THE
•SKJUILFORDIAN
Greensboro, N.C.
God comes before commencement for some
Cory Williams
Staff Writer
After four years of college most stu
dents are proud to walk with their
graduating class at commencement. It rep
resents the culmination of the undergradu
ate experience.
Yet for Aryeh Rosenblatt there is some
thing 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, com
mencement 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
Guilfordian wins national college newspaper award
Jake Kalos
Staff Writer
The Guilfordian was rec
ognized as a first-place
winner for best overall newspa
per in the American Scholastic
Press Association's annual
newspaper contest.
Other schools finishing in the
first-place category included
Duquesne University, SUNY at
Geneseo, and Loyola
University of New Orleans.
The contest was based on a
1,000-point scoring system.
Participating schools entered
three issues of their paper to
be judged.
The criteria being scored
philosophy professor Jonathan Malino. "It's
not clear to me that his participation would
in fact violate the Shabbat."
'W ' J
Senior Aryeh Rosenblatt will not walk at
graduation for religious reasons
Rosenblatt agreed, but noted that partic
ipating in graduation ceremonies would
put him in a position to violate the
Sabbath, a consequence Aryeh finds
were con
tent cover
age; page
design;
general
plan; art,
advertising,
ilustrations;
editing; and
creativity.
The
Guilfordian
received
915 points
out of the
possible
1000, with
a perfect
score in
editing.
w~ ®
DYLAN BLACK/GUILFORDIAN
Current and future editors-in-chief Bowen and
Haselton share a quiet moment of pride
Volume 91, Issue 27
www.guilfordian.com
MAGGIE BAMBURG/GUILFORDIAN
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 sev
eral 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
Continued on Page 2
"The award recognizes the
superb effort of editor-in-chief
Taleisha Bowen, the editors,
and this year's staff writers,"
said Jeff Jeske, Dana
Professor of English and advi
sor to The Guilfordian. "Credit
is also due to the staffs that
preceded them, for they set the
foundations upon which
Taleisha and her staff have so
industriously and artfully built."
Bowen sees the award as a
place to grow from in the
future.
"It's a sign that we've been
doing well," she said. "It's not a
sign to coast along. There is
Continued on Page 2
April 29, 2005
College students
nationwide face
rising tuition
costs
Page 4
Senior thesis art
exhibit on
display
Page 8
m
BSB
Tggg
Guide to
apartment
hunting
Page 14
National sports :
Year in review
Page 16