When Steven Fisher first moved to Gainesville as a wide-eyed freshman, he found it difficult to adjust to the fast-paced college environment.
After joining the Chabad UF Jewish Student and Community Center, the 18-year-old UF business student felt a sense of familiarity, family and support.
“Having a community to go to is really comforting,” he said.
The UF Chabad House emphasizes love and welcomes anyone regardless of their strength of affiliation, its website said. The center is one of 500 campuses that make up the Chabad on Campus International network, and it aims to help students immerse themselves in Jewish culture.
Fisher said many students seek a sense of community that makes a big school feel smaller. Through the UF Chabad House’s services and events, he and many other Jewish students have retained strong values through fellowship with like-minded people, he said.
The Chabad House’s offerings include a free dinner and service every Friday night to celebrate Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest. Sometimes, the dinners become packed with students, making it difficult to avoid spilling Matzah ball soup on the walk from the serving station to the tables.
During Shabbat dinner, students split Challah bread and pass it around the room. Like most meals at Chabad House, the Challah is made in-house and baked by students and staff every Thursday night.
The Shabbat dinner is just one event students are encouraged to participate in, allowing them to meet and build connections with other Jewish students.
The Chabad House hosts boys and girls nights for students to enjoy games, spa nights or a place away from home. The house has also been known to deliver warm chicken soup to sick students and celebrate regular attendees' birthdays, said UF Chabad member Dana Sapir.
The center also offers JewishU classes to students interested in learning more about their culture or making a small amount of money. JewishU pays students a stipend to take classes spanning Jewish life, Torah studies and Hebrew learning.
Alex Rothenberg, an 18-year-old UF music composition and business freshman, frequently participates in the house’s services. Rothenberg said he appreciates being a part of UF’s Jewish community and how immersed students can become.
“It’s a huge community, and I love it,” he said. “Especially compared to where I’m from, where there’s not that many Jews.”
Instead of shying away from Jewish tradition in the face of the ongoing conflict in Gaza, the student center has used its events and services to remain united.
Members from the center gathered in the Plaza of the Americas Oct. 7 to mourn the 1,200 Israelis who were killed by Hamas, which was the largest massacre of Jewish people since the Holocaust, according to the U.S. Department of State.
Dana Sapir, a 20-year-old UF biomedical engineering sophomore, said the community has become more important in the face of antisemitism. Sapir experienced hate as a result of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, but the Chabad community was there for her every step of the way, she said.
“This community that took me in with open arms was the best thing that could’ve happened to me,” Sapir said.
Sapir said Chabad is her home away from home. After spending a gap year in Israel before coming to UF, she was excited to dive back into her culture and religion but worried she might not feel welcomed.
“I was terrified of coming back and feeling out of place,” she said.
Sapir said her worries were unnecessary. The Chabad House was ready to welcome her as soon as she arrived.
Ethan Wigutow, a 20-year-old UF business junior, agreed and said he is grateful to Chabad for providing an environment where he can explore his Jewish identity.
As the philanthropy chair of a primarily Jewish fraternity, Tau Epsilon Phi, Wigutow helped the Chabad House set up its recent celebration for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year.
“With all the hardship going on in today’s society, especially in Israel, all we can pray for is a happy and healthy new year,” he said.
About 1,200 Jewish students gathered on campus Oct. 2 to celebrate Rosh Hashanah with the Chabad House. To spread their joy about the coming year, the community enjoyed services and ate traditional foods such as honey-dipped apples.
Lucas Silverstre, an 18-year-old server for the Chabad House who does not practice or identify as Jewish, said he has connected with the Jewish community. The Chabad House is here to look out for him, he said.
The Chabad House employs non-Jewish servers for events to continue the tradition of avoiding work or labor on Jewish holidays.
Silverstre said that despite his non-Jewish identity, he never feels out of place.
“Knowing people is the best part of my job here,” he said.
Contact Rachel Mish at rmisch@alligator.org. Follow her on X @mish_rache62827.
Rachel Mish is a junior English and business major and the Fall 2024 Food Reporter for The Avenue. In her free time, she enjoys playing pick-up basketball or sewing a gameday outfit.
