The Guilfordian

Issue date: 4/29/05 Section: News

Senior Aryeh Rosenblatt will not walk at graduation for religious reasons

After four years of college most students are proud to walk with their graduating class at commencement. It represents the culmination of the undergraduate experience.

Yet for Aryeh Rosenblatt there is something more important than walking.

"I think (commencement) is important and I am sorry to miss it," Rosenblatt said. "But God is everywhere and in everything, and that being the case, I put God ahead of commencement."

Rosenblatt is a member of the Orthodox Jewish community. He strictly abides by the commandments laid forth in the Torah, one of which states that Saturdays are a day of rest and prayer.

Unfortunately for Rosenblatt, commencement takes place on May 7: a Saturday.

On this day of rest Rosenblatt is not supposed to work or create in anyway. The day is spent praying and rejoicing with other Orthodox Jews.

"One issue could be that Aryeh thinks participating would actually violate one or more Shabbat restrictions," said rabbi and philosophy professor Jonathan Malino. "It's not clear to me that his participation would in fact violate the Shabbat."

Rosenblatt agreed, but noted that participating in graduation ceremonies would put him in a position to violate the Sabbath, a consequence Aryeh finds unacceptable.

However, there are other reasons to miss commencement as well, including group prayers and home-cooked kosher meals.

"I leave school every week to go to an Orthodox commune in Charlotte," said Rosenblatt. "We pray together and eat good kosher food. I mean, I have food here, but I don't cook. (There) I cook like a man - eggs, salad, Ramen noodles. I don't want to give this stuff up just to walk."

Rosenblatt has been an Orthodox Jew for about three years, but his intense religious feelings began in high school on a trip around Europe to several old concentration camps.

The trip was very emotional for Rosenblatt.

"We had a special service in front of this big pile of ashes," recalled Rosenblatt. "I was standing there, I looked down, and there was a human vertebra. I thought, 'This is ridiculous. It's crazy. I have to get out of here.'"

From that point on, things changed as Rosenblatt found himself drifting more and "I wanted to be observant for them, for all the people who died in God's name," said Rosenblatt. "After a while, I realized I wasn't doing it for them. I was doing it for God. God wants me to be an observant Jew. This is who I am."

Continued...

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