With more than 250 centres worldwide, Chabad on Campus International provides a home-away-from-home for thousands of Jewish students at 500 universities and colleges. They offer Shabbat prayers and festive meals, holiday events, educational offerings and counselling.
Jewish students will be getting ready for the Hanukkah holiday season by distributing free Hanukkah kits to all Jewish students across campus. These ready-to-go kits include a menorah, candles, dreidel and a holiday “how-to” guide. They will be available for pick-up from Chabad in Fallowfield, and will also be distributed outside the Students Union on Tuesday 30 November.
This initiative is sponsored by Chabad on Campus at Manchester Universities, as part of their festival awareness campaign.
In launching the Hanukkah campaign at our university, Rabbi Eli Simon of Chabad at Manchester Universities, stated:
“Many students who are away from home during the festival season experience a sense of isolation. Our goal is to make them feel involved, to strengthen pride in their Jewish heritage and to encourage them to revel in the holiday of Hanukkah.”
Rabbi Eli Simon
Chabad will also be helping students prepare for Hanukkah with latkes-making (fried potato pancakes), educational classes and other pre-holiday events. During the eight-day festival, which begins this year on 28 November, Chabad will be holding public menorah lightings and festive celebrations on campus.
“It’s easy for Jewish students to feel disconnected in the flurry of holiday celebrations around campus. Chabad is so important because it really imbues the campus with a lot of Hanukkah spirit. The public menorah lighting and events like these provide a sense of solidarity and pride among us. The public menorah display also serves as a reminder to us of how fortunate we are, in this great country, to be able to enjoy the freedom of religious expression.”
Jodie, second year language student
Between Sunday 28 November and Monday 6 December, a 9 foot menorah will be placed on the Williamson lawn, next to University Place. A candle-lighting ceremony will take place at 6 p.m. on Monday 29 November and will feature DJ Yiddi, dancing, doughnuts and hot chocolate. The universities Vice-president for social responsibility Prof. Nalin Thakkar will be in attendance and will address the celebration.
We strongly encourage any students to consult with their ResLife officer before lighting open flames in halls of residence or public spaces.
For more information about Hanukkah and for a complete schedule of holiday, click here.