Jewish College Students Focus on Israel as They Prep for Annual International Gathering

As more than 1,000 Jewish college students from around the world prepare to travel to New York for the annual Chabad on Campus Shabbaton this weekend, they and their fellow students are determined to counter the dark news coming out of Israel and are using some fairly unique tools to do so: learning Torah, reciting prayers, giving to charity and performing good deeds.

For help and support, tens of thousands of students around the globe have been turning to their local Chabad on Campus emissaries. For instance, last Monday more than 1,000 students, mostly from North America, participated in a 25-minute conference call sponsored by Chabad on Campus International describing clear measures on how to help Israel. Hundreds of other students have been turning out for solidarity rallies, Torah-study programs and mitzvah activities to support their brethren from afar.

“We know that every college campus is a battleground on the front lines for what is going on in the hearts and minds of students,” says Rabbi Dovid Tiechtel of Illini Chabad, which serves students at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His Chabad on Campus center was one of several across the United States and Canada that recently held a solidarity rally for Israel.

“Students were calling me all that day; they are very stressed and shaken,” says Tiechtel, “and so we decided to get together for Torah study, tefillah [prayer] and tzedakah [charity].”

It was the students who took the initiative and set the tone for last Tuesday’s rally, which was held smack-dab in the middle of the school’s quad. “The amazing thing was that this was bottom up,” says the rabbi. “The students pulled the whole thing off.”

The Lubavitch Chabad Jewish Student Center at the University of Florida in Gainesville, co-directed by Rabbi Berl and Chanie Goldman, held a solidarity program for Israel last Thursday that drew more than 300 students on campus. They were met with a handful of protestors, but the Jewish delegation stood firm—putting on tefillin, giving tzedakah, men dancing and everyone paying rapt attention to the speakers.

A rally was held last Tuesday in the quad at the University of Illinois and Champaign-Urbana.

Many also turned out that same day for a “Solidarity With Israel” event in London, Ontario, even though it conflicted with a Major League Baseball playoff game featuring the Toronto Blue Jays. During the program held at the Chabad House at University of Western Ontario in Canada, students raised funds to help families of victims of the terror attacks in Israel and recited Tehillim (Psalms) together. Chabad @ Western’s director, Rabbi Mordechai Silberberg, told the 100-plus students at the rally that their actions represent a powerful way of protecting Jews from harm.

A university student, who requested anonymity, acknowledged that some have expressed concern about anti-Israel activities on campus. One program of note, he relates, happened a few years ago, when a group put up a “wall” on campus to protest the security barriers in Israel.

Just how to respond when confronted with such actions—and other forms of anti-Israel activism on campus—will be on tap at this year’s Chabad on Campus International Shabbaton in New York City, which begins on Friday.

Rabbi Aharon Chaim Notik, co-program director at Lubavitch Chabad Jewish Student Center in Gainesville, helps University of Florida student Ariel Paniry put on tefillin.

Focus on Jewish Pride and Spirituality

More than 1,100 young men and women from 31 states and five countries are coming in Oct. 23-25 for a weekend of educational, social and religious programming, starting with a traditional Shabbat spent in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y., the headquarters of the worldwide Chabad-Lubavitch movement.

Other highlights include a tour of New York City and a concert by the American Chassidic pop band 8th Day. That’s in addition to a host of social-networking opportunities and discussion sessions throughout the three-day program. A special track was added this year for graduate students, many of whom are excited to be returning to the Shabbaton for the third and even fourth time.

Rabbi Chaim Boyarsky, co-director with his wife, Yocheved, of the Rohr Chabad Student Network of Ottawa, led the rally, saying the students wanted to make a statement that “we are not embarrassed by who we are. We are proud Jews.” (Photo: Erik Plumadore)

A number of Israel-related sessions will be presented—some of them added in as a result of the ongoing terror attacks there—including the forums, “Israel: Why Should I Care and What Should I Do?”; “Has Israel Filled Our Deepest Hope? A Discussion”; “Israel: A People That Will Dwell Alone, a Country That Can Endure Forever”; and “The BDS Movement, G‑d’s Gift to the Jews in 2015.”

A screening of the new documentary, “Crossing the Line 2: The New Face of Anti-Semitism on Campus,” will also be shown, followed by a question-and-answer session.

