Rabbi Dovid & Elisa Gurevich: World's First Chabad on Campus Still Going Strong

00:00 Speaker 1 In the fall of 2009, at UCLA's orientation fair, a somewhat jittery college freshman walked among the tables.

00:08 Speaker 2 You know, you go to the fair, and you'd see all these tables at different clubs and things.

00:12 Speaker 1 That's Jonathan Wilson, who attended UCLA to study economics and mathematics.

00:17 Speaker 2 And I saw the guy with the big beard, you know, and the hat, and I was like, "Oh, yeah, I gotta talk to that guy."

00:23 Speaker 1 The guy with the beard and the hat was Rabbi Dovid Gurevich, director of Chabad House at UCLA. Jonathan walked up to his table and introduced himself, and they talked.

00:34 Speaker 2 I was like, "Oh, this guy's great. I will definitely check out the Chabad House."

00:38 Speaker 1 But even though Gurevich had made a good impression, Jonathan didn't check it out right away.

00:43 Speaker 2 The year started, and I, it took me a while. I was kind of adjusting to freshman life, and you know, I always had it in the back of my head, like, I really gotta go to there and, and go for Shabbat dinner.

00:53 Speaker 1 Jonathan thought about going for three or four months. Meanwhile, Gurevich remembered the impression Jonathan made on him.

01:00 Speaker 3 So I followed up on it and invited Jonathan.

01:04 Speaker 1 Rabbi Gurevich sent him a message on Facebook.

01:06 Speaker 2 "Hey, you know, d- haven't seen you around, like, you really should come by, like, you know, we'd love to have you." And so I did. I went there by myself. I mean, I, I was instantly at home there.

01:15 Speaker 1 But what pleases Gurevich even more than the fact that Jonathan came for a Shabbos meal is how Jonathan went on to grow and thrive, not only during his college years, but well beyond them.

01:27 Speaker 3 He got so involved, it's just been really incredible. Even though it has been nearly 13 years, it never stopped. It never stopped.

01:35 Speaker 1 Jonathan's involvement began because of a simple premise: that every Jewish college students needs a home away from home where they can enjoy a delicious home-cooked meal, meet others, and learn about their history, culture, and traditions. The idea first became reality over 50 years ago at UCLA. It marked the beginning of a rapidly growing worldwide phenomenon called Chabad on Campus. I'm Gary Wolk, and this is Lamplighters: Stories from Chabad Emissaries on the Jewish Frontier. Life as a Chabad emissary is often joyous, but it can be unpredictable and even dangerous. Chabad has become a ubiquitous presence in every corner of the world, but behind every Chabad house are emissaries, regular people striving to transcend their circumstances, and a community that supports and relies on them. These are their stories. Rabbi Dovid Gurevich grew up in Kiev, Ukraine, in what he calls a typical Jewish family living in the Soviet Union in the '70s and '80s.

02:53 Speaker 3 Aware of being Jewish, but not much else. I don't think I knew or sh- what Rosh Hashanah was growing up, and did not have even a bar mitzvah.

03:03 Speaker 1 Gurevich says he felt something was missing.

03:06 Speaker 3 But I wasn't quite sure what, because there was no exposure to any Jewish information or knowledge or identity. All of that was suppressed.

03:18 Speaker 1 But in 1991, that would change in a big way for Dovid and for millions of other Jews in the former Soviet Union. His parents enrolled him in a Jewish summer camp run by Chabad just outside of Kiev.

03:31 Speaker 3 And, uh, I was there for about four weeks, but that was really a turning point in my life. Just being exposed to immersive Jewish experience and a lot of fun times, but also very ed- educational, it was a real eye-opener.

03:48 Speaker 1 With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Jews were now free to teach and learn about Judaism.

03:55 Speaker 3 Just the novelty of it was incredible because really, that was the first time anything like that was allowed in the open, uh, with such display of Judaism and Jewish pride and identity. We had field trips, you know, places we went to. Most of the counselors were American, which was already a novelty, but, you know, the, the main novelty was Yiddish kind itself. And, uh, being there was really incredible in terms of transforming my life trajectory.

