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Rabbi Eli's Blog

Current issues, sermons and university news

Chabad on Campus Rabbis meet to Secure and Expand Jewish life on Campuses across the UK

Oxford.jpgChabad on Campus UK will be hosting a university rabbinical conference in Central London this Sunday for the 13 heads of branches of Chabad on campus UK, the fastest growing Jewish organisation serving Jewish students in the UK.

With Chabad centres and rabbis on almost every major campus in the UK, says Rabbi Eli Brackman, chairman of Chabad on campus UK, we are well placed to tackle the important issues facing Jewish students and Jewish life as a whole on the campuses. There are very real issues that need tackling like the recent issue that arose at the LSE, when Jewish students were called Nazis by an anti-Israel speaker. This has left Jewish students feeling intimidated on a London campus with national and long term ramifications.

Anti… Read More »

Over 2,000 Celebrate Hanukkah with Chabad on Campus UK

broad_st_menorah_with_kids.jpgOver 2,000 Celebrate Hanukkah with Chabad on Campus UK

 

Over 2,000 Celebrate Hanukkah with Chabad on Campus UK, the fastest growing Jewish organisation on campus in Britain today.

 

This year Chabad on Campus UK held a record number of public Menorah lightings including: UCL (1st ever), Nottingham (1st ever), Imperial College, Livepool, Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester, Cambridge, Sussex and Bristol Universities. These were attended by high profile people such as Professor Lord Winston, Pro-Vice Chancellor of Nottingham University Saul Tender, Blackpool FC player Dekel Keinan and with Menorahs up to 9ft high.

 

A record was reached at Oxford where 250 students and faculty turned out for a giant Menorah lighting outsid… Read More »

Professor Denis Noble FRS speaks to Oxford Chabad Society about why he resigned from the University & College Union

Noble.jpgProfessor Denis Noble, Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford University, and President of the International Union of Physiological Sciences (IUPS), spoke for the Oxford University Chabad Society last Friday night at a packed Shabbat dinner about his highly publicised resignation from UCU for being what he considers anti-Semitic.

 

He gave the history of his involvement in the Union for 50 years and explained that it came to a point when he could not continue to be a member. His reason was threefold. The Congress of the Union, which essentially decides policy, has been hijacked by a small group of extreme haters of Israel, against the wishes of the vast majority of its members. Sadly, he said, he had come to the conclusion that this was u… Read More »

A Rabbi from Oxford's Bodleian Library who saved Jews from the Holocaust

Weissmandl.jpgRabbi Michael Weissmandl: A Rabbi from the Bodleian Library who saved Jews from the Holocaust

 

By Rabbi Eli Brackman, Chabad of Oxford 

 

Michael Dov Weissmandl (1903–1957) was a scholar and expert of Hebrew manuscripts, who visited Oxford during the 1930’s and played an instrumental role in attempting to save Jews from the Nazis during the Second World War.

 

This article will illustrate how Rabbi Weissmandl’s visits to Oxford served him his rabbinical ordination, possibly the first rabbi to be ordained from his research at the Bodleian library, and offered him the groundwork to attempt to help save tens of thousands of Jews from the Nazis in Slovakia and millions in Europe.

 

R… Read More »

250 People Attend Giant Menorah Lighting in Oxford with Heads of Oxford Colleges

P1010869.JPGOver 250 people turned out in the heart of Oxford City Centre, outside Balliol College, to attend the 10th annual giant Menorah lighting on Broad Street, Oxford, organised by Chabad of Oxford.

The ceremony was attended by an impressive high profile line-up of Oxford dignitaries, including three Heads of Colleges, Pro-Vice Chancellor of Oxford University and Rector of Exeter College, Frances Cairncross; President of Trinity College and former British Ambassador of Italy, Sir Ivor Roberts; and acting Principal of Brasenose College, Camden Professor of Ancient History, Alan K. Bowman.

In addition to university heads, seven City Councillors of Oxford City Council attended, and several chaplains of Oxford Colleges, including Dean and ch… Read More »

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