shawn tatynskiy

This week I was able to attend a Hillel event which is an organization of jewish students that is led by a rabbi and many guests are brought in to share their experiences as a jew. This week the club had invited a holocaust survivor to speak about her experiences during the second world war. The stories she told greatly resonated with me and many of the people attending because I have family members that either lost their lives or lived through the holocaust. people around we were also clearly moved by her experiences because they probably have relatives who lived through this terrible time as well. The topic of her stories, the holocaust, is a monumental event effecting countless groups of people but was especially significant for people of the jewish faith. Because of the holocaust many of us have lost family and millions of other jews around the world experienced the same tragedy we did. While I wasn’t alive at the time of the holocaust the conditions and hardships faced by the jewish people during this time were very vivid in my imagination. This club not is very enjoyable because we have the opportunity to learn the history of people of the same religion and culture. We are able to find out how and why certain practices were created and what their purpose is. The club also allows members to learn and grow from the experiences of the people that come in to give a presentation. By hearing the various struggles and experiences they had throughout their life as a jew we are able to apply their advice into our own lives and possibly learn from their examples. Overall I felt very welcome in this club as everyone was very kind and polite and they even offer free pizza during their proceedings. I highly recommend anyone to join this club, weather jewish or not, because of the valuable lessons about life and jewish history that can be obtained through this organization.