Emissaries return inspired from Chabad on Campus International convention in Israel
Israel at war'It was just pure goodwill and unity.'

Emissaries return inspired from Chabad on Campus International convention in Israel

Chabad on Campus usually holds its annual convention on the East Coast, but this year the organization thought it best to make the trip to the Jewish homeland.

Shluchot at the Chabad in Sderot (Photo courtesy of Sara Weinstein)
Shluchot at the Chabad in Sderot (Photo courtesy of Sara Weinstein)

Sara Weinstein, the co-director of Pittsburgh’s Chabad on Campus, didn’t have time to visit cousins on her recent trip to Israel, but she made time to look up alumni — including spending Shabbat with a Pitt alum who made aliyah.

“That really is where our heart is,” Weinstein said.

Along with 150 other shluchot, or Chabad female emissaries, Weinstein attended the Chabad on Campus International convention several weeks ago.

Chabad on Campus usually holds its annual convention on the East Coast, but this year the organization thought it best to make the trip to the Jewish homeland so participants could experience wartime Israel firsthand and bring those experiences back to their campuses.

Campus protests have spread at colleges across the United States in recent months as Israel’s efforts to dismantle Hamas in the densely populated Gaza Strip continue, with students erecting encampments from which they disrupt campus life while loudly condemning Israel. Some Jewish students say the protests made them feel unsafe, and Israel supporters say the rhetoric has, at times, veered into antisemitism.

“It’s very disturbing,” Chabad on Campus Chief Operating Officer Rabbi Avi Weinstein told The Times of Israel. “But what’s more disturbing than the encampments is the fact that certain administrations are giving them credibility by negotiating with them. In some ways, that’s scarier because it [normalizes] antisemitism and attacking Jews.”

Several of the emissaries at the convention said there has been an uptick in visible Jewish pride mainly coming from students who led completely secular lives before Oct, 7 or whose campuses had particularly influential anti-Israel protests, The Times of Israel reported.

Many Jewish students in Pittsburgh, Weinstein said, have “really taken this opportunity to show up and be counted and to stand with Israel.”

Weinstein said that this trip was much different than conventions she attended in previous years.

“Usually we do a lot of computer programs and help each other with ideas and advice, and we also do a little bit of self-care, taking a moment out for ourselves,” she said. “This time we didn’t talk about programs — nobody cared about programs.”

Instead, the women visited the Nova music festival site and heard from a Chabad on Campus alum who escaped from an attempted kidnapping by terrorists on Oct. 7.

They heard the stories of a resident of Kibbutz Re’im, who rescued young people fleeing for their lives.

They visited a Chabad in Sderot with an outdoor menorah made from missiles that had been shot at its building from Gaza.

“You see the fence that all the terrorists climbed over, and then you see, you know, bombing in the background, and that’s what’s going on today,” Weinstein said.

Rachel Goldberg-Polin, the mother of Hirsch Goldberg-Polin, who is still being held hostage in Gaza, spoke to the shluchot “mother to mother,” Weinstein said.

Another highlight was a swim marathon for women in the Kineret. The purpose of the event was to raise money for Sadna, an organization in northern Israel that serves youth with special needs. Swim teams were required to raise $600; the shulchot raised $5,000.

Weinstein said she was hesitant to participate in the marathon because of her age but was inspired by the encouragement and sisterhood of the other shluchot.

“It was just pure goodwill and unity,” Weinstein said.

Sara and Rabbi Shmuel Weinstein at the Western Wall (Photo courtesy of Sara Weinstein)
Following the conference, Weinstein and her husband, Rabbi Shmuel Weinstein, rented an apartment on King George Street and celebrated Yom Yerushalayim.

There was a big concert, dancing and singing right outside their window.

“It brought me to tears,” Weinstein said. “I didn’t want to leave.”

Despite their ongoing trauma since Oct. 7, Israelis were celebrating.

“That is the resilience of Israeli society today,” Weinstein said. PJC

Emily Golden can be reached at emilygolden03@gmail.com. The Times of Israel contributed to this report.

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