Although the Festival of Shavuos fell this year in the heart of the exam period, nearly 1,000 Jewish students participated in events at their university Chabad centres. Events at the 14 centres from Edinburgh to Brighton included a wine and cheese dinner in Cambridge for over a hundred, a dairy garden lunch party in Leeds for eighty, close to a hundred people at a Shavuot barbeque and study in Nottingham, 70 in Oxford, and over a hundred attended Shavuot dinner at Chabad of Bloomsbury, in addition to large numbers at the many other centres across the UK.
As Shavuot is a time for study, commemorating the receiving of the Torah on Mount Sinai, stimulating Torah study sessions were held on a variety of topics for hundreds of students at all night study, including a popular session on the Kabbalah of relationships in Oxford, analyzing the story of King Solomon and the disputed baby at Bloomsbury Chabad, and a class in Cambridge on the first of the Ten Commandments, exploring the requirement to believe in G-d and how it was viewed from Mishnaic times to medieval and modern times, as well as fascinating topics in other centres across the UK, most continuing until dawn.
In Edinburgh, where forty people joined Chabad for the reading of the Ten Commandments along with a delicious dairy buffet dinner, Dr. Joe Goldblatt of Queen Margaret University expressed his appreciation for Chabad’s presence in Edinburgh and for providing a very inspirational celebration of Shavuot for the Jewish students and wider community.
In addition to the large turnout for events on the larger campuses, lesser known universities for Jewish students also saw impressive Shavuot events for Jewish students with Chabad on campus. East End of London campuses hosted a Shavuot cheesecake party and class for Jewish students at Queen Mary and other East End campuses, dispersed Jewish students across South London campuses came together for a Shavuot garden party and Ten Commandment reading for 20 students, and in Sussex, over fifteen students attended three pre-Shavuos classes, and cheesecake warmed hearts and lifted spirits for dozens of stressed students at Sussex, Kent and Southampton.
The highlight of events on the South Coast was when twenty students attended a dairy garden feast accompanied by a lively 'Stump the Rabbi' session on the first day of Shavuot afternoon.
If nothing else, this impressive turnout of Jewish students for the holiday of Shavuot this year at Chabad on campus centres shows that despite the pressures of exams and end of term approaching, when it comes to celebrating Jewish heritage and enjoying good traditional Jewish food, Jewish students are more than happy to shrug off pressures and find time to celebrate Jewish life in the warm and fun setting of their campus Chabad House.
Jubilee celebrations at Chabad on campus
As the UK celebrated its second Diamond Jubilee celebration in British history, Chabad on campus marked this occasion by several themed Shabbat dinners in its honour. Nottingham Chabad House held a Diamond Jubilee themed Friday night dinner for 50 students with a traditional British menu and Birmingham hosted also a jubilee Shabbat dinner and Shabbat lunch.
Robinson wrote...