Jews in Canoes

The Jewish High Holidays may be over, but Hillel at UT’s president, Louis Gold, reassures everyone that the year’s activities have just begun. “We’re organizing a canoe day trip/rafting trip that we are going to call ‘Jews in Canoes. It’s not going to be on campus, obviously, but we’re pretty excited about it. It’s in its preliminary planning stages, but it should happen some time in October.” A UT Senior, Gold has just started his second annual term as Hillel at UT’s president. His day is filled with planning events, organizing members to attend, and develops new ways to recruit new members. Luis breaks down the ideas of Hillel and its goals “Hillel is a way to unite Jewish students, and help them get in touch with their Jewish roots, in a non-religious way, which is what makes us unique from other Jewish organizations. We’re more of a casual social network, rather than a religious entity.”
An all Jewish organization, Hillel aims to unite the scattered individuals from across campus, along with those from USF, for social activities and the occasional religious service. Barry Rosenbloom is one of the new recruits for the organization. Although he got a late start in the organization, he is currently very excited to see what Hillel has to offer. Leaning back in his chair, He says, “Luis told me last semester about Hillel, and I decided to join. I’m just waiting for him to send out some flyers.” He looks over to his friend and starts to laugh: “I’ll be there man, just send out the damn flyers already!” All three men shared a good laugh at the stressful predicament that is organizing events, and getting the word out about them.
Aaron Feld, who has been sitting relatively quietly while his friends took command the conversation, pipes up and talks about his recent experience with the organization: “I went to Rosh Hashana dinner on Friday night, it was really nice. It was held on the 9th floor of Vaughn, and it was really just perfect for the kinds of kids who showed up. The food was great, and I met some awesome people. I’ll defiantly be attending more events this year.