SEATTLE, WA — Chabad on Campus at University of Washington has a new home, room for seventy guests on Shabbat dinner, a library and a joint project with a Jewish fraternity on campus coming up, but no matzah ball soup.
No Matzah Ball Soup Here
SEATTLE, WA — Chabad on Campus at University of Washington has a new home, room for seventy guests on Shabbat dinner, a library and a joint project with a Jewish fraternity on campus coming up, but no matzah ball soup.
On Shabbat at the new center—a tall but cozy house, three quick blocks from U-Dub—Rabbi Elie and Chana Rochel Estrin don’t serve “Jewish penicillin” or potato kugel either. Traditional Jewish foods, the mode of identification for gastronomic Jews in other eras and places, leave most Jewish UW students cold. The campus, in the statistical epicenter of the intermarriage epidemic, attracts students who – on the whole – have grown up so far removed from anything Jewish that the standbys of Jewish culture are foreign to them.
“If we serve kugel, it just sits on the table uneaten. Students don’t know what to make of it,” said Rabbi Estrin.
Instead of mourning the demise of food as common ground for Jews from different backgrounds, the Estrins capitalize on it. Every month they offer a Friday night Shabbat meal based on a different international cuisine. Thai, Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, Cajun, and Italian cuisine have all been on the menu. Chana Rochel has received so many requests for recipes that she hosts cooking lessons each week.
“Some of the biggest crowds are at the themed Shabbos dinners. It allows people who normally wouldn’t bother, to get involved with Judaism,” said Gary Stute, who recently graduated UW with a degree in physics.
Interest in the exotic Shabbat meals spills over into involvement in Chabad’s other events. Cosmopolitan menus also work because they mesh so nicely with the Jewish students’ interests. Of the 2000 self-identified Jews on campus, a hefty chunk of them are international studies or political science majors. Students’ investment in the issues of the day keeps discussions at the Estrins’ table lively.
The Estrins are “open to questions. It is an environment where people feel safe and secure to be themselves. Everyone feels comfortable,” said Stute.
Chicken from the Soup
Oh please.
You really think people who are not used to the Shabbos table would refuse a savory bowl of steaming hot chicken soup with a nice fluffy matzo ball submerged within?
e.
keep up the great work!
Rabbi Elie Estrin
Not when most of them are vegetarians!
good job Estrins
yay ESTRINSSS…!!!!!
i am so happy for ur new place and willl definitely come by and visit next time i come home… chaya rochel…ur food is always amazing. whatever type it is.
may you only go from strenth to strength
T
CR
It was cute to see shaina in the picture! Where’s Huda? and I assume four day old Naomi wasn’t in the picture yet. May you go from stregnth to stregnth. CR
Piamenta Fan
Is that Yossi Piamenta in the backround?
Rabbi Elie Estrin
Yes it is Piamenta in the background. He did a short pre-concert thing with us on Sukkos.