Rabbi Zalman Tiechtel always looks forward.
As co-director of the Rohr Chabad Center for Jewish Life at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, he looks forward each day to the continuing “sense of yearning and seeking for connection from the students.”
And he looks forward to the ongoing community support from the students, donors, KU parents, alumni “and most importantly, the blessings from G-d,” as he strives to fulfill KU Chabad’s mission “to deliver accessible and meaningful Jewish experiences” for the students.
A few weeks ago, Rabbi Tiechtel received a blessing he hadn’t been looking for: an email from The Forward telling him he’d been chosen as one of its 2018 Forward 50. It’s an annual list The Forward has published since 1994 recognizing 50 American Jews who are doing and saying things that are making a difference in the way American Jews view the world and themselves.
Rabbi Tiechtel shares the 2018 spotlight with such notables as actor Joel Grey, Olympian and #MeToo activist Aly Raisman and Jerry Cohen, the doctor who treated the shooter and victims following the shooting at Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha Congregation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 27.
To read everything The Forward had to say about Rabbi Tiechtel and see the entire list of 50, visit theforward.com and search Forward 50 2018.
When Rabbi Tiechtel learned he’d been chosen for the honor, he was happy for his students’ excitement.
“For me personally, it’s really about the sense of community,” he said. “To me, it’s not about me; it’s about the KU Chabad community. It represents the tremendous growth and strength of the community.”
Though he shies away from the attention for its own sake, the honor is “humbling and it’s also empowering.”
Rabbi Tiechtel is the seventh son from a family of 13. Five of his brothers and two of his sisters also are Chabad rabbis and emissaries, and two among them also serve on college campuses. None of his siblings have received the Forward 50 honor, he said, “not yet.”
He and his wife, Nechama Tiechtel, who also is co-director of KU Chabad, have nine children. She includes in her KU Chabad emails the tagline “Where every Jew Is Family.”
“A secret about Zalman that I pridefully share: He puts his kishkes, his very soul and entire being, into the success of KU Chabad,” she said. “Dedicating his life to the students is not something he just does, (but) rather it is his very being and his entire life, along with his family, of course. … What motivates Zalman? It is his true love for every single Jew and his deep desire to create a positive Jewish experience for every single student at KU. This is the drive that we have both been taught and inspired by our dear teacher and spiritual mentor, the Lubavitcher Rebbe.”
Rabbi Tiechtel, helped by that instruction and inspiration, has noticed “tremendous growth” of the students during his nearly 13 years at KU Chabad.
“More and more students around the country are choosing KU as their college destination,” he said. “And I’ve noticed a growing thirst for connection by so many other Jews.”
He attributes this growth, “the crazier the world gets,” to “more of a need, a desire for young people to find an anchor in their lives, and spirituality and religious identity is a big part of that anchor.” He is proudest of KU Chabad’s positive effect “on thousands of young lives.” And he attributes the success of KU Chabad’s recent fundraising campaign, through which it raised more than $205,000, to the community’s strength.
“This recognition is truly not about me,” he said. “It’s about the amazing team behind me and by my side at KU.”
On its website, the Forward said it had seen innovations at places such as Brown and Harvard universities and Carnegie Mellon University’s Jewish Futurist Club.
“But we’ve also discovered people making takhles (serious) changes that make Jewish life at colleges in the most unlikely of places more accessible and rewarding,” according to the website. “And that’s exactly what Zalman Tiechtel, 37, has done for the Jayhawks attending the University of Kansas.”
In a Facebook post, Rabbi Tiechtel summed up his sentiments for the honor he had received.
“Thank you to The Forward for recognizing us all and Rock Chalk Jewhawk!”
