Author: Sonia Lessuck
Every fall the Jewish community celebrates Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. The following 10 days are called the days of repentance. On the 10th day, the community recognizes Yom Kippur, a day of atonement. As the two most important holidays in the Jewish faith, these days are called the High Holidays.
Referred to as Teshuva, or the days of awe, The High Holidays are a time to look back on the year and scrutinize one’s loyalty to their faith. At Oxy and other colleges, students are finding ways of their own to recognize the holiday.
On Oxy’s campus, Hillel organizes arrangements for students looking to observe the High Holidays. On Sept. 29-30 the organization attended Rosh Hashanah services at USC Hillel. Oxy Hillel will also be attending Yom Kippur services at Temple Sinai of Glendale on Oct. 8-9.
On their website, Hillel explains their mission: “Hillel: Jewish Campus Community welcomes students, faculty, staff and alumni. In all that we do, we help students live the questions, ‘what does it mean to be Jewish?’ and ‘How does one lead a life worth living?'”
“College is a time for exploration,” explains Religious Studies Professor Dr. Sanford Ragins, “including religious exploration – a time to look at what you’re taught, a time for searching, testing out and deciding for ourselves. Ask yourself, do I accept that and why? What are my opinions?”
Dr. Ragins views college education as taking our minds and exploding them and being critical of religious and non-religious ideas. He pushes students to use their college years to examine their beliefs for themselves – to use religion as a way of making sense of the world.
In his classes Professor Ragins encourages students to attend religious ceremonies as learning experiences. In the recent weeks he has offered the students in his “Judaism as an Ancient Civilization” class information about High Holiday services and invited students to attend with him. Ragins views this as an extended education outside of the classroom-an opportunity to learn about one’s own culture or a new culture.
Also a Rabbi, Dr. Ragins focuses primarily on the ethical aspect of Jewish studies, using ethical guidelines as a way to lead ones life. This aspect of religious studies is heightened in the time of the High Holidays, being a time of prayer, repentance, and Sedakah – giving back to the community.
When asked why he believed people maintained such faith in religion, Dr. Ragins said, “Life is hard – we need to have some way of understanding our lives.”
For all students, Jewish or not, September marks the beginning of a new year-a year to study, to answer questions, to find a sense of understanding.
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