Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered warm greetings to the largest intercollegiate gathering of Jewish students in Canada—nearly 300 students from more than a dozen universities—that took place over the weekend in Ottawa. He offered his appreciation to Chabad student centers across Canada, and to the organizers—the Rohr Chabad Student Network of Ottawa and Chabad on Campus International.
“It’s exciting to see students from across the country come together to observe Shabbat,” said Trudeau. “An event like this helps us reflect on how very fortunate we are to live in a country where people from every faith and culture, speaking every language, can live, build, work and thrive together,” continued the prime minister, speaking in English and then French, and ending his welcome with a hearty “Shabbat Shalom!”
Those words certainly rang true for Cody Miller from the University of Ottawa, who said he enjoyed “the chance to spend Shabbat with Jewish students from all over Canada.”
Rabbi Moshe Goldman, co-director of the Rohr Chabad Centre for Jewish Life in Waterloo, Ontario, who worked on the event from start to finish, noted that “students got a chance to experience Shabbat while meeting students from around the country for a weekend that proved to be inspirational, educational, and, just as important for them, lots of fun.”
Students were fully immersed in a traditional Shabbat experience and had the opportunity to hear from world-renowned speakers, including the COO of Shopify, Harley Finkelstein, and Rabbi Shlomo Chein, director of the Chabad Student Center in Santa Cruz, Calif., who delivered the keynote address in November in front of 5,000 rabbis and lay leaders at the annual International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries (Kinus Hashluchim).
The weekend concluded with a musical, candle-lit Havdalah services on Parliament Hill, followed by a “Street Fair Extraordinaire” social event.
Rabbi Yossy Gordon, executive vice president of Chabad on Campus International, said “it was an honor that Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau endorsed the important work we are doing at Chabad on Campus. Regional Shabbatons are extremely meaningful for all participants, students and rabbis alike, allowing Jewish students the chance to bond over a shared love of Judaism and to spend some time discussing ways to be more active in their communities.”
Participating students came from Brock University, Concordia University, Ottawa University, Carleton University, Algonquin College, University of Guelph, Queen’s University of Kingston, McGill University, Multicultural College of Canada, Université de Montreal, Wilfrid Laurier University, University of Waterloo, University of Western Ontario, University of Windsor and York University.
“Our students were extremely excited for the weekend,” said Rabbi Chaim Boyarsky, the director of the Rohr Chabad Student Network of Ottawa. “The event celebrated Judaism and Jewish unity, inspiring the students to feel proud of their Jewish identity. Students from around the country realized that they are each a part of something so much bigger than themselves. And it was especially meaningful that this event occurred during the Hakhel year, a once-every-seven-years’ celebration of Jewish unity.”
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