The Brandeis Orthodox Organization hosted Rabbi Steven Weil, Executive Vice President of the Orthodox Union, to speak about the Passover holiday in the beit midrash on Thursday, April 14. According to its website, the mission of the Orthodox Union is to "advance, strengthen, and lead the Orthodox Jewish Community, and to inspire the greater Jewish community."

Additionally, the Orthodox Union oversees kosher supervision and certification, educational and outreach programs in various communities and a growing network of synagogues across the country, according to its website.

The first segment of Rabbi Weil's speech was dedicated to various themes found throughout the haggadah, the traditional book used to recount the story of the exodus, and how a variety of syntax and time-related discrepancies that are not directly dealt with in the Torah can be reconciled through anecdotes.

Weil then opened the floor to questions.

Questions were raised about the role of the Orthodox Union in general, who--of the work that the Orthodox Union does--are some of the primary beneficiaries as well as the foremost issues facing the Orthodox Union at this point in time and how they plan to go about improving those issues.

Approximately 80 students were in attendance.

In an e-mail to the Justice, Dana Kandel '14, the education coordinator for the Brandeis Orthodox Organization, wrote, "he [Rabbi Weil] touched on a lot of crucial issues that are not only relevant to the Jewish people as a whole today, but are relevant to us as college students here at Brandeis. They speak to who we are as Modern Orthodox Jewish Students, and what we can do to enhance Jewish life on campus.