Every Friday, Nechama Backman rushes manically to finish preparing 33 whole chickens, 400 gefilte fish balls, 15 trays of kugel, 10 pounds of green beans and 15 freshly baked loaves of Challah.
Backman and her husband, Rabbi Eli Backman, are used to preparing large meals for their five children, but Friday night dinners are a bit different as more than 100 hungry student guests descend on their Hopkins Avenue home every week. Capped off by salad, soup and dessert - which last week was eight pumpkin pies - the Backmans are serving up a Shabbat meal of mass proportions.
Shabbat is the Jewish day of rest, traditionally begun after sundown with an intimate meal among friends and family. As a part of the Chabad movement, the Backmans are providing a family-like setting for many Jewish university students from across the globe who are craving a home-cooked Shabbat meal but can't be at home with their own family. Although Jewish religious law requires that no one work, eating is a must.
"There's a lot that goes on until the minute of Shabbat," said Nechama, standing in her kitchen, which contains three ovens (an industrial-sized oven is down the hall, too) and 45 different cook books. "Everything is homemade. The recipes I can't give out until you get married or graduate. That's a Chabad rule."
Other Chabad rules: Don't leave with an empty stomach, relax, enjoy yourself and if at all possible meet your soul mate. A few couples have even married after first meeting at these Shabbat dinners. The social aspect of Chabad has contributed to its rise in popularity, and the tradition is a rising global trend among Jews with 3,000 Chabad centers, like the Backmans', now found in 70 countries.
"It's a place for everyone," Eli said. "The open-door, non-judgmental, exciting Jewish experience you should be able to get anywhere."
In College Park, the center has steadily gained in popularity since the Backmans built a large addition to the former Zeta Psi fraternity house in 2002. The couple, who still rent rooms in the house to eight tenants, lived in a basement apartment there since 1995. But as their family grew - their five children are ages one through 10 - they moved into the addition with help from several alumni and community donors.
Most Fridays, between 70 and 120 students fill the house for the four-course meal, and last Friday, the couple also prepared a joint meal for Jewish fraternity Zeta Beta Thau and sorority Alpha Delta Pi, which has a large Jewish population. The annual Chinese Shabbat is the most popular meal, attracting as many as 500 visitors.
"Students volunteer [for the Chinese Shabbat] because we all like Chinese cooking, it's exciting to us Jewish people," said Eli, a short man with thin-rimmed glasses and a red beard whom many students refer to as "adorable". "The miracle is that people always walk out with food [in their stomachs]. I don't know how it happens."
The couple typically begins cooking on Thursday night, sometimes not sleeping until 5 a.m. At 6 a.m. they wake up to take their children to school and then get back to cooking.
"We usually don't eat [dinner] on Friday because we forget. It becomes two in the morning and we realize we haven't eaten anything," Nechama said. "Not until after Shabbat do we have the chance to relax, talk to each other and figure out what's happening."
Rabbi Backman expands outreach efforts beyond Chabad as well: He teaches several religious courses for student groups or individuals, and he and his wife organize several holiday and cultural events with Resident Assistants, Greek Life and the university such as an upcoming Hanukkah celebration on Hornbake Mall.
"[Backman] is a phenomenal resource for the chapter and an outstanding guy," said Alpha Epsilon Pi President Shai Romirowsky. "He's an honorary brother."
The Chabad tradition is credited with helping reinvigorate Judaism after the Holocaust under the leadership of the late Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, known as "The Rebbe." Backman refers to Schneerson as "the most influential Jewish leader" of the century, but Schneerson was also very controversial for his strict interpretation of Jewish law.
Since Schneerson's death in 1994, many in the Chabad-Lubavitch movement have formed a cult-like following for the world leader, labeling him as the long-awaited Messiah and anticipating his return.
"It's a very complicated movement because it combines general ideas of Jewish vitalization through education, community building, bringing Jews together … with a redemption subtext that may not be acceptable to some Jews," said Asher Biemann, a professor of modern Jewish thought and intellectual history at the University of Virginia. "We should take [Chabad] for what it is and should appreciate some of its success, and be cautious of some aspects."
Backman said he does not believe Schneerson is the Messiah, however, and does not agree with many fundamentalism aspects of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, which began in Russia but is now based in New York.
Despite Backman's strong beliefs, no students interviewed for this story said they have felt any ideological pressure when visiting the Chabad house.
"I've never gotten the sense that someone felt uncomfortable or coerced," said senior Avi Mayer, who says he has a "close connection" with the Backmans. "I don't think there's any sense that [students] feel one way or another of Chabad because of its ideology. Whose friends go there is much more substantial."
Contact reporter Ben Block at blockdbk@gmail.com.
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