Jewish life on campus

By Rabbi Mendel Gordon

Sometimes, as the year comes to an end, things slow down. But here, it has been full of action until the last day. I would love to share a quick rundown of the highlights in addition to all the regular activities of shabbat dinners weekly with around 20 students and the weekly classes we have going on.

Mega shabbat

More than 60 students joined together to celebrate a mega shabbat on campus. What an incredible Jewish spirit. Students were excited to realize how many other Jewish students there are on campus and enjoyed an amazing dinner together, giving a real boost to Jewish pride and the feeling that ‘Am Yisrael Chai’ — the Jewish people are alive.

The mega shabbat was made in honor of this year being a year of Hakel, a year of gathering when we put extra effort to gather together to inspire each other as was done in times of old.

Our university president, Dr. Mike Martin, joined us for the event and announced to everyone the new Jewish center on campus (which I will explain soon). We were also privileged to have Jeffrey Feld, president and CEO of JFGN, and his wife, Susan, joining us.

Jewish Heritage Day

Hardly a week after mega shabbat, we had an amazing Jewish Heritage Day on the center of campus with various booths of different Jewish themes giving both Jewish and non-Jewish students the opportunity to learn more about Torah and Jewish life. A special highlight of the day was a 12-foot art mural that the students made with the message of how Torah and Mitzvot add light and energy to the world.

Pesach

From there, we went straight to Passover, with over 20 students joining together for each of the two seders.

What we found incredible is that, for Passover, most of our regulars go home to join their families for the holiday but we still have a large group that gets together as our FGCU Jewish family.

We concluded Passover with a special moshaich meal dedicated to the future redemption that we pray will come very soon.

Jewish lounge on campus

We have achieved a major milestone for Jewish life at FGCU — Jewish students now have their very own place on campus. The Jewish student lounge is something we have been working on for a long time and, thanks to University President Mike Martin, it is now a reality.

The Jewish center is in the heart of campus, in the library, and is a place where students can come to hang out, grab a kosher snack and meet other Jews.

We’ve been having classes there and we plan to use it for classes and small social events next semester in addition to being a lounge and center where students can meet, chill and study. To book a time to see the Jewish student lounge, please reach out to me (contact details below).

Year-end banquet

We finished the semester on a bang, with a grand banquet celebrating our seniors and reminiscing on an amazing year at Chabad.

We can't wait to all get together again with everyone for fall semester.

Chabad will be open throughout the summer with a full plan for social and education programs for those students who will be in town.

For more information or to connect a student, please reach out to me at 239355-8481 or rabbi@chabadfgcu.com.