In a spirit of rejoicing and celebration, more than 400 community leaders and supporters from throughout New Jersey came together to pay tribute to the honorees, Dr. Elliot and Sandra Rudnitzky, and Rick and Robin Schottenfeld, and to support the Chabad House at Rutgers. The gala dinner succeeded in raising more than two million dollars to help the new building campaign. This expansion program calls for a new 55,000 sq. ft. edifice, and this new building, combined with the existing Chabad House will total 90,000 sq ft – the largest campus facility for Jewish students in the world.

The dinner participants were pleasantly surprised when after the regular program and presentations, Mr. Todd Turchin- son of the late Les Turchin, informed the dinner crowd that he was honoring his father's pledge- and handed Rabbi Yosef Carlebach a check for 1 million dollars. The crowd applauded enthusiastically, and proceeded to spontaneously generate and publicly announce additional pledges of over 1 million dollars!

The dinner commemorated twenty-nine 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.

The gala evening was chaired by Mr. Roger Fine, Corporate Vice President, Johnson & Johnson (Ret.); the Honorable Harry I. Franco, Mayor of Deal, NJ; Ms. Lita Greenberg, Home Like Food Co.; Mr. Donald Hecht, Partner, Hecht & Co.; Mr. Danny Kahane, Developer; Mr. Steven Katz, Sterling Properties Group; Mr. John P. McGee, Pres. & CEO, Solaris Health System; Mr. Richard Saker, CEO and Pres., Saker ShopRites, Inc.; Mr. Myron Shevell, Chairman, New England Motor Freight, Inc. and Mr. Jerold Zaro, Esquire, Ansell, Zaro, Grimm & Aaron.

Remarks were presented by Rabbi Yehudah Leib Groner, Secretary of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and U.S. Air Force Major Jesse Arnstein, a Chabad House at Rutgers alumnus.

Rabbi Yosef Carlebach, Director of Chabad House, announced the new plans to enlarge Chabad House by 55,000 sq. ft. The new amenities include a state of the art men's dormitory – to complement the already existing women's dormitory, graduate student housing, an expanded kosher dining hall and auditorium to accommodate 750 students, and a first-ever Sephardic Synagogue. The new ten million dollar Building Campaign has already received community-wide support and has accomplished 45% of its goal.

Participants at the dinner received 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.

For more information on 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

Receiving "Kesser Shem Tov - Master of Good Name Award", Jeffrey and Lita Greenberg,
Sandra and Dr. Elliot Rudnitzky, Jerold Zaro, and Rabbi Yosef Carlebach

Receiving "Ner Tamid- Eternal Light Award", Rabbi Yosef Carlebach,
Jeffrey and Lita Greenberg, Robin and Rick Schottenfeld, and Jerold Zaro.