CELEBRATING OPENING OF WORLD’S LARGEST CHABAD HOUSE

In a spirit of rejoicing and celebration, Chabad House Jewish Student Center at Rutgers University and its ten affiliate Chabad Houses serving central and southern New Jersey, will celebrate their National Founders Dinner at the Grand Ballroom of Chabad House, 170 College Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ, on Thursday, December 13, 2012 (the sixth night of Chanukah) at 6:00 PM.  More than 500 community leaders and supporters are expected to pay tribute to the honorees, Dr. Robert L. Barchi, MD, PHD, President, Rutgers University and Mr. Ronald C. Rak, JD, President and CEO, St. Peter’s Healthcare Systems.

The gala dinner is celebrating the Grand Opening of the 55,000 square foot addition which will feature additional rooms for housing, a Sephardic Synagogue, and a new 750 person Kosher Dining Hall.  This will combine with the existing facility to create the world’s largest (90,000 sq. ft.) Jewish Center for students on any public university campus in the world.

The dinner will commemorate thirty-four years of educational programs and activities serving the student population at Rutgers University and a unique panoply of educational and social welfare programs throughout central and southern New Jersey.

Rabbi Yosef Carlebach, Director of Chabad House, will report on the new complex. The new amenities will feature a state of the art men's dormitory and graduate student housing, an expanded kosher dining hall and auditorium to accommodate 770 students, an international coffee house, student lounges, newly expanded kitchens, and a first-ever college campus Sephardic Synagogue.  The new ten million dollar Building Campaign has already received community-wide support and is expected to be fully operational with campus-wide activities.

Participants at the dinner will receive a special coffee table Anniversary Album pictorially depicting the history of Chabad House from its first days in a rented room at the Rutgers Student Center to its location today as the largest Jewish Center on any public university campus in the world.

For more information or reservations for `the gala dinner or the new building campaign or to receive the Anniversary Album, please contact Chabad House at (732) 296-1800 or write to:  Chabad House, 170 College Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08901 or email dinner@chabadnj.org