, Hello Everyone--I know it's been a while since the JSUniverse has last been updated but look for that to change. In fact, we will now be posting to the blog multiple times a week. Once a week we will also be posting the week's events so make sure to check out the blog to learn that latest about what's going on in the WashU Jewish community. I came across two interesting reviews of biographies of two famous Jewish leaders. Joel Kraemer's Maimonides:
The Life and World of One of Civilization’s Greatest Minds
and Adam Kirsch's Benjamin Disraeli focus on chronicling the life and times of these two famous Jewish men. Both Maimonides and Benjamin Disraeli held prominent positions the government of countries with a minority Jewish population. Pretty interesting stuff. Enjoy!