The new Schottenstein Chabad Center building at The Ohio State University in Columbus allowed space for a \u201crecord breaking\u201d approximately 1,000 Jewish students to celebrate the High Holy Days under the same roof.<\/p>\n
On campus for nearly three decades, the organization began to see growth in participation several years ago, leading to plans for expansion. As OSU Chabad prepares for the grand opening of its new space, Jewish students were welcomed there early to celebrate Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and caught a glimpse into the future of the organization, according to OSU Chabad staff members told the Columbus Jewish news.<\/p>\n
\u201cFinally, we moved into our new building,\u201d Sarah Deitsch, director of operations, said. \u201cIt\u2019s not yet finished, but we were able to get occupancy for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and we broke records. There were 530 OSU Jewish students here just on the first night of Rosh Hashanah. There\u2019s never been 530 students in a building to celebrate a Jewish holiday in my 29 years here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over the course of the High Holy Days, OSU Chabad saw around 1,000 \u201cunique Jews,\u201d out of about 2,800 total Jewish undergraduates, come for food, services and other festivities, Deitsch added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe good food, the warm and inviting atmosphere and students wanting to see the space were all factors that combined to bring in many people,\u201d she said. \u201cThere was a beautiful sense of Jewish unity, camaraderie, pride and community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Executive director Rabbi Levi Andrusier said young Jews seeking ways to connect with their heritage was another factor that contributed to the uptick of attendance.<\/p>\n
\u201cEver since Oct. 7, 2023, Jewish students feel a greater need to connect with their Jewish roots,\u201d Andrusier said. \u201cThere\u2019s more of a push for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rabbi Zalman Deitsch said the organization is \u201cplanning to get all kinds of things going on,\u201d including a recent gathering for students to reflect on how the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack in Israel changed their Jewish journeys.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs much as everyone\u2019s saying they felt helpless that day, there was something about reconnecting to Judaism and feeling like they needed to be a part of something that some of them didn\u2019t have before,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
That continued need for connection has played a part in raising participation levels at OSU Chabad, Sarah Deitsch added.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore and more Jews are coming to Chabad House to connect to their Judaism, and now there is space,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s a large synagogue, a large library, a large social hall, classrooms and there will be recreational areas for students to relax and spend time with each other. This building allows for hundreds of Jewish students to come together and feel they have a place to celebrate their Judaism, facilitating the organization\u2019s growth. We\u2019re going to get bigger and better from here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many students go home or to other organizations for the High Holy Days, OSU Chabad \u201cstill (has) a lot of work to do to bring (celebrations) to the students who are not coming,\u201d Sarah Deitsch said.<\/p>\n
\u201cChabad is not about being fixed in one location, where students have to come to us,\u201d she said. \u201cWe go to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aside from evening meals and services, organization leaders also went out on campus to blow shofar as a way of exposing more Jewish students to holiday traditions, Andruiser said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was motivating,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was beautiful to go out and bring the atmosphere of the holiday to students on their turf.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the new building nears full completion, there are still a few pending additions to the space, including an exercising area, pool and gaming tables, guest suites and apartments for students to rent, Andruiser added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe building is under the name \u2018Geraldine and Jerome Schottenstein,\u201d he said. \u201cThey had the vision, but I don\u2019t think they even realized how amazing it was going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The new Schottenstein Chabad Center building at The Ohio State University in Columbus allowed space for a \u201crecord…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221511,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,124629,124630,451,100489,803,124632,3,36041,124631,14488,452,453],"class_list":["post-221510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-chabad","tag-chabad-house","tag-headlines","tag-high-holy-days","tag-israel","tag-jewish","tag-news","tag-ohio-state-university","tag-schottenstein-chabad-center-building","tag-students","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}