Largest Unique Student Gathering Takes Place

This past Shabbos, the Crown Heights community were privileged to host over 850 college students who came together for a Shabbaton filled with achdus, ruach and pride in being Jewish. Arranged and facilitated by the Chabad on Campus International Foundation, the Shabbaton brings together students from the over 165 Chabad Student Centers around the United States, Canada, Europe and the UK for a weekend of speeches, lectures, Shabbos meals and fun activities.

This year, over 95 schools were represented from across America, including large delegations from California, Arizona, Florida, Wisconsin, Maryland, New Jersey, Illinois, Nevada and more. For the fourth year running, a group of students from Oxford and London in the UK joined, along with groups from Canada and a number of exchange students from France, Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, Australia and Israel.

Shluchim accompanied students in their respective groups to go sightseeing in Manhattan on Friday, where over 200 students converged on J2 in Manhattan for kosher, New-York-style pizza, a first for many from out of town.

The Friday night program opened the weekend’s headliner, Rabbi Dov Greenberg of Stanford University, who lectured the students throughout the weekend on topics ranging from anti-semitism on college campuses to finding inspiration through Kabbalah and Chassidus. Friday night’s unique Kabbolas Shabbos service had students packed into the downstairs section of 770, with dancing following Lecha Dodi reaching extreme proportions!

Students spent Friday night at the homes of their hosts, enjoying true warmth and atmosphere of a Chassidishe home. Many followed their hosts and shluchim to farbrengens following the meal, while others participated in the jam-packed Friday night schedule of classes and farbrengens, featuring a host of illustrious guest speakers across an advanced “Taste of Yeshivah” track and a general track focusing on open discussion and farbrengens. The program continued the next day, beginning with Shabbos lunch. Over 1000 people packed the Ohelei Torah ballroom, singing and dancing “Am Yisrael Chai” and “Oseh Shalom Bimromav”, young students and older Rabbis weaving among waiters toting trays of kugel and bowls of hot cholent.

The afternoon’s Soul Sessions were a highlight for many, with a wide variety of classes and lectures designed to capture every taste. Representatives from student-oriented Yeshivos including Rabbi Immanuel Storfer of Miami Torah Experience, Rabbi Boruch Kaplan and Rabbi Meir Levinger of Mayanot Institute in Yerushalayim, and Rabbi Yaakov Wagner of Morristown Yeshivah led text-based discussions on Halacha and Chassidus as part of the advanced “Taste of Yeshivah” track, while a variety of campus Rabbis and Rebbetzins including Rabbi Dov Yonah Korn of NYU, Rabbi Dovid Gurevich of UCLA, Rabbi and Mrs Zalman and Yehudis Bluming of Duke and UNC, and Mrs Manya Lazaroff of Texas A&M led “Stump The Rabbi” and Open Discussions focusing on common topics facing today’s college students. Professor Binyamin Abrams of Boston University treated the students to a packed-out session on Science vs Religion; while Colonel Jacob Goldstein regaled others with tales of Faith under Fire.

The Shabbos program ended with an inspirational and rousing Havdalah ceremony, led by Rabbi Dov Oliver of the Center for Jewish Life at Rockland Community College. Hundreds of students danced and sang for over thirty minutes following Havdalah, as they truly felt included in a larger community, connected with one another and with their shluchim, and proud of their Jewish identities.

On Sunday, the spiritual journey continued at the Ohel, where students were transported in two shifts to write letters asking for their needs, praying for success and relaying their newly-formed hachlotas to the Rebbe. Rabbi Greenberg’s introductory speech reminded the students of the love the Rebbe had for each and every person, of his utmost dedication to every single student, so much that he sent a shliach to every college campus where they now reap the fruits of his labors. Students have since contacted their shluchim with tales of the inspiration they found at the Ohel, including actual physical assistance in achieving hachlotas they’d only moments before prayed to help fulfill.

As the 850 future representatives of the Jewish people shared their reflections on their experiences at the Chabad Shabbaton, from visiting Crown Heights and hearing the inspirational lectures, to touring the local community and meeting hundreds of other Jewish students, it was evident that the Shabbaton will not simply become a memory – it is an experience they will share and reflect upon for many years to come. As friendships were made, relationships forged with shluchim and most importantly, a respect and deep connection with the Rebbe, every student who attended the Shabbaton was clear that their experience had altered their perception of life as a Jew on a college campus.

According to Rabbi Yossy Gordon, Executive Vice President of the Chabad on Campus International Foundation, “This is by far the largest Shabbos gathering of Jewish students in America, if not the world,” he said. “It is truly incredible that we have the opportunity to host these students here in Crown Heights and contribute significantly to their Jewish identity, fostering positive feelings towards Jewishness for a generation of our future leaders.”