KU Chabad is hosting “Jewish Info” tables at different campus venues throughout every week at the University of Kansas in Lawrence.
Each week, tens of students engage with Jewish life with the outreach posts across the campus.
KU Chabad’s activities are not limited to that which goes on at the Chabad Center. According to Rabbi Zalman Tiechtel, co-director of KU Chabad, “Chabad is inherently extroverted and has a passion to have an active and highly visible presence throughout campus, reaching out to Jewish students wherever they are and not waiting for them to take the effort to show up on their own.”
This is why KU Chabad puts great emphasis on the power of tabling. Each week, KU Chabad sets up a “ReJEWvenation Station” at a different dorm or central campus location. These tabling outreach activities are headed by a committee of student leaders who plan and implement activities for the students to engage in. Recent activities included students decorating their own charity boxes, baking challah for Shabbat, writing get-well cards to children who are ill, and more.
Leah Anderson is a recent KU graduate who now serves as KU Chabad’s engagement intern and helps lead the outreach tabling activities.
“It is so meaningful to see how one small touch point means so much to the students,” she said. “As we offer a warm smile, an encouraging word, and some Jewish takeaways, their faces just light up with so much joy and appreciation.”
For many students, the KU Chabad tables on campus are also an opportunity for themselves to do a mitzvah on the spot.
The Jewish outreach tables at KU are part of KU Chabad’s KEHILLAH program, generously funded by the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City, with the goal of engaging the students by finding them where they are at and reaching out. More information is available at JewishKU.com or by emailing .
