More than 1,000 students attended Passover Seders run by Chabad on Campus centers across the United Kingdom. All told, holiday celebrations took place on 11 campuses from Edinburgh to Brighton, despite the fact that winter terms ended last month.

The largest such meals filled were hosted by Chabad at Imperial College in South Kensington, where 300 people representing Imperial and Ithaca Colleges attended Seders. On the second night of the holiday, special guests included Jewish members of the Royal Deaf Society, who participated in sign language and with the help of an interpreter.

“It was a very warm atmosphere”, reported Rabbi Mendy Loewenthal, director of Chabad-Lubavitch of South Kensington. “Each person felt included.”

Elsewhere, about 20 students attended Seders at the University of Canterbury hosted by Chabad on Campus in Brighton, a first for the center; it also ran celebrations for 60 students at its home university. In Edinburgh, 70 people attended a Seder at the Northumberland Hotel; Oxford’s Slager Jewish Student Centre hosted 130 people; and 180 students turned out for observances in Bloomsbury.

In addition, the Chabad House in Bristol welcomed a record-setting 75 people to its Seder, while the center serving Cambridge University served another 75 guests, including professors, graduate students, undergraduates, foreign exchange students and local residents. The Chabad Houses in Nottingham and Leeds each hosted 60 people.

Rabbi Eli Brackman, chairman of Chabad on Campus UK and director of the Oxford Chabad Society, credited each center’s “open-door policy to Jewish students of all backgrounds” with the high attendance figures and also thanked philanthropist David Slager for his support of programming across the country. “No Jewish student should be left without a Seder,” he said.

More than 1,000 students attended Passover Seders run by Chabad on Campus centers across the United Kingdom. All told, holiday celebrations took place on 11 campuses from Edinburgh to Brighton, despite the fact that winter terms ended last month.
More than 1,000 students attended Passover Seders run by Chabad on Campus centers across the United Kingdom. All told, holiday celebrations took place on 11 campuses from Edinburgh to Brighton, despite the fact that winter terms ended last month.