04:24 Speaker 1 A few months after that experience, Dovid and his family immigrated to the United States and settled in Los Angeles.

04:32 Speaker 3 By then, I was already really into things in terms of Jewishness, so I kind of insisted on Jewish education. I was able to enroll into a Jewish day school for the 10th and, and 11th and 12th grade, so got a lot more solid Jewish background there. After high school, I actually went to learn in Kfar Chabad in Yeshiva in Israel, and that was really another eye-opener in terms of Chabad Hasidic education.

05:01 Speaker 1 Gurevich says he had all kinds of dreams of what he'd do when he got older, but he wasn't quite sure what he liked the most.

05:09 Speaker 3 Maybe an architect. I had varied interests, space and history and, uh, things like that.

05:16 Speaker 1 Were you having thoughts about doing Jewish outreach work at that time?

05:20 Speaker 3 So I wasn't quite sure, I guess, at the young age, but certainly not this.

05:27 Speaker 1 Not yet, anyway. First, Gurevich would study history and business economics at Brandeis University. By that time, Gurevich was already committed to Chabad and to Hasidic life, but there wasn't yet a Chabad at Brandeis in 1996.

05:43 Speaker 3 I guess it was at the time, you know, some people call it BC, before Chabad, but it was a very Jewish place, and I was already very involved by then. I was a board member of the Brandeis Orthodox Organization, and, uh, specifically I was in charge of the Beit Midrash. You know, the books and, you know, the physical space. I was also what they call one of the kosher cops, to maintain the kosher standards of the kosher cafeteria on campus.

06:11 Speaker 1 After Brandeis, Gorevich attended the George Washington University Law School. In 2000, he married his intended bride, Elisa. As he studied law, the young couple took the next, albeit informal, steps in their path to becoming official Chabad emissaries.

06:28 Speaker 3 I was challenged, actually, by a fellow student to do something that I did not think I was able to do, namely to teach a Tanya class, and I did, uh, without much background and sufficient preparation. I taught Parsha class and the Tanya class on campus, and then by then we started hosting people as a young couple. So we were kind of filling the void already then informally. I started doing that, and, uh, I guess I never stopped.

07:02 Speaker 1 After graduation from law school in 2002, Gorevich began working for a law firm near Los Angeles, but he never stopped learning Chabad Hasidus. Around 2004, Gorevich earned his rabbinic ordination.

07:17 Speaker 3 And, uh, sometime late 2005, early 2006, a friend of mine with whom I was learning kept talking about this opening at UCLA, and that they're looking for someone.

07:29 Speaker 1 Gorevich wasn't quite sure he was qualified to run a Chabad house, but someone was.

07:35 Speaker 3 I came down, and I had a meeting with, uh, several people, and by the end of the meeting, Rabbi Kunin, who was the head shliach in California, basically wished me mazel tov being the new shliach at UCLA. I actually said, "Maybe I can have a little bit of time to discuss it with my wife first," but he wouldn't take anything than a yes for an answer.

07:55 Speaker 1 Gorevich worked for a few months at the law firm and as Chabad's new shliach on campus.

08:01 Speaker 3 And, uh, eventually it just got so busy here that I had to make a choice. The choice basically was to either continue on with, uh, my legal career or to dedicate myself to being present on campus with students, and of course I chose the latter.

08:17 Speaker 1 Was that an easy decision for you?

08:19 Speaker 3 Yes and no. I did not dislike my legal job at all. It was nice. It was good. But this was more of a calling, and, uh, I'm not sure how I could have said no to that, because a calling is something that just is much bigger than yourself.

08:35 Speaker 1 Elisa Gorevich felt that calling as well. Rabbi Dovid says she expresses that in everything she does.

