Shabbat services feed faith

Newark, DE — There’s a friendliness that Stephanie Gordon finds inviting at the Chabad Center for Jewish Life, a student organization at the University of Delaware.

Maybe it’s the welcoming blue color of the house on South College Avenue.

Maybe it’s the energy of the eight children who play about the room during dinner and services, adding to the genial communal spirit.

But mostly, it seems to be because those children’s parents — Hasidic Rabbi Eliezer Sneiderman and his wife, Roni — have set about to model every Friday for Shabbat what it means to be faithful and to create a caring worship center that welcomes students with prayers and a good kosher meal.

“There are not a lot of warm places where people remember Shabbat and care about the people in a community,” Sneiderman says. “We try to provide such a place.”

They also try not to be preachy. They want to accept and encourage students, not tell them what to do.

The students appreciate it. Anywhere from 20 to 120 students stop by on Friday nights.

Last week, Gordon arrived well before sundown and the Shabbat (sha-BAHT) services marking the start of the holy day of rest.

“It’s such a good atmosphere, warm and laid-back,” says the Delaware junior. The Sneidermans have inspired her to be more connected to her faith.

And that means the Sneidermans won’t be looking for many students tonight. With this evening’s start of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, students are likely to attend services at home. During the next 10 days, called the Days of Awe, Jewish families review the last year, giving thanks for successes and asking God to forgive any failings. The Days of Awe culminate in Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. Also known as the sabbath of sabbaths, it’s a day of worship with repentance and reconciliation as twin themes.

Freshman Ted Simmons plans to travel home to Rockland County, N.Y. For him, this is a serious period of thinking over the past.

Senior Dave Drowos agrees. “It’s a time to reflect on sin and repent,” he says. As a result, he hopes to be written in the book of life for another year.

For Roni and Eliezer, the weekly Friday night services are a calling, not just a rote part of their campus ministry. He says prayers and she cooks several courses for sit-down dinners.

“The food’s always good,” says senior Jason Rosenberg of Wilmington. “It’s also a mature atmosphere that feels like a real family dinner. And that draws people.”

Chabad, also known as Chabad-Lubavitch, is one of the largest branches of Hasidic Judaism. There are more than 4,000 centers, such as the Chabad House, devoted to the strengthening of Judaism.

Sneiderman and his family have a distinct ability to relate to students in a loving, trusting and nonjudgmental way, says Rabbi Chuni Vogel, director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Delaware. And trust comes back to them in return.

“Sometimes students who’ve had something missing in their family life find it with the Sneidermans,” Vogel says. “It’s been amazing to see how they have touched and impacted thousands of Jewish students.”

In part, Eliezer’s commitment stems from his student life at the University of Pennsylvania 21 years ago. He joined a Jewish fraternity, which deepened his love for his faith.

He went to work as a Philadelphia stock trader but felt that becoming a rabbi would be more fulfilling. And while pursuing his studies in New York, he was introduced to a Montreal woman studying at a seminary. In many ways, Eliezer and Roni were an instant match, both agreeing that their faith was important. They also wanted a large family.

Within six weeks they were engaged, married in three months. And though they talked of emigrating to Tzfat in Israel, they moved instead to Newark. That was almost 15 years ago. The family lives in a house behind the Chabad house.

Today, they encourage everyone to explore their faith, regardless of where they are with their understanding and practice.

“We tend to teach by example,” the rabbi says. “People take what they want.”

The day before last week’s service, the rabbi sanded Chabad’s main rooms and coated them with a polyurethane finish.

The Sneidermans hosted a buffet, rather the sit-down dinner. The stand-up style gave Shabbat a spontaneity that people enjoyed so much the Sneidermans hope to repeat it once a month.

“The rabbi and Roni talk with anyone and everyone who comes in,” says Drowos. “They show you that there are people who really care.”

It seems a wonderful way to start a celebration of God’s creation of the world.