On Tuesday, Chico Hillel members took a break from their weekly Hillel meeting to go see the movie, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. The main character, Borat, travels from Kazakhstan all the way to California, having lots of adventures along the way as he discovers American ways of life. Borat is funny, but he is also prejudiced against women, mentally challenged people, and especially, Jews. At one point in the movie, Borat and his friend stay at a Bed and Breakfast for the night. When they discover that the couple who owns the Bed and Breakfast are Jews, they become convinced that they are going to be killed, and make a mad dash to escape the elderly couple.
This photo is of an annual parade in Kazakhstan that Borat says makes fun of Jews.
It seems that most Hillel members have a political opinion and a desire to vote in this year’s election. At the meeting today we briefly talked about voting, and it seems that most of us already have. Bryan, one of the leaders, was adamantly urging the few members who didn’t want to vote, to do so. At least half of Chico students don’t vote, but it seems as if over three quarters of Chico Hillel members do. Therefore, it seems that Hillel Jews here at Chico are more likely to vote than non-Jews, generally.
American Jews’ impact on the Buddhist movement in the country was the topic of Professor Daniel Veidlinger speech at last night’s weekly Hillel meeting.
Many Jews convert to Buddhism, Veidlinger said, because the religion shares many core beliefs with Judaism. However, many of the elements that Jews find most frustrating in their native religion are absent in Buddhism: many Jews get frustrated because they pray regularly but none of their prayers seem to be answered, Veidlinger told us, but Buddhists don’t pray and meditate, instead.
Instead of looking to a god for the answers to their problems, Buddhists look inside themselves and try to change themselves to solve them. Because many American Jews liked this practice, they converted to Buddhism and provided a shot in the arm to the religion’s growth.
From Hillel’s e-mail newsletter:
October 10, 12:00: SUKKAH OF PEACE
Come join Rabbi Danan as she leads this wonderful interfaith event. It will be in the sukkah, located north of the library at noon.
October 10, 5:15: TUESDAY MEETING
This week we are lucky to be joined by Chico State’s own Professor Andrew Flescher. He will be introducing a topic that he feels is the most important and distinctive in Judaism; “chosenness”. To help you beef up on your chosenness knowledge beforehand, a sermon Professor Flescher delivered on that very subject is attached. Please note that this meeting will begin at 5:15, at Hillel.
The Chico Hillel Center is located in the back of the courtyard behind Celestino’s Pizza in the Suite 5 building. Celestino’s Pizza is at 101 Salem Ave, on the corner of 1st and Salem.
I’m a freshman at Chico State majoring in Journalism. I’ve been writing stories and reading books like crazy since I was a little kid. Besides writing and reading, I love to rock climb, go hiking, cook and eat healthy food, watch movies, and spend time with kids. Next year, I will get a chance to work on my school paper. For now, I look forward to scoping out the Jewish community at Chico and sharing my thoughts and discoveries in this blog. I am planning on checking out the Hillel Center, researching Jewish events on my campus, and talking and networking with other Jews at my school, so I’m sure I’ll find lots of great things to write about. See you then!
I can be reached at llubarov -at- campusj.com .
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