This week, twenty Chabad on Campus couples and their families representing 16 centres across the UK and Europe converged in a hotel in Altrincham, South Manchester, for a two day conference to discuss vital issues confronting Jewish students in the UK and Europe today.
The fifth annual conference was opened by chairman of Chabad on Campus UK and coordinator for Europe, Rabbi Eli Brackman, who is also director of Chabad of Oxford, and Executive Vice President of Chabad on Campus International Foundation, Rabbi Yossy Gordon.
The participants attended specialised workshops covering the full spectrum of their important work on campus, including sessions on Jewish education, student leadership, combating assimilation, anti-Semitism, media, development and student led programming.
This year's conference marks a phase of unprecedented growth of Chabad on Campus UK and Europe with the opening of its most recent centres in Manchester and Birmingham, completing 14 centres spanning the whole UK, the purchase of a major Jewish student centre in Brighton, and a further expansion on the European continent that is currently under way, including centres in Paris, Hungary, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Berlin and Stockholm.
"Incorporating Europe into the UK conference for the first time is a historic development for Chabad on Campus and an enormous success, said Rabbi Eli Brackman, chairman of Chabad on Campus UK, who is also directing the European expansion, with Rabbi Michoel Danow of Chabad on campus at Leeds University.
“This successful conference will help further invigorate the crucial work the rabbis are doing on university campuses in support of the Jewish students, despite the challenges Jewish students are facing in the UK and Europe today”, Brackman added.
The highlight of the conference was a gala banquet at the home of Manchester communal philanthropist, friend and partner of Chabad on Campus UK, Mr. Zalman and Risa Klyne, attended by many local dignitaries and Jewish community leaders.
"The dinner was prepared fit for a king," Zalman Klyne said. "This was our tribute to the Shluchim, we wanted to honor them for their incredible work."
"Chabad takes care of my three Jewish needs on Campus: education, family support and Kosher food", said Jonathan Chernick, medical student at Manchester University, during a speech he gave at the banquet. He summed up the work of Chabad on university campuses as a real home away from home for the Jewish students in all its aspects.
Representing the worldwide network of campus Chabad centres, Rabbi Yossy Gordon, Executive Vice President of Chabad on Campus International Foundation expressed his thoughts on the joint UK and EU conference saying "the warmth and dedication of the Chabad Shluchim (emissaries) on campus is exhilarating. The practical ideas and inspiration shared at the conference in Manchester will bring a greater measure of success to the Chabad on campus centres in the UK and EU."
Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, Vice Chairman of Merkos L’inyonei Chinuch, Chabad-Lubavitch’s educational arm, and Chairman of Chabad on Campus International Foundation, said that “a focus of the conference was how to help create more committed and inspired Jewish leaders in Europe for future generations.”
Rabbi Bentzi Sudak, of Lubavitch UK, commented, “What was very obvious at this most successful and inspiring conference, was the tremendous growth Chabad is seeing in its crucial work on behalf of each and every Jewish student throughout the UK. This is a tribute to the talented, selfless couples who run each Centre, and the generous and visionary supporters who make this possible.”
The conference was organised by a steering committee which included Manchester's Chabad on campus Rabbi Zalman and Mushky Loewenthal, Liverpool's Rabbi Shmuli and Tzivia Brown, Leeds's Rabbi Michoel and Chana Danow and others.
For more information please visit www.ChabadonCampus.org.uk or www.chabadoncampus.eu .
