in the news

A rabbi walks into a protest - Allan Ripp

Rabbi Shlomo Elkan hadn’t heard of Oberlin College before heading there in 2010 to establish a Chabad House, which functions as a campus center for Jewish students. “Rural Ohio wasn’t on my radar,” the 34-year-old rabbi, who grew up in Atlanta and received his rabbinical training in New Jersey, tells me. But a third of students at Oberlin are Jewish, and the Corn Belt seemed a quiet place to raise a family. Little did he know.

With Chabad’s Help, Oberlin College Now Offers Kosher Dining

Diversity has long been a part of Oberlin College in Ohio’s DNA. Black students were admitted in 1835, two years after the institution’s founding. Women were accepted from day one, and allowed to enroll in the bachelor’s program beginning in 1837. Despite some accusations to the contrary, local Jewish leaders and students say that this atmosphere of inclusion remains strong and encompasses Jewish students as well.

In fact, on May 23, Oberlin College took a major step in broadening opportunities for its Jewish students when it became one of only a handful of liberal arts colleges throughout the country to offer students a certified kosher dining experience.

Jewish Priorities: 65 proposals for a Jewish Future

Rabbi Shlomo was privileged to be included in anthology with 64 other Jewish thought leaders around the world. His essay can be read in the Jewish Priorities book compiled by David Hazony and published by Wicked Son books. As part of the book launch Shlomo sat on a panel with David Wolpe and Jodi Rudoren.

Rosh Hashanah Sermon 2017

The late great Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, forever changed the Jewish world with a single idea.   Send a Chabad emissary, a sheliach, a rabbi and his wife and their children, to the four corners of the universe, to places where Jews did not live.  Precisely there the Chabad emissary would establish a Jewish community, both to repair the world, and also to provide a Jewish home for Jews who visited these remote locations.  Today there are 4,325 Chabad emissaries in 86 countries.  If you are in Thailand for Passover, you can go to a Chabad seder, the largest in the world.  There are Chabad centers in Azerbajan, in Angola, in Cambodia, in Vietnam, in China, to name just a few.

But for my money, the Chabad emissary with the single hardest job by far is Rabbi Shlomo Elkan, and his wife Devora, and their six children, all of whom live in… Ohio.

Bringing light to a historic college town

Our research made it sound perfect for us! Oberlin College is a historic institution, founded in 1833. Famous for its progressive views and social activism, it was the first college in America to accept black and female students. Those who attend are socially conscious youths seeking meaning in their lives. Fraternities and sororities are banned from Oberlin college life to foster a more serious, inclusive, and introspective campus culture.

Welcome to the New Home for Chabad at Oberlin -Yvonne Gay

Members of the Oberlin community gathered in early September for the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the new home for Chabad at Oberlin.

Chabad provides opportunities to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of the Jewish heritage. Rabbi Shlomo and Devorah Elkan opened the doors of Chabad at Oberlin—a division of Lubavitch of Greater Cleveland—in fall 2010. Complementing the diversity at Oberlin College, the branch is a home where all Jews are welcome regardless of affiliation, denomination, or sexual orientation.