COLLEGE STUDENTS enjoy a post-Shabbat Sephardic party at the Chabad Jewish Student Center.COLLEGE STUDENTS enjoy a post-Shabbat Sephardic party at the Chabad Jewish Student Center.
College students’ history tour to culminate with seder
By Deborah Moon
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Jewish history is coming alive for Jewish students on Portland area campuses thanks to the Chabad Jewish Student Center near Reed College.
Rabbi Dov and Chani Bialo open their home to Jewish students from across the city every Friday evening for a Shabbat meal. But on Feb. 15, they transported students to Spain during the Golden Ages of Sephardic Jews. With their apartment recreated as a Sephardic home, they supplied period costumes for guests, cooked a Shephardic Shabbat dinner and lead a chat on that era. The following day after Shabbat ended, students returned for a Sephardic party.
March 14, the apartment will become the home of Ashkenazic Jews living in France and Germany. And on Saturday, April 19, students attending the seder will travel back to ancient Egypt.
“At our history programs, students experience Jewish living throughout history,” said Rabbi Bialo. “We dress up our home and the students and talk about Jewish survival in the good and the troubling times in our history.”
“Passover will be the climax of our living history program,” he said. “People are missing these tangible experiences.”
The seder is free, as are all student programs at the Chabad Center. Reservations are requested by April 16 to help the Bialos plan for an appropriate amount of food, but students are always welcome to drop in. The seder will begin at 8:30 p.m., Saturday, April 19, at 5130 SE 30th Ave., No. 10. RSVP to 503-752-2258 or online at www.chabadatportlandcampuses.org.
“We live behind Reed, but we always have students from the different campuses,” he said. “We are here for every single Jewish student regardless of their upbringing or observance. Students should have a place they can enjoy a Jewish experience or explore their Jewish heritage.”
Rabbi Chayim Mishulovin of Chabad of Oregon said that students seem to welcome having a physical address they know is available and open to them. He said he knows of students who have contacted the Bialos in the middle of the night for an emergency, noting “Rabbi Bialo is always out there taking care of their needs.”
After taking a late night call about a hospitalized student, the Bialos ended up hosting the mother when she came to town.
Bialo also teaches classes on campuses, including two that meet every week. On Tuesday, he teaches Talmud at 5 p.m. at the Chabad Center (5130 SE 30th Ave., No. 10) near Reed and at 6:30 the same night, he leads a parshat class in the Smith Building at Portland State University.
The rabbi said he and his wife also try and serve as a resource to Jewish student groups on the campuses. For instance, Celia Gellman, the student leader of the Chaverim organization at Reed College learned to make challah from Chani Bialo and then hosted a Shabbat program for Reed students at which she had them shape challah dough she had made.