Nearly 2,000 students, alumni, faculty and supporters gathered on a recent Friday night for Chabad-Lubavitch at Binghamton’s 31st annual mega-Shabbat celebration. Held at the university Events Center, it celebrated Jewish pride with an evening of traditional food and community.
On a regular Shabbat, the Rohr Chabad Center for Jewish Student Life at Binghamton University hosts about 600 students at its main center near campus and another 100 students at a downtown location. For this Shabbat, the goal was to bring 2,400 people together, says Avi Gordon, a Binghamton University sophomore who returned to help plan the event for his second year. Part of the logistics team for the evening, he helped spearhead the event, providing support recruitment and registration.
“I love making magic events like this happen for the Jewish people,” he says. The event, which takes the work of some 235 volunteers to arrange, drew regulars back and also welcomed people who haven’t experienced Shabbat in years, if ever, he explains. “It was a super-special experience.”
“The program, originally named Shabbat 1000, was conceived by the Rohr Chabad center in 1994,” said Rabbi Aaron Slonim, executive director of Chabad of Binghamton. It was meant to be an aspirational number, something to reach for. When the mega-Shabbat event actually drew 1,000 students and faculty members, they renamed it “Shabbat 1500,” then “Shabbat 2000” and now “Shabbat 2400.”
The event requires 775 pounds of chicken, 360 pounds of challah and thousands of matzah balls.
Gordon says that from candle-lighting to Kiddush to traditional Shabbat songs, the event provides a window into Jewish life and also demystifies it for those wondering.
It was also another reminder for every Jewish student on campus at Binghamton and beyond that their community stands around them: “There are so many resources to help Jewish students. It’s a reminder that one of the resources that’s there, not only in the hard times, but also in the times to support each other.”
Gordon is already thinking ahead about next year, who he can invite and how much bigger they can make it. “I think it’s important to invite almost everyone and to make sure everyone feels they have a place at the Shabbos table, and I think Chabad definitely embodied that in this experience.”
Coby Goldblatt, a Binghamton sophomore, says he enjoyed celebrating Shabbat with his friends and also appreciated the way the event drew so many people in.
“It was just overall a fantastic event,” he says. “It’s cool to see 2,000-plus people doing the same thing, having a Shabbat meal. It was just a really special experience.”
Participants heard from A&M wide receiver Sam Salz, who talked about playing college football, his Jewish observance and achieving his dreams. “He talked about how Judaism doesn’t get in the way; you can do anything,” he says. “And to trust that everything will be fine. To not use Judaism as a crutch or saying ‘I can’t do that, no Jews do that.’”
Acapella group the Y-Studs made a return appearance at Shabbat 2400 as well, adding to the energy and warmth of the evening. Between the two years that Goldblatt has been in attendance, the event has brought out a number of firsts, like a friend who put on tefillin [before the onset of Shabbat] for the first time and another who tried matzah-ball soup for the first time.
“He loved it,” Goldblatt says. “Shabbat is all about community, you get a rest, you get to see the people you don’t see during the week—and here, it’s more people you never see during the week and you never see on Shabbat,” he says, adding that the food was amazing, too.
Mega-Shabbat Builds Mega-Connections
Shabbat 2400 was more than an event, explains Goldie Ohana, director of programming at Chabad of Binghamton. She and her husband, Rabbi Sruly Ohana, coordinated the program, which celebrated Jewish identity, community and the boundless potential within each student.
The Ohanas came to Binghamton in 2019, joining three other couples in serving the campus community and extending the work started when the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—sent Rabbi Aaron and Rivkah Slonim to open a Chabad House in Binghamton in November of 1984. They joined Rabbi Levi and Hadasa Slonim, who joined the team in 2008, and Rabbi Zalman and Rochel Chein who came to Binghamton in 2009.
“As we danced, shared and connected with one another, we were driven by the Rebbe’s vision that no Jew will be left behind,” Ohana says of the program, which is a part of the national Mega Shabbat initiative of Chabad on Campus International. She further credits student leaders and volunteers with helping make the evening possible. “We’re deeply humbled and grateful for their selfless dedication to the greater community.”
Chabad of Binghamton currently offers Shabbat and holiday programming, as well as daily minyan services, with nearly 300 students attending Torah-related classes. They also organize social events ranging from ski trips to challah bakes, as well as volunteer opportunities such as helping out in the kitchen on Shabbat, an annual blood drive, philanthropy drives causes such as Chai Lifeline and Sharsheret, and visiting the elderly once a week, among other offerings and services. Chabad of Binghamton also recently launched a “mitzvah hub,” an RV that travels around campus weekly so students can come by and do a mitzvah, find out about upcoming events and grab a kosher snack.
For first-year Binghamton student Abigail Diamond, Shabbat 2400 was a chance to celebrate Jewish culture and traditions with friends. She helped to recruit participants and says seeing them together celebrating Shabbat together was rewarding.
Involved with Chabad of Binghamton for the past two semesters, she says celebrating Shabbat is a highlight of the week, and she was motivated to get others involved as well, including friends from her sorority: “They had a great time, and I loved sharing my traditions with them.”
Start a Discussion