08:42 Speaker 3 She really is the life of every event, the liveliness, the spark, and just the effort she puts into everything from planning to preparing to everything else. It's, uh, just unimaginable without her input.

09:00 Speaker 1 The Gorevichs are in their 17th year as the official Chabad shluchim to the UCLA campus, which is home to about 3,000 Jewish students. Rabbi has no idea exactly how many of them have come through their doors, giving only a ballpark estimate of many thousands, but there are many who stand out in their memory. One of those is Jonathan Wilson, who as a freshman walked up to their table at the orientation fair in 2009.

09:30 Speaker 2 And I saw the guy with the big beard, you know, and the hat, and I was like, "Oh yeah, I gotta talk to that guy."

09:36 Speaker 1 Gorevich and Wilson talked.

09:38 Speaker 2 I was like, "Oh, this guy's great. I will definitely check out the Chabad house."

09:42 Speaker 1 Jonathan grew up in the nearby San Fernando Valley in what he calls a sort of observant, sort of kosher family. They observed Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and they always had Friday night Shabbat dinner, which Jonathan says he never missed.

09:57 Speaker 2 But Saturdays were kind of fair game.

09:59 Speaker 1 Gorevich often helps Jewish students from totally non-observant families. Introducing them to Judaism requires a certain mindset, he says, but he adds that helping students like Jonathan from somewhat observant families requires a different one.

10:14 Speaker 3 In some ways, I find it to be somewhat easier, because they're familiar with things. They're familiar with regular traditions, Kiddush, and Hamotzi for challah, and benching, uh, you know, regular things like that. On the other hand, it presents unique challenges, because if they're not into it, that means they may have had a negative experience of something that wasn't very good in terms of their interaction with Judaism, and, uh, that's, uh, very difficult to overcome.

10:42 Speaker 1 Jonathan never indicated to me that that had been the case with him. Yet a few months after he met Rabbi Gorevich, who had made such a positive first impression, Jonathan was still reluctant to join the Gorevichs for Shabbat dinner.

10:56 Speaker 2 It took me a while. Uh, I was kind of adjusting to freshman life, and you know, I always had it in the back of my head, like, "I really gotta go to there and, and go for Shabbat dinner."

11:05 Speaker 3 So I followed up on it and invited Jonathan.

11:08 Speaker 1 Rabbi Gorevich sent Jonathan a message on Facebook.

11:11 Speaker 2 "Hey," you know, "D- haven't seen you around. Like, you really should come by. Like, you know, we'd love to have you." And so I did.

11:17 Speaker 1 Jonathan went by himself on Shabbat evening to the Gorevichs' small townhouse.

11:21 Speaker 2 I remember I walked in, opened the door, and there's maybe, like, uh, I don't think I'm exaggerating, there's, like, maybe 100 people in there, and they're, like, crammed into this, like, very small two-bedroom apartment. And everybody's just, like, bumping elbows, eating dinner, crammed into, like, I don't know, maybe 1,000 square feet.

11:41 Speaker 1 Gorevich remembers how at home Jonathan seemed to be at his first Shabbos dinner there.

11:46 Speaker 3 But on-campus students, they like these kinds of vibes where it's hopping, it's popular, it's a little bit overcrowded, and, uh, I think, you know, just the, the energy in the room is very captivating.

11:59 Speaker 2 It's the type of environment where you can't not talk to the person next to you, because at the very least you're saying, like, "Oh, sorry, I just, I bumped your plate with my elbow." It was very, like, loud. friendly. When you walk in, you're like, "Okay, yeah, I'm, I'm home." Like, it felt perfect. I'm like, "Okay, I'm gonna come here every single Friday."

12:17 Speaker 1 And soon Jonathan was getting involved in more than just eating delicious meals on Friday night and on Shabbos afternoon.

12:23 Speaker 3 The next thing Jonathan did was join the Sinai Scholars, which is a premier educational offering for Chabad on campus. Really explore, explores in depth the identity and the values that we have as a Jewish people. He really loved it. He really became close friends with the other fellow students in that class, and he really went on to take advantage of many other opportunities that we offered.

