University grants Chabad chaplaincy

last year’s decision

This September, Webb will join Center for Jewish Life (CJL) Executive Director Rabbi Julie Roth as the second Jewish chaplain at the University.

Concerns that Roth and Webb would be unable to cooperate to benefit the entire University Jewish community were the factors underlying last year’s decision, President Tilghman said.

“I asked both Rabbi Roth and Rabbi Webb to work together this past year,” she said. “My sense it that they have come a long way in that direction, and I was very comfortable reversing that decision.”

“I hope ... that this will be a portal into a new and even better relationship between them,” Dean of Religious Life Alison Boden said.

Webb said that following the University’s initial refusal to grant him chaplaincy, “there were many, many students who met with President Tilghman, who met with various deans or alumni, who wrote letters [in] a groundswell of support for the chaplaincy and for Chabad.”

“The CJL and its governing board are not surprised by the granting of chaplaincy and support the University’s decision,” CJL president Cara Singer ’09 said in an e-mail.

Richard Bennett, chair of the CJL Board of Directors, and Marni Blitz, CJL assistant director, both said in e-mails that the CJL “fully supports” the University’s decision to give Webb chaplaincy.

Roth is currently on maternity leave and could not be reached for comment.

Reversal of decision

Then-interim Dean of Religious Life Frederick Borsch said in an e-mail to The Daily Princetonian last year that the University’s refusal to give Webb chaplaincy status was “primarily an affirmation of Princeton’s ongoing and strong commitment to the Center for Jewish Life.”

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Whereas the CJL is an umbrella organization for all Jewish activity on campus, Chabad believes that there is a “moral imperative” to adhere to Jewish tradition, and its followers “try to reintroduce Jews to this orthodox lifestyle,” president of the Orthodox Judaism Organization and CJL treasurer Greg Burnham ’10 said.

“On the one hand, CJL is holistic, and on the other hand you have this group that ultimately believes there is one proper way for a Jew to be living life,” he said.

Bennett declined to comment on the ideological mission of Chabad, but said that “Chabad, as well as numerous other groups, functions well alongside CJL.”

Tilghman noted that student involvement in both Chabad and the CJL was a factor in last week’s decision.

“One of the things that has impressed me most in the last year is the degree to which students move back and forth between Chabad and CJL quite comfortably,” she explained.

Those affiliated with both the CJL and Chabad agree that the organizations are capable of working together on campus.

Burnham noted that the CJL and Chabad have the mutual goal of reaching out to the Jewish community on campus, adding that there has been little if any confrontation between the two groups.

“Often, Chabad will draw a different crowd than CJL draws in the first place,” Burnham said.

“We’ve always said that we’re happy to work with anybody,” Webb said. “Everybody has their way of religious expression, and Chabad has its way. But we look forward to working with anybody who can help to create a vibrant Jewish experience on this campus.”

CJL secretary Hilana Lewkowitz-Shpuntoff ’10 said in an e-mail, “I do not view the CJL and the Chabad as competitors; my hope is that the presence of these two groups on campus will help each other succeed [in] their goals.”

Lewkowitz-Shpuntoff said that students can easily be involved in both organizations. “Even though I have a huge dedication to the [CJL], I also participate in the Sinai Scholar Program, which is supported by Chabad, and taught by Rabbi Webb,” she said.

“I don’t see any division. I never saw that, and I don’t see that in the future,” Chabad board president Josh Rodman ’09 said.

Singer and Blitz both cited Shabbat 360, Sushi in the Sukkah and a pre-Passover Chinese food Shabbat as recent events that the two have planned together.

Official recognition

Webb’s newly granted chaplaincy will enable Chabad to increase its presence on campus.

“There’s higher visibility for Chabad,” Webb explained. The University’s decision to grant chaplaincy “means the University has recognized that Chabad is a force for good on this campus,” he said.

“[Webb] will have access to information about Jewish students that are coming to University,” Rodman said.

The chaplaincy will also allow Webb to arrange events within the University and to use campus space, Tilghman said.

Webb and his wife Gitty both offer classes on various topics in Judaism to students and have brought speakers — including a survivor of the Munich Olympics massacre — to campus. Chabad also organized a trip to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

“Our centerpiece is our Friday night dinners,” Webb said. He and his wife hosted 50 students this past Friday at their home for Shabbat.

— Senior writer Rachel Dunn contributed reporting.