Chabad Makes Major Inroads at Universities

Chabad Makes Major Inroads at Universities

Hasidic Group Remains Smaller Than Hillel, But Emissaries Are Pushing Rapid Growth

By E.B. Solomont
August 26, 2005

...Since 2001, nearly 30 new "Chabad houses" have opened on college campuses across the country, with an additional 10 slated for the upcoming school year.

Chabad's first campus emissaries were dispatched by late Lubavitcher rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, during the 1950s. "From the earliest time in his administration, the rebbe set his eye on the college student," said Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, director of the International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries.

Three years ago, prompted by existing campus shlichim and a critical infusion of capital from New York-based philanthropist George Rohr, Chabad's university efforts underwent dramatic reorganization. Ultimately the organization created a governing body for campus emissaries, and guidelines for selecting new outposts — and thanks to a new sense of focus, tremendous growth ensued.

According to Rohr, his initiative aims to address an alarming rate of attrition of Jewish students from Judaism. And with the infrastructure in place to respond to Rohr's stated objective, Chabad has in the past three years successfully identified campuses "in need."

One such school singled out in 2002 was Washington University in St. Louis, where as many as one-third of 7,400 undergraduate students are thought to be Jewish. Rabbi Hershey Novack and his wife, Chana, moved in, and in three years they made great inroads: They regularly host between 35 and 40 for Shabbat dinners; Chabad programs have outgrown the Novacks' two-bedroom apartment, so they recently purchased a new Chabad building.

Sarah Katz, a senior at Washington University, is one of the Novacks' devotees. After feeling lost during her freshman year, she said, "I personally thank Chabad for helping me to find my voice and my place."

Programming is a backbone of Chabad on campus, and at a July conference of campus shlichim, emissaries swapped tips: Plan retreats, bring Hasidic reggae artist Matisyahu to campus, invite prominent alumni to speak to students. "If you involve students for programs, you'll find a life-long bond with them," advised Rivky Slonim, an emissary at SUNY Binghamton, a crown jewel of Chabad's campus initiative: The Chabad house there predates Binghamton's Hillel chapter.

Offering students a homelike environment has come to define Chabad's presence on campus, where Chabad's home-cooked meals are de rigueur. At Washington University, Novack makes a point of maintaining personal connections with each student. "People want to feel that I care about them, and I do," he said.

Actions like this ultimately distinguish Chabad from other groups on campus, which is why Chabad insists that its emissaries are necessary. Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi, shliach at Harvard (and a member of the campus governing board), said, "When you go to a campus where there is a vibrant staff, the assumption is, 'Why is Chabad necessary?'" But most Jewish students still are not engaged Jewishly, he said. "There is an incredible need in that most [Jewish students] are not involved."

(Excerpts from a longer article about Chabad on Chabad. Full article available at www.forward.com)