12:48 Speaker 2 Rabbi Gorevich, he had a ton of, like, classes. I, I don't know where, how he found the time to do all this stuff honestly, but he was constantly on campus doing, like, a, the weekly Parsha. He was there to just kind of pass on the message of Jewish learning and, and helping us build this connection to our people and our, our religion.

13:05 Speaker 1 But the goal of Jewish learning is not simply to learn. It's to inspire positive action. Jonathan got that message. His growth in doing mitzvahs was rapid. So rapid, in fact, that Rabbi Gorevich began to wonder whether he was going too fast.

13:22 Speaker 2 So in my freshman year, I, I decided I was gonna start keeping kosher, and I remember when I was talking to the rabbi about it, he said, "Nobody goes kosher overnight. Learn the rules. Apply them little by little. Don't just go cold turkey and say, 'Okay, from now on, I'm gonna never eat any non-kosher thing ever.' For sure that's the goal, but if you do all that immediately, it's not sustainable. I'm here to help. I'm here to teach you the rules. I'm here to teach you how to do it in a way that's sustainable, and I'm here to teach you about why you're doing these things or why these rules are the way they are so that, you know, you can feel a lot more connected to it." And, you know, little by little, I, I got to the point where I was, I was like, "All right, I'm, I'm not eating at non-kosher establishments anymore."

14:04 Speaker 1 But that was just the beginning. Jonathan Wilson attended Sinai Scholars retreats. He went on Birthright and Israel Links trips, and he became more and more involved in the Chabad House at UCLA. He was taking on more and more mitzvahs, all at a sustainable pace, including an extremely important one.

14:24 Speaker 2 I used to work on Saturdays quite a bit. It was pretty regular, and it was a bit overwhelming actually. I worked a lot. I still do work a lot, but not on Saturdays. I actually turn my phone off completely, and the first time I did it, it was like, "I'm never going back."

14:37 Speaker 1 Jonathan says he learned every day from the example the Gorevichs set by their uncompromising Jewish living in an environment that is often antithetical to Torah Judaism.

14:49 Speaker 2 That's not easy. There's a lot of, uh, competing interests there, and there's a lot of non-Orthodox-friendly things going on in a, in a university. But just kind of seeing them over time, seeing how they were raising their family, and how they were living a Jewish life in the middle of a university, it showed me not just that it's possible to live, like, an Orthodox life in the middle of, like, a, I would say a very secular community. Not just that it's possible, but that it was, it was right.

15:18 Speaker 1 Jonathan says the Gorevich's four children, or maybe it was five children at that time, he doesn't quite remember, were the best teachers of this idea.

15:27 Speaker 2 This isn't a knock against college students, but I found their kids to be, even at the age of like eight or nine, like, way more mature than many of the college students that were in the area.

15:36 Speaker 1 Rabbi Gorevich acknowledges that raising their now seven children on a college campus is a big challenge.

15:43 Speaker 3 But ultimately, we have to believe that what we give them can outweigh any negative influences, and that they can be themselves positive role models and stay strong in their convictions. And I think that's one, one of the greatest things we can do to model for students a good family and good relationship, both between, you know, husband and wife, and parents and children.

16:07 Speaker 1 That model has served Jonathan and his new bride, Talia, well. They met at work after their undergrad studies and were married just this past Sunday by Rabbi Gorevich. They've committed themselves to a life of Torah values, Shabbos, kosher eating, and the laws of family purity.

16:25 Speaker 3 They learned for many months together, and it was really incredible just to see her excitement, enthusiasm, and level of commitment that she was showing. And in many ways, I think she was pushing him to grow a little bit beyond what he was comfortable at, uh, at the time. So it was a very positive reinforcement for his growth as well.

