President Barack Obama has announced that Sept. 11 be renamed a National Day of Service, when Americans can contribute to the greater good of society in commemoration of the nearly 3,000 lives lost in 2001 in New York City, western Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. Chabad on Campus Mitzvah Marathons, which feature memorial programs of support and acts of kindness every 9/11, again joined in that commemoration this year.
"When tragedy struck our nation 12 years ago, these college students were only children. But today, through the Mitzvah Marathons held by Chabad on Campus at universities throughout the world, they have an opportunity to remember and honor those innocent lives that were lost," explained Rabbi Yossy Gordon, executive vice president of Chabad on Campus International Foundation. "The Jewish message is that we dispel darkness by adding light, and that is exactly what a mitzvah accomplishes."
At Binghamton University, part of the public university system of the State of New York, Mitzvah Marathons have been held since 2002, accompanied by an annual Mitzvah Marathon Fair, where good deeds prevail all day.
Spearheaded by the Rohr Chabad Center for Jewish Student Life and held in conjunction with Hillel at Binghamton, this year’s Mitzvah Marathon took place on Wednesday, Sept. 11, with thousands of students, faculty and staff participating.
This year, the victims of the recent Boston Marathon bombing were also memorialized.
A campus pavilion offered numerous opportunities to do a mitzvah. These included contributing to charity, donating food to the hungry, making sandwiches for the homeless, and designing Jewish New Year greeting cards for military personnel or “get well” cards for children in local hospitals. There also was a mega blood drive through the Red Cross, co-sponsored by the Phi Delta Epsilon fraternity.
Participants in the marathon filled out a form documenting their good deed; it was attached to a picture of a victim of 9/11 and strung along a memory wall erected on the university grounds.
“With the passage of time from September 11, 2001, it is increasingly important that we raise awareness concerning this national tragedy,” said Rivkah Slonim, education director at the Rohr Chabad Center. “Many of our incoming students were young children then; this kind of program and others like it give them pause to consider the event from an adult vantage point. The program is designed to turn tears into action; to give participants a practical way in which they can mark the memory of those who perished.”
Events Taking Place Worldwide
Another event was held at Ottawa University in Canada, spearheaded by the Rohr Chabad Student Network of Ottawa, which brings Jewish life to students at Carleton University, the University of Ottawa and Algonquin College.
Chabad at the University of Central Florida in Oviedo, near Orlando, hosted a Mitzvah Marathon where additional opportunities for good deeds included wrapping tefillin, receiving holiday and Shabbat candles, and even phoning up students’ grandparents for a warm and impromptu greeting.
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