Chabad emissaries create family atmosphere on UA campus

Chabad is one of the fastest-growing Jewish outreach communities in the world, says Rabbi Yossie Winner: “It’s everywhere, just like Coca-Cola.” The young rabbi, 25, moved to Tucson last July from Brooklyn with his wife, Naomi, 23, to establish a Chabad House on the University of Arizona campus. Winner, who is the son of a Chabad rab­bi at a large synagogue in Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach neighborhood, says he always dreamed of following the same path as his family, but was attracted to the campus environment.

Chabad Lubavitch, a large branch of Hasidic Judaism, has “grown tremendously” on college campuses in the past 10 years, says Winner. The couple’s main goal is to do “the Rebbe’s work of bringing Judaism back to life,” says Winner, referring to the revered Lubavitch leader, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who led the movement from 1950 until his death in 1994.

Rabbi Joseph (Yossie) Shemtov of Congregation Young Israel has served as Tucson’s Chabad director both in the community and at the UA for more than 20 years. Shemtov says his off-campus home will continue to be open to UA students, but he “felt a full-time presence was needed” on campus.

“We’re on over 179 cam­puses in the nation,” notes Winner, “and I think we serve worldwide more than 238 campuses.” There are 3,500 Jewish students on the UA campus, comprising 10 percent of the student population, compared to a 3 percent Jewish population in Tucson. The number of Jewish students at the UA is an important benchmark, says Winner, adding that there aren’t many campuses that have as many, but there are campuses with a higher percentage of Jewish students, such as Brandeis, the University of Michigan and Stanford.

The couple agrees that their contribution to a college campus is more im­portant than where they live. “But actually we bought a one-way ticket,” says Winner, “and we’re here to stay.”

Naomi, who grew up in a Toronto Chabad family, adds, “The weather is great in Tucson; the people are great, even though there are no kosher restaurants.” When they were looking for a post, the couple went to Chabad headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, where matches were found for them. The Winners’ post is sponsored by national Chabad, as well as by New York philanthropist George Rohr; after three years they expect their primary support to come from UA parents and alumni.

“A lot of students stop by for a chat; they know there are always leftovers,” says Naomi, adding that two weeks after their son, Mendel’s, birth on Aug. 22, they had 50 students for Shabbat dinner. Luckily, says Naomi, students often help with the cooking.

“We have weekly services here; everybody’s welcome — Reform, Orthodox, Conservative,” says Winner, who believes he is “able to connect with the students.” For example, he says, a student just returning from Jerusalem on birthright israel may say, “Now we have a rabbi right here on campus who understands how I felt on birthright.” Winner, who has been to Israel several times, will accompany UA birthright students to Israel in the future.

Naomi attended teachers college in Israel for a year and says that she enjoys being around students. And Winner says he sometimes plays basketball with them. “I socialize with these guys. We hang out. They love it. Students relate to us.”

The couple has hosted holiday dinners and a kosher sushi night and built a sukkah with students on the UA mall. Stu­dents come to the Chabad House for philosophical and religious discussion groups such as the monthlong “Kabbalah and kabobs,” where, says Winner, “We discussed the meaning of life.”

Before the Winners moved to Tucson, they met with Michelle Blumenberg, executive director of the Hillel Foundation on campus.

“It’s been really nice having the Winners in town,” says Blumenberg. “They’ve really opened their hearts and home to students at the university.

“We have a good relationship with Hillel here; we plan on doing things together eventually,” says Winner. Students can pick and choose which programs they go to, he says, “but the most important thing we offer is a home away from home.”

When students become independent at college, they “discover themselves and they mature, and that’s the time,” says Winner, “that they’re very moved to see on campus a Jewish family that they can aspire to, to become later on.”

In the coming year, Naomi will start a women’s circle to “encourage young women to embrace a Jewish lifestyle, to bring goodness and kindness into the world.” The message of Chabad is “love your fellow Jew,” says Winner. “You know, that started with the Baal Shem Tov over 300 years ago, the founder of Hasidism. All Jews are equal. Everybody has a neshamah, a soul. It takes effort to reveal that goodness, that soul. If each person can bring out that Yiddishe neshamah, then we’ll have a peaceful world.”

For more information, go to www.chabadua.com.