Announcement Reverses Last Year's Rejection of Rabbi's Application

Chabad meets resistance from Hillel at Princeton University.

The Chabad rabbi, Rabbi Eitan Webb, joins Princeton Hillel's Rabbi Julie Roth along with 13 leaders from various Christian denominations, a Hindu, and a Muslim as affiliated chaplains at Princeton. Chaplains are officially sanctioned by the University but receive no funding.

According to Alison Boden, Princeton's dean of religious life since June 2007, Webb's original application for chaplaincy was mainly denied over fears that factionalism would hurt the Jewish community. "There is a small Jewish population at Princeton, and if there are several organizations it will make a small community smaller," said Boden.

Compared to other Ivy League institutions, where Jewish students often make up as much as a quarter of the population, Princeton has few Jews. According to Hillel.org, 650 of Princeton's 4850 undergraduates are Jewish.
In an April 2007 letter to The Daily Princetonian, written a month after Webb's initial application for chaplaincy was denied, Hillel's Rabbi Roth explained that her organization thought it should be the central Jewish organization on campus. "Our board is aware of the support that Rabbi Eitan and [his wife] Gitty Webb have among the Chabad student group," Roth wrote. "[T]he Chabad student group is welcome to affiliate with the CJL.  [I]f Chabad does not desire such a relationship with the CJL, and if the University decided to recognize Chabad as an independent chaplaincy, it should do so in a manner that does not diminish the central and leading role of the CJL as the official Jewish chaplain at the University.'"

Rabbi Roth was unavailable for comment.

Rabbi Eitan Webb and his wife Gitty, the Chabad shluchim at Princeton.

In the year after the initial rejection, Dean Boden continued to consider the possibility of recognizing Rabbi Webb. "I talked to parties involved in the campus Jewish community. There was a diverse set of opinions," said Boden, "Some protested and some didn't." In May, her office announced that Webb had been accepted as an affiliated chaplain.

"I think it's good to have different theologies on campus," said Boden. "People have to find the one that fits right for them. It's good to offer people choices."

For Rabbi Webb, his appointment as a chaplain came as a validation of his work. "Recognizing Chabad as a chaplaincy formalizes the relationship between the Jewish community and Princeton, and it enhances the diversity of Jewish representation," he said.

Rabbi Menachem Schmidt, the President of the Chabad on Campus International Foundation, says that Chabad emphasizes the development of close relationships with host universities. "Becoming a chaplain is part of being part of the university structure," said Schmidt. "[It's] part of a process. It's not a political move."

Chabad organizations have struggled on many campuses to gain recognition from host universities. At Tufts University in 2005, Chabad's campaign for official recognition was delayed because the University felt it would duplicate Hillel. Recognition at Columbia University was held up for similar reasons.

Webb, like any Chabad shaliach, rejects the idea that the presence of a Hillel obviates the need for a Chabad house. "Chabad looks beyond the denominational labels and views each Jew as equally important and relevant," he said. "Many students find a comfortable home in the unconditionally accepting atmosphere at Chabad."

Comments

Add New Search

Jeff Eyges (146.115.65.xxx) 2008-10-13 05:05:35 "Chabad looks beyond the denominational labels and views each Jew as equally important and relevant" They "look beyond" the denominational labels because they refuse to recognize them - yet they demand official recognition for themselves. They feel entitled to it, because they represent "official" Judaism, while representatives of other denominations are viewed as misguided at best, destructive at worst. Chabad rabbis apply for chaplain status in order to reinforce this view in the eyes of the students - otherwise, why bother applying at all? It doesn't affect their funding (they receive no funds from the university in either case), the Chabad Houses are already either on campuses or within walking distance of them, and students are already involved; there 's a Chabad Student Board at Princeton, with a Jewish student population of 650! This is merely another example of Chabad's invasive tactics, intended to undermine competing forms of Judaism (which they insist are illegitimate), to raise their brand to a position of dominance, and to coerce all Jews into adopting their world view. Reply

Reply Adam Beitman (128.135.98.xxx) 2008-10-19 13:17:17 This comment is uniformed and hyper-paranoid. To suggest that being recognized officially by the university and having a student board constitutes "invasive tactics" and some form of coercion shows a fundamental tone-deafness to the nature of universities, bureaucracies, and religious institutions. Please, lets not be inflammatory in our quest to pursue some vision of religio-egalitarian justice. No one is forcing you or anybody else to go to the Chabad house. Reply

Thanbo (38.117.185.xxx) 2008-11-25 13:55:43 While Eyges' response is unnecessarily combative, it does have a kernel of truth. Historically, Chabad does not play well with others. They do not join Orthodox organizations, let alone interdenominational organizations. They were asked to join Agudath Israel when it was formed around WWI, but declined. In their synagogues, some Chabad rabbis have trouble dealing with Jews who are religious in a non-Chabad model. On that basis, I support Chabad being declared a separate campus chaplaincy. The excuse given by the University for initially denying them chaplaincy status - that they want to encourage Jewish unity on campus - rings a bit hollow in the face of separate chaplaincies for each Christian denomination - Catholic, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Baptist, etc. One requirement for campus chaplaincies is a willingness to engage in interfaith work. Looking at the mission statements of the other campus chaplaincies, most regard "interfaith work" as "an opportunity to recruit people to our movement." Chabad holds that way, too. Chabad doesn't recognize the other movements, they only see Jews as either Chabad or not yet Chabad. If they want a separate identity which frees them to pursue kiruv without running afoul of "having to work together with the other Jewish groups", by all means let them. Reply

Write comment
Name:
Email:	do not notifynotify
Website:
Title:
Please input the anti-spam code that you can read in the image.

Powered by !JoomlaComment 3.12

Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved.