Our visit to the Hillel center began with a short tour of the facilities by our guide, Rabbi Sue Shifron, who is also the Director of the Helene G. Simon Hillel Center. Rabbi Shifron showed us the dining hall where students can enjoy kosher food (and where she explained what "kosher" meant), a recreational room with workout equipment and a pool table, and the library which happened to be in the process of being moved to a different level of the building.

The last part of the tour involved the room in which Hillel holds its religious services every week. The Effin’s were immediately drawn to the 7 quilted pieces hung around the room depicting the Jewish faith’s interpretation of the 7 days of creation. We were able to see the torah, which Rabbi Shifron explained was made completely by hand by a scribe who might work for years on one torah. She also noted that no one could touch the torah with their hands as the oils would damage the meticulously penned ink.

While we were permitted to observe some of the religious objects in the worship room, we also were able to partake in some of the Jewish rituals as well. Jack and William got to-or at least attempt to-blow the shofar, a ceremonial horn that is used for different special holidays within the Jewish faith. Also, the males within the class were able to wear the kippas-or traditional head covering that is worn as a sign of respect within Jewish places of worship.

After being able to explore the center more, we sat down in our usual Effin style-a circle-for more discussion with Rabbi Shifron. She explained some of the differences between orthodox, conservative, and reform Judaism and how she would not be allowed to be a Rabbi within the orthodox Jewish religion. She also explained how Judaism in American has become much more than a religion-it has become a culture; and furthermore a culture that is of utmost importance for Jews in America to preserve.

This visit was relevant to our class and our culture in a couple of ways. First of all it explored a complex religion, or culture as Rabbi Shifron referred to it as, that few of us were highly familiar with. It also showed us how Jews have maintained their culture and beliefs over the years, which is relevant to the preservation of our own culture and expectations of others who we may come into contact with (see Josie’s Immigration rules). Visiting Hillel was not only interesting, but it was a good example of how a culture-or in our case, an Effin culture, must retain its rituals and rules in order to maintain itself as a distinct group.