Rabbi Eli's Blog

My mother’s mother was an Ashkenazi Jew. To that extent, so am I. I’ll say something about that part of my family – it casts at least a little light on how I became a philosopher.

In my distant ancestry, there were rabbis. One of them tended to a community somewhere in Eastern Europe where the main source of income was smuggling arms across the nearby border. As a result of some treaty, the border moved, so his congregation all had to move too, and he was left without a job.

My great-grandfather was born in Warsaw. He was a feckless character, who wandered around Europe, and self-identified as a philosopher, which conveniently meant that his wife had to do all the work.

He left behind voluminous memoirs, frustratingly… Read More »

Thanks for having me here - it’s great to be here with the Oxford Chabad Society - and to see such a strong turnout. I know that the Chabad Society and other Jewish societies around Oxford are renowned for the wide range of welcoming events they offer, from the weekly Friday Night Dinners to the infamous end of term party, Jewbilation.

Here at Oxford, we have been blessed with a strong Jewish community for many decades, ever since Gladstone’s Universities Test Act in 1871 opened up the way for religious minorities to take up academic posts and student roles at universities.^[1] One of the first academics to do so was the mathematician James Joseph Sylvester who served as a Professor of Geometry and came up with the matri… Read More »

Larry Sanders, older brother and inspiration to US Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, attended a Friday night Shabbat dinner this past week at the Oxford University Chabad Society’s Slager Jewish student centre. 

Larry, who studied at Harvard and Oxford, and currently serves as health spokesperson for the Green Party of England and Wales, spoke to a packed audience of close to 100 students and faculty about his upbringing, family and what inspired him and his brother, Bernie, to enter politics. Larry attributed the rise of Hitler to power in 1933 and the subsequent horrors of the Holocaust, as well as the Civil Rights movement as the two inspirations that led him and Bernie to understand that politics is a … Read More »

Larry Sanders, older brother and inspiration to US Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, attended a Friday night Shabbat dinner this past week at the Oxford University Chabad Society’s Slager Jewish student centre. 

Larry, who studied at Harvard and Oxford, and currently serves as health spokesperson for the Green Party of England and Wales, spoke to a packed audience of close to 100 students and faculty about his upbringing, family and what inspired him and his brother, Bernie, to enter politics. Larry attributed the rise of Hitler to power in 1933 and the subsequent horrors of the Holocaust, as well as the Civil Rights movements as the two inspirations that led him and Bernie to understand that politics is a… Read More »

On Sunday, 1st of November, Professor Alan Dershowitz addressed a full-to-capacity hall at the Oxford Chabad Society after having successfully debated the Oxford Union.

The much-anticipated events were well attended; a full chamber of 250 people at the union, and around 200 at the Chabad society.

Dershowitz’s accolades are numerous and impressive; a Brooklyn native, he is professor emeritus at Harvard University Law School. He has been called “the nation’s most peripatetic civil liberties lawyer” as well as “Israel’s single most visible defender: the Jewish state’s lead attorney in the court of public opinion.” He is the also the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law Schoo… Read More »

The annual conference of Chabad on Campus UK and European Shluchim took place this past week with over seventy participants in Altrincham, England. The conference was organized with the support of Chabad on Campus International and represented the major expansion of Chabad on campus in the UK and Europe over the past ten years with representatives now on every major campus in the UK and in many cities across Europe.

The programme of the conference included networking, learning new innovative techniques in Jewish education, as well as discussing ways to further strengthen the Chabad on campus presence on campuses across Europe. Other areas covered included organizational management and fundraising, among other topics. The … Read More »

Over 250 people attended the 14th annual grand Menorah Lighting ceremony on Broad Street in central Oxford, with guest of honour, the  Lord Mayor of Oxford, Cllr. Mohammed Abbasi.

The highlight of the celebration was the lighting of the giant lit-up 12ft Menorah outside Oxford's oldest college, Balliol College, established 1263. The event was organised by Chabad of Oxford, and supported by Oxford City Council, Oxford County Council, Balliol College, as well as the Oxford Jewish Congregation.

The celebration included a fire juggler, doughnuts, hot drinks, music and addresses by communal, city and university officials and dignitaries, including Rabbi Eli Brackman, director of Chabad of Oxford, Jon Rowland, president of the Oxfo… Read More »

The Oxford Chabad Society is disappointed and deeply concerned about the BDS motion the NUS endorsed this week against Israel. This is unfortunate, as the motion will do nothing to bring peace and only deepens divisions and increases tension on university campuses in the UK among the diverse student body. 

We hope that reason rather than hate will prevail and this motion will not be followed through by Student Unions allowing room for constructive and respectful dialogue among all students regarding the complex issues of peace in the Middle East. 

If you are a Jewish student and have concerns or feel in any way threatened on campus in Oxford or elsewhere in the UK please contact your local Chabad on campus Rabbi for… Read More »

Spoon-bender and mind-reader Uri Geller, together with his family, celebrated Shavuot with the Jewish students at the Oxford University Chabad Society for the first time. 

Uri Geller surprised a room full of students at the Slager Jewish student centre in central Oxford with a late-night appearance and spoke about his spoon-bending skills from a young age, his ability to fix watches from a distance and took questions about his alleged work for intelligence services and the power of positive thinking. 

His talk was then followed by what must have been a first for a show by Uri Geller when he made the festival Kiddush - blessing on the wine - in celebration of the holiday.

The evening began as a traditio… Read More »

Close to an estimated thousand people attended Oxford's first Jewish Celebration Festival that was hosted this past Sunday, 18th May, in central Oxford on Broad Street outside one of Oxford's oldest colleges, Balliol College, in celebration of Lag Baomer.

The Fair was organised by Chabad of Oxford with the support of Oxford City Council, in partnership with the Oxford Jewish Congregation, as well as the kind support of the Israeli Embassy in London, CST, Heritage Lottery Fund and Flaggs College Store Oxford.

On offer was UK's leading Klezmer band 'She'Koyokh', talented award-winning harpist Fien Barnett-Neefs, Israeli food, a rich variety of Jewish books from Steimatzky and Joseph's bookstore London, as well… Read More »

Lord Janner's Speech at Chabad on Campus UK and Europe Reception

The following speech was given at the Chabad on Campus UK and Europe reception in London on Wednesday, July 24, 2013. Lord Janner of Braunstone, vice president of the Jewish Leadership Council of the UK, is a British Labor, politician, lawyer and author.

Ladies and Gentleman – My friends

Thank you very much for asking me to speak at this evening’s Chabad on Campus event. I am delighted to be here. Being Jewish has always been, and continues to be, one of my proudest attributes, of who I am. I stand up in my personal and professional life – proud to say I am Jewish, and even to say, I am a British Jew!

But I know this isn’t always… Read More »

Chabad on Campus UK hosted a successful mid summer reception in Regents Park Central London this week celebrating the enormous growth of Chabad on Campus over the last year serving the many thousands of Jewish students in the UK and Europe.

Chairman of Chabad on Campus UK, Rabbi Eli Brackman, announced that for the first time there are eighteen full time Chabad student centres serving Jewish students across the UK and Europe, and commented that part of "the role of Chabad on Campus is to infuse pride and joy into being Jewish on campus, while simultaneously being at the forefront in helping students overcome the many challenges that face Jewish students on university campuses in Europe today”.

Addressing suppor… Read More »