A world-renowned scholar, our university president, and 12 pots of cholent were the highlights of Shabbat at Penn this weekend. Scholar-in-residence Lawrence Schiffman delivered a lively lecture on Friday night, University President Amy Gutmann attended Friday night dinner at Hillel, and 12 students created their tastiest crock-pot concoctions for “Cholympics” at Saturday Kiddush.
Over 100 students heard Schiffman, chairman of the Judaic studies department at NYU and Dead Sea Scrolls scholar, discuss “Who Was a Jew? Controversies Over Jewish Identity from Ancient to Modern Times.”
“We spend over $6 million doing surveys, and we still don’t know how many Jews there are in America,” he said, addressing the issue of how one defines a Jew in contemporary society. When the lecture ended at 10 p.m., some students stayed late to ask him questions. On Saturday afternoon Schiffman discussed “Who Wrote the Bible? Orthodoxy and Biblical Criticism.”
Students found Schiffman’s manner engaging.
“He is so charismatic!” noted Judah Greenberg, a med student at Penn.
Amy Gutmann’s participation in Friday night services caused much excitement in the student body. The Jewish university president sat with Hillel student leaders and members of the Muslim Student Association, moving around around the table to converse with different students.
“It was very casual. We were just schmoozing,” said Hillel’s Finance Chair Tina Yaniv.
The weekend was topped off by the annual cholent competition, or “Cholympics.” Twelve students prepared their secret recipes, including such special ingredients as Jack Daniel’s, for the students to consume and critique. A panel of four students, unaware of who made what cholent, sampled the creations, and in their deliberations referred to the number posted on the pots. In the face of stiff competition, Elie Gittler was pronounced the unanimous winner. Panelist Neta Tenenhaus noted that one cholent tasted “like kugel, and another one tasted like barbecue sauce.”
Needless to say, neither of these two cholents belonged to Gittler.