Chabad at Rice welcomed over 100 students and other members of the Rice community to its annual “Mega Shabbat” dinner for an evening of traditional Jewish food, fun and fellowship March 24.
This year’s “Mega Shabbat,” held in the Rice Memorial Center’s Grand Hall, was the largest Shabbat dinner ever hosted on campus. Joining in the festivities were Rice President Reginald DesRoches, as well as former President David Leebron.
Replete with a “Matzah Ball Soup Mixer” to facilitate mingling, a photo booth and remarks from DesRoches in addition to the delicious homemade meal, the event was a labor of love for Rabbi Shmuli Slonim and wife Nechama, co-directors of Chabad at Rice, who host weekly Shabbat dinners at the Rice Chabad house near campus.
Jacki Hatch, a McMurtry College senior from Florida, said she joined this year’s “Mega Shabbat” host committee as a small way to thank the Slonims for everything they do to foster welcoming connections among Rice’s Jewish community, something she was eager to find coming into college so far from home.
“Rabbi Shmuli and Nechama are literally two of the nicest people I’ve ever met,” she said. “It feels really nice — like an extra set of family, especially for out-of-state students like me.”
The “Mega Shabbat” tradition holds a special place in the Slonim family’s hearts: Rabbi Slonim’s parents hosted the first ever “Mega Shabbat” dinner in 1994 at Binghamton University in New York, where the elder Slonims still run Chabad to this day. In fact, this year’s “Mega Shabbat” dinners at Rice and at Binghamton both took place on the very same evening.
“It’s obviously been amazing to continue that legacy, but that this year it was actually the same day was really special,” said Shmuli Slonim.
“We live in a time and age where we never stop. We’re staying online and all we’re doing is looking at our phone. When we go to bed, we’re watching another YouTube clip, or checking the news, again,” Nechama Slonim said. “But on Shabbat, in that time, everything stops. We’re just focusing on the community, on the people around you. It’s a very special time.”
