UF Hillel celebrated a day of new beginnings Tuesday.
The Olam, a kosher restaurant in UF Hillel, held its grand opening in the morning, and The Living Room, the Jewish Student Union's art gallery, premiered at night.
The grand opening of the restaurant was celebrated with prizes, raffles and performances by Ben and Ty's Jazz Duo, said Avie Friederwitzer, food service director for Hillel.
About 100 people came for lunch, said Alyssa Drake, Hillel's promotions director. Everyone from students to faculty to a UPS driver stopped in to eat during the event.
Although the restaurant has been open since the summer, it held the fall grand opening to welcome new and returning students to the restaurant.
Lunch at The Olam is usually $8, but it was discounted to $6 for the event. Diners chose from a selection of pizza, baked ziti, dessert and some other dishes and also participated in a raffle for a free lunch.
The Olam's lunch and dinner menus are different every day, Friederwitzer said. The restaurant's slogan is "tastes from around the world."
The restaurant directors spent about $5,000 to $6,000 promoting the restaurant and the grand opening, Friederwitzer said.
"We want to be known as the restaurant for everybody that happens to be kosher," he said.
Mobile Campus sent out 5,000 text messages on Monday, and 10,000 flyers were printed to promote the event.
The Living Room was named in honor of Hillel's former living space, which was reorganized to accommodate the art gallery.
The art gallery featured 13 abstract paintings by artist Marilyn Binder Silverman, several of whose pieces reflected the gallery's opening and "New Beginnings" theme.
Giselle Mazur, art director at Hillel, said, "We created the gallery to create an environment for students that would inspire intellectually stimulating conversations and engage them through unconventional means."
Mazur said the gallery, which holds a strategic partnership with the UF College Fine Arts department, decided on the theme "New Beginnings" to coincide with the start of the school year, Jewish New Year and the holiday season.
Silverman said several of her works symbolize the turning points in her life, such as when she moved from her home country of South Africa to the U.S., when she got married and when her kids left for college.
Cynthia Apfelbaum, a UF advertising senior, said she likes how the combination of colors in the paintings could be interpreted differently. She referred to one painting, "Guiding Hand," which had a Jewish star and a hand hidden among vibrant colors.
The art crew at UF Hillel plans to offer a new exhibit with a different theme and art mediums about every six weeks.
