Tufts Chabad House Shines Light on Hanukkah

An eternal flame burns 24/7 at the Chabad House Jewish Student Center at Tufts University, and there Rabbi Tzvi and Chanie Backman offer a home away from home for the university's Jewish students.

Wednesday from 5 to 6 p.m., hundreds will gather at "Jewish Jumbo," as the Chabad-Lubavitch center is affectionately called, to celebrate the Festival of Lights. They will light a giant Hanukkah menorah with the assistance of University President Lawrence Bacow. All are welcome.

"We will definitely be making noise," said Tzvi Backman. "Every night we will be serving latkes and donuts. But the biggest splash will come when the Tufts band comes out and plays Hanukkah songs you can hear all around the campus."

"We can't prolong the revelry, because everyone has to go back and study, but it will be fun while it lasts," he added. "It's finals week. So we'll bless the lights, celebrate freedom and let off a little steam."

The Bacows, who are Jewish, recently joined 60 students at Jewish Jumbo (the Chabad House's name is a play on the university's elephant mascot) for a Shabbat meal.

"Chanie and Tzvi Backman have created a wonderfully welcoming community for our students at Tufts," said the president, "and I am looking forward to lighting the Chabad menorah as I have done in the past."

Latkes and doughnuts for all

For students and other attendees, one of the major draws of the event will be a sampling of the homemade food that has made Chabad House famous.

"Half the fun is in celebrating Hanukkah with the community," said Bacow. "The other half is in sharing in the traditional Hanukkah treats, latkes and [fried doughnuts]."

The Backmans founded the Chabad House in 2002 and just five students attended their first Friday night meal (Shabbat dinner). Eight years later, they have their own building, the Rohr Chabad Student Center, and the Friday meals have grown to approximately 60 guests, including faculty members.

"Three years ago," said Backman, "President Bacow told us he would like to get acquainted, and of his own accord asked to join us for Shabbat. He couldn't make it until this year, but for the last couple of years, he has done the menorah lighting with us."

Alongside the menorah lighting, the Backmans are offering parents and friends of Tufts students the opportunity to send their loved one a Hanukkah care package through the Chabad House. The hand-delivered parcel contains holiday items, including a menorah with candles, a lighting guide, chocolate-covered coins and dreidels.

"We are dedicated to bringing Jewish warmth where it is most needed. For some this is a short-term interest-free loan; for others a kosher meal. For still others, we provide a Jewish social scene with no clubs, no cliques, no rushes or membership. If they're Jewish, they belong," says Chanie Backman. "And since we know how tough life can be at a college so far from home, we offer a sympathetic ear for those who need to pour their hearts out. We care for everyone who comes to us, because that's really what Judaism is all about."

Chabad House said to treat members like extended family

Tufts student Ben Perlstein, who describes himself as a proud, though not necessarily observant, Jew, said when he came to the school, he hoped he would find an active Jewish community to be a part of. He found it at Chabad House.

"Tzvi and Chanie are so warm and welcoming. Before I came to Tufts, I spent a year on program in Israel and in ten other countries. It was an intense Jewish experience and I wondered if I would be able to recreate that at the college I was going to attend," said Perlstein. "There's [Jewish organizations] on campus, but at the Chabad House it's different. The Backmans invite you into their home and to take ownership of your own Judaism, whatever it is, without being judgmental.

"They showed me how you can keep kosher anywhere in the world, with an amazing Passover in Medford, hardly a Jewish town," he adds. "They are really special people and we really love them a lot, because they make us feel that we are their extended family. That's all due to their magical energy and the way they really love the students and how they work on our behalf."

Vivian Haime, a senior, has been at the Chabad House since her freshman year.

"As a senior looking back, Chabad at Tufts has been one of the most formative elements of my college experience," she said. "Rabbi Tzvi and Chanie have grown to be my mentors, my family and friends. There's nothing like walking into the house of the president of your university and seeing mezuzahs on every door, or sharing Shabbat dinner with him and his wife, or watching him climb the ladder to light the menorah on the first night of Hanukkah.

"It makes me feel proud to be Jewish," stresses Haime. "It's been a privilege to have the Bacows at Tufts throughout my college career, teaching us how to be good individuals and good Jews, and leading by example."

Story by Jeanette Friedman, one of the founders of a worldwide movement of children of Holocaust survivors, and an authority on Holocaust education.