Jewish students host hundreds for Shabbat at UD, as many communities watch tragedy unfold

They wanted this to be about peace and celebration.

Rabbi Avremel Vogel watched his students file into the hall, spreading across three multipurpose rooms at well over 400 strong. Hugs and smiles dotted the room, with the weight of war and loss seemingly pushed outside the Trabant Center walls. Even at a university with a roughly 13% Jewish population, evening knowing Chabad had to start a waitlist for the event, the sight of those gathered for Shabbat on Friday evening was striking for students.

Chabad organizers had been planning the "Mega Shabbat" for months at the University of Delaware, working from a 2020 idea once derailed by pandemic. Students wanted this to be about the vibrant community on their Newark campus, to showcase several Jewish student organizations. They wanted it to inspire mitzvah and meaningful fundraising, to be a light bringing new faces together.

It wasn't going to be a vigil. It wasn't going to be about grief.

"We're a very proud Jewish community, and our students are very proud to share their Jewishness with everybody else," said the rabbi of over seven years at Chabad, ahead of the event. "Without it just being some sort of devastating event that happened — the Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh, a shooting at Poway in California, or something that happens, and then the community comes together."

It couldn't play out quite that way.

The entire University of Delaware community has been rocked like many across the country and the world by the latest flares of the Israel-Hamas war. More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed since Hamas attacks on Oct. 7 — mostly those civilians slain during the incursion that also saw 203 hostages taken into Gaza, as AP reported — and the Health Ministry run by Hamas says more than 4,100 people have been killed in Gaza since this fighting began. Over a million have been displaced there, as a humanitarian crisis mounts.

Civilians on all sides have borne the brunt of the war. And just hours before students gathered, Israel announced it didn't plan to take long-term control over the Gaza Strip after an anticipated ground offensive.

But back in Newark, students hoped to somehow push all of that away Friday, Oct. 20.

The room buzzed with music and conversation. As the Friday evening sun slid down hallway windows, students grabbed their seats. Attendees listened to speeches, beginning to mark the Jewish day of rest over matzo ball soup, salad and other fixings.

"It's just a beautiful sight," said senior and event co-chair Gavi Newman. "It's a sense of unity. It's a sense of pride. Like being Jewish, you don't have to be religious. You don't have to be observant. You don't have to follow certain rules. That doesn't matter to us. We just want people to be proud that they're Jewish."

While no grief is more valid than the next, Chabad wanted to celebrate the very students the organization has been supporting in recent weeks. University administration and heavy University of Delaware Police security joined them.

"There's a significance and meaning that the event still has obviously, in light of everything going on, but that's not really the focal point," their rabbi said, still mourning what feels like his own losses abroad.

"It's been the message coming out from within Israel, from our friends and family over there. We try to be as upbeat and happy, as joyful as possible. That's the side that we want to mirror over here, to be that beacon of positivity, that beacon of light."

University of Delaware continues to absorb a complicated war

UD President Dennis Assanis has released two statements as students still grapple with the conflict.

“I want to be sure that our position is very clear: We at the University of Delaware unequivocally condemn the horrific attacks by Hamas terrorists upon Israel that have shaken the world,” Assanis wrote in his second statement, more strongly condemning the events of early October. “The atrocities of crime, abduction, hostage-taking and mass murder targeted against Jewish civilians will forever remain a stain on human history.”

The president also stressed: “We should not equate the terrorist group Hamas with innocent Palestinian, Muslim and Arab people.”

UD Hillel and partners already held a vigil to mourn victims in Israel. The same week, after the attacks, amid growing retaliation from Israel, the university’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter held a general body meeting and pressed "firm commitment to the struggle of the Palestinian people for justice, liberation, and basic human rights" in an open letter.

The Muslim Student Association also released a statement, reminding its university community: "Our hearts go out to our brothers and sisters struggling with loss, unsafety and displacement in Palestine. Please remember you are not alone."

Across the country, opposing protests have clashed at institutions. Harvard University administration saw criticism for staying silent after a letter signed by student groups held “the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence." Some like UD and the University of Florida have issued statements strongly supporting Israel and Jewish students, while others, like Vanderbilt and Ohio State University, have stayed neutral.

Friday night, New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer, President Assanis and his wife also kept Shabbat.

'No matter where you are, you are connected'

Newman and several students called Chabad at UD a family away from home.

The New Jersey native got to share that with other University of Delaware students Friday, knowing many are living similar experiences since early October.

"One thing I always tell people is with the Jewish community, we are connected," she said. "Like no matter where you are, you are connected. We all know people who have lost people over there. We all know, either people we have lost or we know somebody who lost a sibling, a cousin."

But this night was just about the family.

"We truly feel that we're all children of the same God, in the good times as well as the bad times," Assanis told the packed crowd. "We all support each other. I just wanted you to know that the university is here to support you. But tonight it's all about celebration and building community."

After a brief surprise video wishing Rabbi Vogel a happy birthday, students kept the tradition they could. They lit candles under Shabbat blessings; they sang alongside the rabbi in a chorus of hundreds; they washed hands before beginning to serve dinner from several buffet stations. Many even danced between tables.

Together, they marked the largest Shabbat dinner in university history.

At one point, months ago, students weren't even sure they could fill the room.

"It's so fulfilling to see that it all came together," said fellow co-chair Olivia Schwaber, watching the crowd build. "We're a support system. This is an event that we want everyone to be able to feel comfortable coming to, feel safe being at and feel like there's a sense of unity, which maybe feels lost in time like now."

Got a story? Kelly Powers covers race, culture and equity for Delaware Online and USA TODAY Network Northeast, with a focus on education. Contact her at kepowers@gannett.com or (231) 622-2191, and follow her on Twitter @kpowers01.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Over 400 Jewish students pack Shabbat dinner at University of Delaware