Rutgers’ Students Enjoy BBQ and Drum Circle

On Monday, April 30th 2012, Rutgers Jewish Outreach hosted an end of year BBQ which was attended by over 100 Jewish students.

The BBQ was in celebration of a milestone: It has been more than a year since the ‘Rutgers University Jewish Outreach program’ has been established by the Rabbinical Collage of America, in Morristown, NJ, under the auspices and guidance of its’ dean, and New Jersey’s head Shliach Rabbi Moshe Herson.

The BBQ was centrally located in the park in the middle of campus, allowing students to stay the whole time, or to stop by for a free Kosher dinner. The students also enthusiastically joined into a memorable drum circle.

A local Shliach, Rabbi Eliezer Zaklikovsky of Monroe Township, was also in attendance in order to interact with the students and give a short D’var Torah.

Rabbi Zaklikovsky also gives a weekly “Cholent & Beer” class, to the students, on Thursday nights. The new weekly class has quickly become the talk of town. Tens of students excitedly gather each week eagerly waiting to study an exciting and engaging Jewish topic, to socialize with other Jewish students and to enjoy the warm atmosphere of the class. Students are encouraged to ask questions, and are warmly embraced by the Rabbi’s unique spirit and communication skills, often concluding the class with passionate discussion and student input.

The RUJO has been around for just a few semesters and is enjoying great turnouts and responses. The “Cholent and Beer Shiur” grows in attendance each week and had a full house even during finals.

The RUJO has been received extremely well by students and other Jewish organizations on campus. They have supported RUJO’s growth and were among the over 300 participants of this years’ Purim Party Bus event.

A party bus was parked on the main square of campus and students filed in throughout the night. RUJO director, Rabbi Pinny Super said, “The turnout for Purim was a great success. Not only did more students come than we expected, but many other Jewish organizations stopped into the party bus. We are constantly growing our programming and it is important that we work well with the other groups, so we can reach every Jewish student on campus. We are already at almost 500, so 2000 – 3000 is not that far away.”

Each week, students from the Rabbinical College of America head down to Rutgers for outreach. They assist the Jewish boys with putting on Teffilin on the streets around campus, hand out Shabbat Candles and give out the popular weekly “Think Jewish” by Chabad.org. They build on existing relationships and forge new ones. The college students look forward to the weekly visits and constantly ask for more programming.

The classes and activities will continue throughout the summer. Planning is ongoing for next years’ programming, including a formal student board. The board will be involved in developing events and continued grass-roots outreach.