The Collective: New York State of Mind

As a senior at a Jewish day school, I have learned a lot about the presence of Jewish life on college campuses. For example, I was under the impression that the Chabad houses run by colleges use their religious privileges to attract students to their organization by serving alcohol to underage students. I admit this negative perception of the Chabad was a construction of my own ignorance. This perception proved to be erroneous when I traveled to New York City this weekend and spent a lot of my time at the NYU Chabad house.

Although I previously knew that the Chabad house at NYU had free dinners, I did not know that they offered free food for every single meal of the day. A privilege I didn’t fully appreciate until the house provided me with a free breakfast, lunch, and dinner all 3 days of my stay in New York- no questions asked (that’s 12 meals…just incase you can’t multiply or add). I was in shock by their generosity. I did not know the Rabbi or any of the students, but there they were serving me endless portions of bread, cookies, and fruits all weekend long. My belly and I were overjoyed and warmed by their unfamiliar hospitality.

It wasn’t just the free food that made me feel so welcome; it was also the student’s amiable attitude (which had nothing to do with the free wine). I am not sure whether to describe them as having excellent social skills or simply just friendly, but each student I was introduced to seemed generally interested in getting to know me. Some of the kids even hugged me goodbye when it was time to go back home. Shocking I know, but I swear happened. Human compassion exists people, turns out they were not just serving me food to force me into becoming religious like I previously assumed. I stand happily and chubbily corrected.

I apologize for the lack of photos from my trip. Here are the few photos that I managed to snap for you guys: