Some 2,000 Jewish college students gathered in Brooklyn on Saturday night for a havdalah ceremony marking the end of Pegisha (“meeting”), an annual Jewish student Sabbath gathering organized by Chabad on Campus International.
Rabbi Yossy Gordon, CEO of Chabad on Campus International, told JNS that the annual weekend retreat, which drew students to Crown Heights from 176 universities this year, was created for Jewish students to celebrate their identity.
“We provide them this opportunity to be able to come together, to unite and to feel each other’s strength and light, so that they can bring back that energy back home to their campus,” he told JNS at the event.
“There’s no greater strength than when we’re united, and all of the areas of life that we’re concerned about when it comes to how we feel about the Jewish people around the globe and in Israel are helped and uplifted when the Jewish people are united,” he said
Gordon told JNS that he believes that the event was the largest gathering of Jewish college students outside of Israel.
The record attendance of the annual retreat was due to increased Jewish student engagement on campus since Oct. 7, Gordon said.
“We found that since Oct. 7, there has been about a 40% surge in interest in Chabad on campus across the United States,” he said. “Now more than ever, they need to feel their Jewish identity and they need to feel their soul, and this is how we’re able to help them become more aware of who they are.”
‘Jews are afraid’
Yafah Russek, a sophomore studying finance at Texas State University, told JNS that the size of the event was especially meaningful given rising Jew-hatred.
“I think it’s truly meaningful for people to come here today,” she said. “Especially with antisemitism, Jews are afraid.”
“They don’t want to show their pride, and when you come out to an event like this, it just reminds you to be proud to be Jewish, even though you are on college campuses and there are people that are protesting,” she added. “We’re a small community, and when we come to events like this it shows that we are united.”
Robbie Metz, a senior studying political science at the University of Kansas, told JNS that he attended the event to connect with Jewish peers.
“When you are in a campus with not that many Jews, and all you see is hatred on the internet, it’s so relieving to come to a place like this and be surrounded by so many beautiful people that are all of the same faith,” he said. “It really restores one’s trust and everything, because you don’t see it, you only hear about it.”
“When you come to an event like Pegisha, you see what Jewish pride really looks like,” he added.
Dov Wagner, a Chabad rabbi, came to the event with 30 students from the campus he serves, University of Southern California.
“Last year was by far the most difficult year, besides everything going on in the Jewish world, it was the toughest year on campus that we have ever experienced,” he told JNS.
“This event is about reigniting the Jewish spark and for our student delegation to join 2,000 other Jewish college students in being joyous and proud of their Judaism. his what keeps us going,” he said. “They get to see that we are a part of something much bigger than their own campus community.”
Wagner noted that the larger size of this year’s event was a testament to the resilience of Jewish students on campuses.
“We were here last year just a couple of weeks after Oct. 7, and there were very much overtones of, ‘This is a horrible time for the Jewish people,’ but we’re still going to be strong,” he told JNS.
“As our enemies try to crush us, what they’ve accomplished is the exact opposite,” he said. “There’s greater strength, greater excitement and passion right now in our student communities now than there’s ever been before.”
Max Lurie, a freshman studying finance at Texas A&M University, told JNS that he attended to experience the warm community life of his Chabad on campus on a wider scale.
“I just started going to Chabad a couple months ago and I love it more than anything,” he said. “It’s just the sense of community that feels real ‘homey,’ you go there and there are kids running around. There are old people running around, and it’s kind of like an almost fun chaos to it all.”
“This weekend event is exactly like that, just on an extreme scale,” he said. “It’s just a really great experience to be here and we can’t fight hate with more hate.”
“The only thing you can do is be more proud of who you are and be proud to be Jewish,” he said.