“The International Shabbaton is a significant way for young adults with common concerns and interests to get together and discuss what’s happening on campus, in Israel and around the world,” says Rabbi Yossy Gordon, executive vice president of Chabad on Campus International. “It’s also a means to focus on Jewish pride and spirituality. Coming to New York with peers, friends and Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries, the students can gain knowledge, awareness and support, and take it back to campus with them.”

Prayers were recited and psalms were read at the student rally in Ottawa. (Photo: Erik Plumadore)

Charity was also collected by the students that night. Rabbi Boyarsky, left, said he “was amazed at how well they spoke—really amazed. They spoke from their hearts.” (Photo: Erik Plumadore)

‘Something We Could Do’

Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries have been quick to praise students for their activism, noting that many of the initiatives for Israel—rallies, Torah classes, prayer sessions, mitzvah activities and more—took place after direct requests from concerned young adults.

One of those students is Binghamton University senior Jason Cutler of Skokie, Ill.

“After all that was happening in Israel, I felt that we could help by getting students on campus to do mitzvahs,” says Cutler. “I read an article posted on Chabad.org about what people can do and thought it would be a great idea to give students an opportunity to do them right on campus.” Thus came the idea for a “Do a Mitzvah for Israel” day.

“Students definitely feel bad when they hear about [the ongoing terror attacks] and want to do something,” insists Cutler. “And this is something we could do.”

A prayer service for Israel attended by students at Binghamton University in Upstate New York. (Photo: Chabad of Binghamton)

So student leaders, along with Rabbi Levi Slonim—director of programming and development at the Rohr Chabad Center for Jewish Student Life at Binghamton University in Upstate New York—set up a table on campus last Wednesday and for four hours, students and faculty were able to perform mitzvahs and offer tangible support for Israel.

Some crafted cards for those wounded in the attacks or for those who have lost loved ones. Some recited passages from Tehillim (Psalms), while others put on tefillin and donated money to the Chabad Terror Victims Project, Magen David Adom and other organizations. Mezuzahs were also available.

“In various times of terror in Israel, the Rebbe [Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory] encouraged taking action in strengthening the observance of different mitzvahs, and that’s exactly what we did,” says Slonim.

This followed a prayer service the evening before sponsored by Chabad at Binghamton that was also well-attended by students.

The service was sponsored by the Rohr Chabad Center for Jewish Student Life at Binghamton University, co-directed by Rabbi Aharon and Rivkah Slonim. (Photo: Chabad of Binghamton)

‘All in This Together’

Noting that this is a Hakhel year—referring to a biblical mitzvah (commandment) of assembling Jewish men, women and children to hear the reading of the Torah by the king of Israel once every seven years, following the sabbatical year known as Shemittah—Rabbi Chaim Boyarsky, co-director with his wife, Yocheved, of the Rohr Chabad Student Network of Ottawa, states: “We are all in this together. We all feel the pain inside. One twig is easy to break, but a whole group is not so easy. That was shown so beautifully last Tuesday night at our rally in support of Israel.”

Even a cold rain didn’t keep young men and women from gathering together on campus, umbrellas in hand.

Boyarsky explains that it was important for the students, especially for a former Israel Defense Forces soldier from Canada now attending the university, to come together in a display of Jewish pride and unity. They wanted to make a statement that “we are not embarrassed by who we are. We are proud Jews.”

“I was amazed at how well they spoke,” he says, “really amazed. The kids are struggling inside. They are seeing so much death and want to know how to move forward. They sang ‘Am Yisrael Chai’ and spoke from their hearts.”

Also at Binghamton, student leaders and Rabbi Levi Slonim—director of programming and development at the Chabad center there—set up a table in the center of campus last Wednesday, encouraging students and faculty to do a mitzvah for Israel. (Photo: Chabad of Binghamton)

At the “Do a Mitzvah for Israel” day, students crafted cards and wrote notes to families of the victims and wounded in Israel. (Photo: Chabad of Binghamton)

Men took the opportunity to put on tefillin during the four hours that the mitzvah booth operated on campus. (Photo: Chabad of Binghamton)

The sign speaks volumes: Binghamton University students with Rabbi Zalman Chein of the Chabad center. (Photo: Chabad of Binghamton)