With new luxury dorm, Orlando philanthropists offer Hillel evergreen funding model

Real estate developer Hank Katzen has a dream: If you build it, they will come.

Except this is no baseball field in an Iowa cornfield. It’s a $60 million, 600,000-square-foot luxury dormitory at the nation’s second-largest college campus, the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

When it opens in August, the new dorm will push the bounds of cushiness. Every room has en-suite bathrooms and flat-screen TVs. Suites have island kitchens with stone countertops, washer-dryers and walk-in closets. Duplex units feature spiral staircases and two-story atriums.

There is a resort-style swimming pool, 24-hour fitness center, sauna and game room. The parking garage is seven stories, ensuring that no student will have to take an elevator or brave the Florida elements on the way from their cars to their dorm rooms.

But what makes Katzen’s new facility noteworthy isn’t so much the lavishness as the idea behind it: to create America’s first self-sustaining Hillel. The ground floor of the seven-story building will include a 20,000-square-foot Hillel center with operations to be be funded in large part by rental income from the 600-bed dormitory.

The Jewish philanthropists behind this unique arrangement aren’t simply giving the 15-year-old Hillel at UCF a building; they’re giving it a permanent income stream.

“This is a remarkable gesture of philanthropy — the university desperately needs the beds, and Hillel could use this funding,” said Sidney Pertnoy, a Miami businessman and philanthropist who is chairman-elect of Hillel International. “There are some Hillels connected to some housing, but nothing even remotely resembling this model. It’s a unique cash-flow model and we’re super excited about it. We’re hoping this is a prototype for other communities.”

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Meditation in Judaism

Although many think that meditation does not exist in Judaism, they will be surprised to find out that it does exist. Not only does it exist, but it played an important role in the time of the early followers (Chasidim) of the saintly Baal Shem Tov.

Although there are Jewish devotees of Eastern meditation who have turned back to their Jewish roots because they can not find any outlet for meditation in their observance in Jewish ritual, none the less, meditation does exist in Judaism as shall be shown.

The word for meditation in the Hebrew is "hitbonanut" (or hisbonanos as the Chassidim pronounce it). What causes the difficulty for those who have practiced Eastern meditation is that hitbonanut does not resemble the meditation form that they have become accustomed to in their encounter with the Eastern religions but because it is different does not mean it is not meditation.

The problem is that although hitbonanut plays a very important role in Judaism, it has been marginalized by the halachically inspired practices of those who follow the Lithuanian style of Judaic life. They view the adherence to Jewish Law in exactingness as being the only acceptable form of devotion. While this adherence to Jewish Law is undoubtedly important, still it does not supply the inner fire of devotion in prayer. Conforming to Jewish Law is only the external manifestation of prayer but meditation provides the internal aspect which is critical for proper prayer, the connection to the Infinite.

The form of meditation that was advocated by the early Chassidim (and captured so well in chapter 42 of the remarkable book, Tanya, by the first rebbe of Chabad) differs from the Eastern method of meditation not only in form but in substance.

Both forms of meditation claim to bring G-dliness into the person but differ greatly. Without going into the details of Eastern meditative practices, let us get involved in the purpose, place and substance of Jewish Meditation.

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8 Things You Can Only Do After You Graduate

 THE CONSPIRACY BY SIMI LICHTMAN

In yet another of Buzzfeed’s relevant and so-funny-cuz-it’s-true series of list-styled articles, staff writer Arielle Calderon wrote an article entitled “21 Things You’ll Never Do Again After Graduating College.” And while I wouldn’t say it’s one of Buzzfeed’s best articles (now, that would make an excellent list), it clearly hit home with a lot of Buzzfeed’s readers (would you say 90% are probably college students or recent grads?) as it’s one of the top articles on the site right now.

Personally, I only did about 5 things on that list even when I was in college, but then again I went to a fake college that’s more like high school (Stern College, I’m looking at you), so there’s that. My boss, on the other hand, pointed out that he’s done half the things on the list even since he’s been graduated, which made me realize: What are the top things that you only get to do once you’ve graduated college? And so we have this list, to encourage those poor sad babes who saw Calderon’s list and now dread graduating (silly pup!):

1.  Nap during the day.
Okay, you could do this in college, but whoever tells you that you can’t nap anymore after college is very bad at napping. Never have I spent more time in bed during the day than since graduating college, not counting my stint with mono. Where there is a bum’s will, there is a napping way.

2.  Come home and be done for the day.
No more procrastinating, because there’s nothing to procrastinate. You finish work, come home, and watch TV without the guilt of five papers hanging over your head. Or, you’re unemployed and watch TV all day. Or you’re in grad school, have 10 papers, and that’s just your own fault, because why oh why did you go do more schooling?

3.  Have a degree.

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What’s the best Jewish college campus in America?

 By Ben Harris · April 29, 2013

Participate in JTA’s first annual Best Jewish Campus Survey to help us determine which colleges have the best Jewish Greek life, kosher food, Hillels, Jewish studies programs, Jewish a capella groups, and more.

Fill out JTA’s 3-minute survey and get automatically entered to win a $200 American Express card. Forward our contest to all your undergraduate friends.

(Survey open to undergraduate students only. All participants from the winning college will receive a commemorative gift.)