Lunch and Learn with Larry gives different perspectives on Judaism

Hillel, CSU’s Jewish student organization, held their first

Lunch and Learn with Larry meeting at noon on Tuesday in the Lory

Student Center.

The luncheon, which is a new Hillel project, featured Rabbi

Larry Denmark, who led the discussions. About a dozen students and

adults, several of them of the Christian faith, attended this first

session to discuss many different topics and perspectives that

revolve around the concept of the afterlife.

The presentation did not define the concept of afterlife, but

rather allowed the attendees to converse on their opinions of the

afterlife, ranging from reincarnation to the existence of hell.

“The students picked the Jewish concept of afterlife as a theme

for this session. They wanted to have something separate from Torah

study to attend,” Denmark said.

Hillel started Lunch and Learn with Larry to further students’

knowledge and strengthen their perspective of the Jewish

culture.

Rachael Osofsky, who works for Hillel, is excited about the

monthly sessions because she believes it will give Jewish students

a chance to discuss more than the Torah.

“We’ve been doing the Torah portions every other Friday for a

few years and people like those sessions a lot. We thought that

people would like to learn other aspects of Judaism with the Lunch

and Learn with Larry session,” Osofsky said.

For senior psychology major and Jewish student Rachel Singer,

the session and other Hillel activities have helped her strengthen

her faith as well as expose her to other worldly perspectives.

“My freshman year, Hillel had a series called The Meaning of

Life and I thought that was an amazing series. I love going to

things like this and getting a better understanding of different

backgrounds,” Singer said.

Hillel hopes to run the Lunch and Learn with Larry series about

once a month with a different topic featured at each session.

Although the topics discussed during Lunch and Learn with Larry

revolve around the Jewish religion and culture, students of any

background are more than welcome to attend.

“They’re open for everyone who wants to learn a different

perspective,” Osofsky said.