A presentation to assert the divine origins of the Bible using a “scientific” methodology drew an audience of 40 students February 20th. The Discovery Seminar is a program sponsored by ultra-Orthodox outreach group Aish HaTorah.
“There is one word Discovery wants to put in your mind, and that word is maybe,” said presenter Rabbi Eliyahu Bergstein at the evenst sponsored by Jewish Arizonans on Campus.
According to his Bergstein, God’s promises in the Torah consistently came true — everything from a triple harvest in the sixth year of planting in order for the land to be fallow in the seventh year, to the seemingly-contradictory promises of great influence and much persecution for the Jewish people. “22 percent of Nobel prizes have been awarded to Jewish people,” Bergstein said, declaring “we’re out of proportion.”
Bergstein also discussed more mystical ideas the theory that Megillat Esther seems to predict the eventual hanging of 10 Nazis at Nuremberg.
His presentation was peppered with jokes and discussion with the crowd. Afterwards, amid much applause, the audience went to the Hillel building for free pizza and to talk about what they had just seen and heard.
Student reaction was generally positive. “He has a lot of good points about things you don’t normally think about,” said sophomore Carolyn Basalla.
“It gets you thinking,” said junior Lisa Edelson, who was seeing the presentation for the the third time, and declared “It definitely puts a maybe in my mind.”

For those Jewish students who like Friday night services but don’t like it when they take an hour, there is the Quickie Shabbat.
Currently run by Jewish Campus Service Corps Fellow Jake Wilkenfeld-Mongillo, Quickie Shabbats at UA Hillel began last academic year, when they were run by the previous JCSC.
The special services are held once a month on Friday evenings when Hillel is not holding its bi-weekly services, and run about 15 minutes. The Quickie Shabbats involve candle-lighting, kiddus, and challah blessings with a couple of songs thrown in. They are open to students of all denominations, and students are encouraged to bring friends.
“It’s just a little bit of Shabbat ritual,” Wilkenfeld-Mongillo told CampusJ, adding “it’s nice to have during the weeks when Hillel isn’t having services.” He said that while attendance so far this year has varied from two to 15 students — compared to the 60 or so for the various denominational services combined when regular services are held — he is hopeful that more will start attending as it gains. Depending on the crowd, the Quickie Shabbat attendees sometimes have dinner together near campus afterward.
The next Quickie Shabbat is February 16 at 6:00 p.m.

Dating fellow members of the tribe was the topic last night, as author Doron Kornbluth spoke at the Chabad House. Kornbluth wrote the book, Why Marry Jewish? Surprising Reasons for Jews to Marry Jews.
Around 30 students showed up to hear his lecture discussing the facts and figures behind the well-known concern over interfaith marriage that many Jews have.
Chabad Rabbi Yossi Winner introduced Kornbluth, who spoke for an hour and a half. Kornbluth opened by telling the audience that 55 percent of weddings are intermarriages.
His essential argument for marrying Jewish was that “The Beatles were wrong; you need more than love.”
Kornbluth stated that having the same religion as your spouse, no matter what your religion might be. “is better for marriages.” He said that the average marriage only lasts 4-6 years but that the more two people have in common, especially religion, the better the chances their marriage will last.
He also said that marrying Jewish is important for one’s children, and to keep a family Jewish. He declared that kids who grow up in mixed families are often confused and uncertain about their own religion and are unlikely to keep Judaism as part of their life as they age. Kornbluth said that 92 percent of kids from homes with only one parent who is Jewish will not marry a Jew. They need an “unambiguous Jewish identity,” he said.
Reasons for not dating Jews, even before one expects to marry, whether it be for experience or simply unconcern about the future, don’t measure up under scrutiny, Kornbluth claimed. He said that what you do now will affect what you do in the future, and that with 1.5 million single Jews in the United States in at least 15 major metropolitan areas, there is no reason not to date Jewish.
The audience held a wide variety of opinions on the ideas Kornbluth expressed but all approached by CampusJ agreed when asked that he had very compelling arguments.

I’m your newest beat reporter at the University of Arizona. I’m a junior in the journalism department and am working on a minor in Judaic studies. Needless to say, this is the perfect spot for me. I’ll be covering everything from Shabbat services at Chabad, to bowling with Hillel, to keggers with the varied thousands of Jewish students at school. If you want to know more, or ask me a question you can email me at eschwartz -at- campusj.com.