Long Island Jewish students join thousands attending Pegisha gathering in Brooklyn this weekend

This weekend, more than 30 Long Island students will be attending the largest gathering of Jewish students in college Chabad houses held in Brooklyn in about 50 years.

Nelle Bargeron, 23, a senior majoring in Jewish Studies at Hofstra University attending for the second time, said she looks forward to what is known as the Pegisha because "You get to learn from other students from other schools about your Judaism, and the importance of it.

"You meet people from other states and you start making friends. It's a great time to really enjoy your Jewish identity and express it in a safe environment," she said. 

This year, the Crown Heights gathering comes at a time of heightened sensitivities for Jews, amid the Israel-Hamas war, sparked by the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas. The conflict has led to a rising level of antisemitic incidents worldwide, and anti-Israel protests that have roiled many college campuses.

For Bargeron, the anxiety that she said she felt has only strengthened her resolve. "Regardless of what these people think about me or believe, I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing...I'm going to keep my traditions...and help others. Together we can defeat hate." 

Rabbi Yossy Gordon, chief executive of Chabad on Campus International that hosts the event, said that after the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, "there was a very strong surge in student engagement of 40% in Chabad on Campus." 

"The Pegisha means meeting," Gordon said in a phone interview. "It's been something that's been happening in Crown Heights for almost 50 years," he said.

But the event has grown over the last 20 years, as more Chabads on college campuses have been formed, Gordon said. "We've built fantastic centers around the world," he said.

"Fifty years ago, we had about 40-50 students coming to the Pegisha, and that was a great success then, considering the few centers of Chabad on Campus...But today, we're very large and a very, very powerful force for good, and therefore much greater opportunity for student engagement," he said, noting the 2,000 students registered for this year's event, up from 1,300 last year.

The word Chabad is drawn from the first letter of the Hebrew words that mean wisdom, understanding knowledge. Chabad centers on campuses encourage Jewish students to come together and explore their faith.

At the Pegisha, students will experience, according to a news release, "an immersive traditional Shabbat experience with a predominantly Chabad Orthodox community in Crown Heights, including traditional Shabbat meals in the homes of welcoming families."

In addition, organizers said there will be a variety of workshops for students, several speakers and social events, including Saturday night's ceremony, called the Havdallah, which organizers said marks the end of the Jewish Sabbath that will feature prayer, singing and dancing.

The Long Island students, who are members of Chabad houses on their campuses, will join what officials of Chabad on Campus International said will be Jewish students from 176 colleges from the United States and eight other countries. They will converge on various Crown Heights locations for events held from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon.

Twenty-three Stony Brook students plan to attend the Pegisha, while six students from Adelphi and about five students from Hofstra are expected to attend, according to the rabbis that direct the Chabad houses on their respective campuses.

"This is the biggest group we've ever taken"' to the Pegisha, said Rabbi Adam Stein, director of the Chabad House at Stony Brook. "We understand this is because after the events that were happening in Israel, a lot of Jews feel they want to reconnect and come together and find communal comfort and support."

Stein said that in general, Chabad events at Stony Brook University are drawing a "much greater level of attendance."

Similarly, Rabbi Yankel Lipskier,of the Chabad House at Adelphi, said "participation has gone through the roof" in Chabad activities. "We have about 200 active members." 

Chabad participation at Hofstra has grown as well, said Chabad House director Rabbi Shmuel Lieberman. "We have groups that are reaching almost 100 people now. Because of the strife," he said alluding to the war in Gaza and campus protests against Israel, "people want to connect with their fellow Jews."

Ely Soumikh, 21, a senior at Stony Brook University, where he is vice president of the Chabad House, is preparing to attend the Pegisha for the second time, where he said he will be "rejoicing [in] celebrating Sabbath" with his fellow Jewish students from other Chabad Houses.

"It's great meeting people kind of like you -- people who are similar yet different at the same time," said Soumikh, a psychology major. He's expecting "happy religious fun where people connect spiritually and intellectually" through engaging discussions and social events.

Amy Stein, a 19-year-old junior at Adelphi University, said she only learned about the event for the first time. Stein, a nursing major who is also secretary of her campus' Chabad House, said it was an "awakening." Now, she relishes the "opportunity to find external sources, to meet other Jews outside my school."

By Olivia Winslow

olivia.winslow@newsday.com@newsollie