My LIterature Review

Sorry this wasn't up earlier, I tend to forget to actually post my stuff on the blog itself.

With an estimated 1300 to 1500 Jews at Virginia Tech, it is not hard to comprehend how active the religious community is in many different ways. In recent years especially, the Jewish community at Tech has become much more involved and outgoing than was previously the case. Many of the already existing Jewish organizations on campus have grown since the turn of the 21st century, and some new organizations have been created. However, even with all of the growth and success on campus, there are still many different areas which need help with regards to the Jewish life on Virginia Tech’s campus.
Although there is a definite Jewish presence on campus, there is not a major religious presence. Until the opening of the Chabad house, which is named after Liviu Librescu, an Israeli professor killed during the April 16th attack, Tech was not a real option for any Orthodox or religious Jew. The Jewish presence on campus was primarily “geared toward the social and cultural life” opposed to the religious aspect. There are three main streams of Judaism, Reform, Conservative, and Orthodoxy, and they move from liberal to conservative in the order listed. Majority of the Jewish students who participate in Hillel believe themselves to be either Reform or Conservative if they even choose to identify their Judaism. For Orthodox Jews, however, a much more religious setting is needed. The opening of the Chabad house is the beginning of a community for Orthodox Jews at Virginia Tech, for it gives them a place to stay for Shabbat, when they are not allowed to use electricity from Friday night to Saturday night.
Even with the opening of the Chabad house, it will take a large amount of work and promotion to help get a more religious community to come to Tech. Schools get reputations for their Jewish communities, and although Tech’s is growing in a social sense, as far as religious life it is not necessarily looked upon strongly. For now, the house will just need to complete its first successful year until it can continue to outreach to large groups of people outside of the community. Overall, the flourishing of the Jewish community at Tech is impressive and the community will most likely continue to prosper as it has in the recent years.

Site Visit

For my site visit, I attended a Shabbat dinner and services with Hillel on Friday evening. For Jewish people, our Sabbath is from Friday night to Saturday night opposed to on Sunday.

The visit was interesting. Students, both new and older ones, as well as adults attended the dinner and services. Everyone was really friendly and I never saw anyone being left out - people were good at including everyone.

The dinner was baked potatoes with various toppings and salad. After we all ate the dinner, we went upstairs to the sanctuary for the services. For this week only the services were actually led by the Jewish sorority so each girl led a different prayer/reading. Although not everyone in the sanctuary could participate in the hebrew part of the service, there were some english parts also so that everyone could be involved.

The service was nice. It was more reform, which in Judaism means that it was very liberal as opposed to Conservative or Orthodox services which are more structured.

After the services were over, everyone remained for a little while longer just to conversate and meet more people that they hadn't previously met. Quickly after, however, the building emptied and people went on living their lives.

I spoke with the director of Hillel and she said that I could interview her. So, not I just need to set up a time to meet with her one day this week and then I will have the interview completed.

Goals for the Class

My goals for the class are pretty simple. The first thing I want to be able to learn is how to effectively write a research paper. However, I also want to learn how to analyze groups of people and learn how to recognize the needs of a community (which is what we have to do). If I can see what affects different communities when this is done then it will be an interesting way to evaluate different groups when I come upon them in life.

I think that my goals are easily achievable and that by the end of the semester I will be able to effectively do both.

Assignment #2

NARRATION
When I was a Junior in high school, I attended a Quixtar meeting with my brother and his friends. Quixtar is a company in which people decide to be a part of and basically become entrepreneurs. Three or four of my brother’s friends were already members of Quixtar and they were trying to convince him to join the company also.
At the meeting, there were multiple presenters as well as a PowerPoint about how much money you can make through Quixtar and how easy the whole process can be to become a millionaire. After the meeting people stuck around for a while to talk about the company and try to convince those not yet a part of it to join. I was not old enough at the time (only 16 or so) but my brother and I had decided to just tell everyone that I was over 18. Multiple people came up to my brother and I and told us about how much money they are making through Quixtar and how easy the whole process is in hopes that we too will pay the couple hundred dollar fee to join.
Soon enough the meeting came to an end and we left to return home. I thought that the whole Quixtar idea was a terrible one and that no one in their right mind would sign up for it. My brother, however, decided to give it a try and was a member of it for a year. After the first year however, he got his head back and realized that the amount of work required to make any type of money with the company is not worth it unless it is your only job. His friends, though, are still a part of the Quixtar company to this day.



QUESTIONS
1. How did you personally find out about Quixtar? (I would ask this to the various people in the meeting).
2. Do you really believe that Quixtar will actually help you financially?
3. Is the initial money required for Quixtar greater than the financial outcome?
4. Why do you believe everything which the company tells you?

Hello There Class,

So I decided for my project that I am going to do the Jewish Community at Virginia Tech. I am going to research Hillel and possibly the Jewish Fraternity and Sorority.

If you have any ideas about specific things that I should find out then let me know!

Potential Communities

For my project I was thinking of choosing the following communities:

1. Jewish Community at Virginia Tech - it is represented through groups such as Hillel as well as the Jewish sorority and fraternity.
2. Construction Workers on campus - they are constantly working either on the new dorm or just on general maintenance.

I have many other ideas also but these two seemed to interest me for different reasons. The first one interests me because I am Jewish, and the second community interests me because I am considering construction engineering.

Come One Come All

Dear English Class,

Welcome to my blog! I hope that you all enjoy reading what's inside (once there is more stuff here) and that you all have luck with your blogs also.