Attendees of the first-ever Northeastern Intercollegiate Shabbaton light Shabbat candles at the Chabad Center for Jewish Student Life at Binghamton University. (Photo: T. Pace/Chabad of Binghamton)
Gathering together for the first-ever Northeastern Intercollegiate Shabbaton – a weekend program stressing Jewish pride and unity sponsored by area Chabad-Lubavitch centers and the Chabad on Campus International Foundation – some 500 college students bonded and shared stories of maintaining Jewish life in bastions of academia.
Students Take Conference’s Jewish Lessons Back to Campus
Gathering together for the first-ever Northeastern Intercollegiate Shabbaton – a weekend program stressing Jewish pride and unity sponsored by area Chabad-Lubavitch centers and the Chabad on Campus International Foundation – some 500 college students bonded and shared stories of maintaining Jewish life in bastions of academia.
Hosted by the Chabad Center for Jewish Student Life at Binghamton University, the Oct. 16-18 event attracted more than 200 students from more than 20 institutions stretching from Vermont to Maryland; upon their arrival in upstate New York, they joined roughly 300 of their peers, who helped plan everything from the food to the music.
“The whole Shabbaton was very meaningful for me,” remarked Lauren Rosenblatt, a sophomore at the University at Albany-SUNY, which was represented by a 15-strong delegation. “Seeing people from all over just being together was great. I made new friends from and am excited to have new places to visit now.”
Rosenblatt, who spoke at a Sunday brunch about how the gathering affected her personally, said she discovered many new ideas for reaching out to students and interesting programs to bring back to her own campus, where she serves on the student board of her Chabad House.
Genna Friedman, a senior and political science major at Albany, echoed Rosenblatt’s sentiments.
“I found the classes to be really interesting, especially the one I went to on the Kabbalah of relationships” taught by Rivkah Slonim, education director of the Binghamton Chabad House. “In general, everyone bonded. I would even encourage my school to host it next year.”
The Binghamton weekend came two weeks before the Nov. 6 Chabad on Campus International Student Shabbaton in Brooklyn, N.Y., where collegians from more than 100 schools in the United States, Canada and Europe are expected to attend.
Chana Katz, a freshman art student at the University of Vermont made the five-hour trip with five other UVM students.
“It was really wonderful to be around so many Jews together. There’s a much smaller community on my campus,” said Katz, a Connecticut native. “It was a rejuvenating experience and I really got to see what other communities do, which will help my own campus community.”
