With a large and growing Jewish population on campus, Chabad is one of the new organizations hoping to meet Jewish students’ needs. Hillel is also changing to meet new demands.
With offerings that include free trips to Israel, free food, and religious services, both Hillel and Chabad offer students incentives to discover their Jewish identity in different ways.
Chabad, which is a staple of Jewish life at many universities throughout the world, launched at UCF shortly before the end of the fall semester. It offers religious and social programming in its Chasidic tradition, but reaches out to Jews of all stripes.
“We don’t like making distinctions between Jews– all our programs are geared towards the Jew,” said Chabad Rabbi Chaim Lipskier in an interview with CampusJ, adding “Any Jew with any level of knowledge or commitment to Judaism can come to any Chabad program and feel welcome.”
All organizations welcome Jews to participate, but Hillel defines “Jew” differently than Chabad. Perhaps recognizing a national trend, since almost half of Jewish marriages are intermarriages, Hillel recognizes Jews born of non-Jewish mothers as Jewish, while Chabad, according to their website, recognizes only the converted and those born of Jewish mothers as Jewish. However, leaders of both organizations said they are more interested in the student’s identification than birth.
“Hillel caters our social programming to Jews, whether they be born Jewish (either parent) or converted into Judaism, however, we do not restrict our invitations to only Jews,” said Hillel’s Jewish Campus Service Corps Fellow Michelle Samuels in an IM interview with CampusJ, adding “We welcome anyone who is interested in being a part of our organization.”
Chabad said it aims to offer a refuge to students missing their homes and weekly Shabbat dinner. The Chabad house is the home of Lipskier and his wife Rivkie.
“Our Chabad house is open 24 hours per day,” Lipskier said, noting, “You are welcome past 12, just please give us a call.” Lipskier added, “If there is anything we can do to benefit the students, we are here.”
Hillel will soon be building a large, modern facility, said Hillel’s Executive Director, Rabbi Jonathan Siger. Until then, their Jewish Life Center is located in a student apartment facility close to campus.
Chabad is staffed by a husband and wife to create a sense of family for students, according to Lipskier. “Family is at the center of Judaism,” said Lipskier, “and we try to lead by example.”
Hillel is operated by both a staff and students and has spawned many other student organizations, such as Students for Israel. According to Samuels, the dual staff/student relationship creates more opportunities for leadership and makes Hillel a foundation for Jewish organizations.
Chabad and Hillel include a variety of religious programming, but Hillel is based in social programming.Chabad openly serves as a center for Jewish learning, which Lipskier said is “non-judgmental and without pressure.”
Both concentrate on the discovery and cultivation of the Jewish identity and experience.