For Jewish students at Columbia University, these are not simple times and in the face of all the chaos and fear, for Rabbi Yuda Drizin, who co-directs Chabad-Lubavitch at Columbia with his wife, Naomi, this meant holding a larger Passover Seder than he’d originally planned.
Before Passover, the rabbi went out on campus to hand out shmurah matzah to students and faculty and to put tefillin on passersby, as he does weekly. “Jewish students walking through campus shouldn’t feel like they need to scurry. They see a rabbi handing out matzah proudly with a smile, and they feel like they are not alone” Drizin said.
During Passover, Chabad at Columbia hosted Seders, holiday prayer services and festive kosher-for-Passover barbecue lunches throughout the week. “We refuse to yield to the forces of hate" the rabbi said of the resolve to continue celebrating as proud Jews and not letting evil win.
