Chabad Plays Host for Fraternity’s Winter Gathering

Chicago, IL — A festive Friday night dinner kicked off Alpha Epsilon Pi’s Midwest conclave in Chicago, held during the last weekend in January. Young men from Texas to Toronto came together for a heartwarming Jewish experience, Chabad style, which included plenty of food, a Stump the Rabbi session and much singing for the 225 attendees.

Different regions of AEPi chapters hold semi-annual regional conclaves each winter, bringing the fraternity’s brothers together for a few days of conferences. According to organizers, the Chicago event represented the first time that a kosher Shabbat dinner was part of the program. “Attendance was twice as high this year,” said Lee Solomon, Midwest Conclave chairman and a student at the University of Chicago, “so we thought it would be nice to have a Shabbat extravaganza as an ice breaker.”

Priding itself as a Jewish fraternity, AEPi – while not religious in nature – seeks to create a social and cultural community of young Jewish men. Founded in 1913, the fraternity has evolved and changed over time to accommodate growing numbers of Jewish students on campuses nationwide. A central mission of the fraternity is to stem the tide of assimilation and strengthen the Jewish identity of its members, particularly during the critical college years.

To this end, “Chabad is a natural partner in the Jewish community,” explained Phillip A. Brodsky, AEPi’s director of Jewish programming. On the chapter level, Chabad and AEPi often cooperate; the relationship of the AEPi chapter at Northwestern and Tannenbaum Chabad House is a case in point. Rabbi Dov Hillel Klein, an honorary brother in the fraternity, said that he sees himself as a “resource to the brotherhood.” He added that Chabad “excels in cultural Jewish activities, and we develop and bring cultural programming to the fraternity.” This includes everything from helping the fraternity build a Sukkah to developing leadership on campus.

According to Klein, the latest Shabbat event reflected the broadening of the existing chapter cooperation between the two groups into a national relationship. “We are experts at grassroots retail engagement,” which can help the fraternity identify potential new members, he said.

Andrew S. Borans, executive director of AEPi, said the fraternity “views itself as a vehicle to expose our undergraduates to everything Jewish out there.” It therefore partners with Chabad – which shares some similar goals, such as strengthening Jewish identity – as well as with AIPAC and Hillel in an effort to give students access to all the available Jewish options, whether political or religious. This enables students to attend events and “decide which organization suits them,” explained the official.

“Stump the Rabbi”

Klein, along with Rabbi Yossi Brackman, director of the Chabad Jewish Center at the University of Chicago, hosted the Shabbat dinner. Students described the hosts in superlatives – “energetic, passionate, fun and humorous” – and were equally enthusiastic about the program itself, which included singing, socializing and a dvar Torah. Brodsky revealed that participants exclaimed that it was the “best Friday night that they had seen at [a] conclave.” The dinner was sponsored by the Chabad on Campus Ufaratzta Fund, established by philanthropist Yisroel Schulman and family.

The highlight of the evening, according to Steven Kaplan, an economics and psychology student at the University of Illinois, was a session of “Stump the Rabbi.” Students challenged the rabbis with questions; the rabbis apparently had no problem keeping up. “They kept everyone’s attention,” said Kaplan, “and came up with answers, which included aspects of Torah and Judaism.”

Patrick Petchersky, a finance and economics student at DePaul University, focused on a different angle of the event. As a student at a Catholic school, Petchersky said that as a freshman he quickly realized that he would have to take action if he wanted to socialize with Jewish guys. So, he founded a chapter of AEPi on campus. A year and a half later, that chapter boasts 25 members. Reflecting his challenges at college, Petchersky praised the Shabbat dinner for bringing together young men from diverse backgrounds, including those who are not familiar with Chabad.

That is exactly where Chabad fits in the AEPi puzzle, affirmed Brodsky. “My role is to build bridges between the different backgrounds, and Chabad can help us with that,” he said. “This was a shining example of how good it is to sit down with your brothers in the name of Shabbos.”