Rabbi Makes F&M Students Feel at Home

Rabbi Elazar Green is just like a college student. He’s up all hours of the night.

“He’s always there for students,” says Nathaniel Moldoff, a senior at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. “I’ve spoken to him on the phone at 1 a.m. He puts in so much work with what he does. He’s up all hours running around.”

Green directs the Chabad Jewish Student Center, 1024 Harrisburg Ave., and certifies food as Kosher for area companies. He resides during the week in Baltimore, where his children attend Jewish day school, but every Friday night when students are on campus, he and his wife, Shira, open their Race Avenue home for a Shabbat service and dinner.

F&M senior Josh Rubin doesn’t have a college meal plan or a car. Green takes him grocery shopping.

“The funny thing is, he’s spending hundreds of dollars for a Shabbat dinner, and I’m spending $20 for a few items, and he’s faster than I am. He’s extremely busy,” Rubin says.

The Greens’ home in Lancaster is a home-away-from-home for many F&M Jewish students.

“He makes his house so welcoming,” says Leah Zebovitz, a freshman. “It’s always a good place to go. One Friday night, I didn’t leave until 11:15. It was so relaxed and friendly. That was so nice.”

Shira Kipnees, a junior from North Caldwell, N.J., heard great things about Green when she came to F&M.

“I was curious,” she says. “I went for a Shabbat dinner. I fell in love with him. He’s really welcoming. He helped ease my transition to college life. I appreciate how much he cares about us, how open he is. He wants to be a part of our lives. He really connects with us. He’s not overbearing, He’s there as your spiritual guide.”

Zebovitz, 18, says Green always includes a Torah thought at the Friday night gatherings. Growing up in Elkins Park in a conservative synagogue and attending a Jewish day school through eighth grade, she studied the Torah as a literary text.

But Green, who is Orthodox, takes a rabbinical approach, she says.

As an example, Zebovitz says while she learned to demonize Adam and Eve in Genesis, Green looks at it differently.

“He says the serpent was evil, and Adam and Eve left so they could fight evil in the world.”

Rubin, 21, of Lower Merion, says Green is one of his best friends at school.

“He’s so helpful. He’ll do whatever he can for students. Mezuzahs are sort of expensive and hard to come by in Lancaster. I asked him for one, and he gave me one.”

Rubin, who has been to Israel twice, once with the recommendation of Green at a greatly reduced price, plans to spend five month after graduation living in a kibbutz in Israel.

Moldoff, a business major and president of the Chabad student group at F&M, plans to work for a Jewish nonprofit organization — a synagogue, a day school or a welfare or human services organization for a Jewish community, such as a the Jewish Federation or a Jewish Community Center.

“Because of the experience I’ve had with (Green),” says Moldoff, of Cherry Hill, N.J., “it’s something I definitely have a passion for and that I could make into a career.”

Moldoff describes Green as “very entrepreneurial — always thinking of different strategies to enhance whatever he’s doing.”

They often attend Saturday morning services at Degel Israel, Lancaster’s Orthodox synagogue.

“We’ll walk back together, have lunch together and hang out. He treats anyone who comes into his home like family. I could talk about him for days.”

As the Chabad secretary, Kipnees, 21, of North Caldwell, N.J., also spends a lot of time with Green.

“He’s really a great guy,” Kipnees says. “I’m very fortunate to have met him. He’s been a great part of my F&M experience — he and the Chabad group.”