16:46 Speaker 1 The Gorevichs also shared with the young couple a very important directive from the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

16:53 Speaker 3 The letter that we learned, traditional letter of the Rebbe's blessings for the new couples, really lays out the groundwork that their relationship should be built on the eternal structure of Torah and Mitzvahs. Because if you have eternal values, then you, you can have a, a very long-term relationship.

17:14 Speaker 1 Jonathan says he and Talia plan to stay in close touch with Rabbi Dovid and Rebbetzin Elisa Gorevich as they embark on their married life, whether it's to learn more about running a kosher home, the laws of Shabbat, or, for when the time comes, about raising children.

17:30 Speaker 2 We're very close, so I mean, I imagine I'll be texting them quite a bit.

17:37 Speaker 1 Jonathan, do you think you'd be where you are now if you hadn't met the Gorevichs at Chabad at UCLA?

17:45 Speaker 2 No. No way. They're, like, a huge inspiration.

17:53 Speaker 1 There are now Chabad houses on over 250 college campuses around the world. including ones in Shanghai, Melbourne, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town, Moscow, and all over Europe, Canada, and the US. The vision to provide homes away from home for Jewish students wherever they are began with the Lubavitcher Rebbe. There were just a handful of them on campuses through the '70s, '80s, and '90s, but according to Rabbi Gurevich, the idea gained major traction a little over two decades ago.

18:27 Speaker 3 With Mr. George Ohr putting significant backing to expansion of Chabad on Campus, and I would say it multiplied probably times five, maybe even more.

18:36 Speaker 1 Gurevich notices these things perhaps in part because he's now the co-director of a unique Chabad house.

18:44 Speaker 3 It's the first Chabad on campus, so that started in 1969, well before I was born. First of all, I'm a big believer in what we do. Chabad on Campus, I think it really changes lives on a daily basis, and I think its success is attributable to the Rebbe's vision and to the way that campus shluchim went about implementing it, which is with lots and lots of love and dedication.

19:10 Speaker 1 Gurevich believes there's a void of moral instruction on campuses across the world, and that leaves students wanting.

19:17 Speaker 3 They may be learning sciences and humanities and things like that, but they will not necessarily learn who they are and explore deeper what their lives are all about, what values they should stand for, you know, where they come from, where they're going.

19:31 Speaker 1 Jonathan Wilson agrees.

19:33 Speaker 2 When you go to college, you're very impressionable. It's your first time being out of home. But then there's a Chabad house in there, and you're like, "Okay. They can understand me. I can understand them," and there's a connection there.

19:43 Speaker 1 Part of that connection stems from an empathy that goes beyond Jewish identity. Like the Gurevichs, many, but not all, Chabad on Campus shluchim grew up in non-observant families. As baal teshuva, Rabbi and Elisa know firsthand what many of the temptations and distractions are for college students.

20:03 Speaker 3 I went through similar experiences as they have, and I've probed and challenged myself with the questions that they may be asking now: What are the underpinnings of Judaism? What values do they hold for us? And having gone through college and, uh, similar experiences, I think that definitely helps to relate to them. But in the end, you know, the common denominator we all find is that we all have the Jewish essence in common, and that's what we ultimately share.

20:37 Speaker 1 Rabbi, as we speak, students are moving onto the UCLA campus. What do you and your wife hope to accomplish during the upcoming school year?

20:47 Speaker 3 E- every year, about 700 to 800 new Jewish students arrive on, on UCLA campus. We try to meet as many as we can.

20:55 Speaker 1 But what about after you meet them? What outcomes would you like to see?

21:01 Speaker 3 Hopefully similar outcomes as Jonathan's.

21:07 Speaker 2 I think it is incredibly obvious, you know, why Chabad on Campus is so necessary.

21:16 Speaker 1 I'm Gary Wollek. Thanks for listening to Lamplighters: Stories from Chabad Emissaries on the Jewish Frontier. We welcome your questions and comments about what you've just heard on Lamplighters. Please email us at podcast@lubavitch.com. And if you know of a great story involving Chabad emissaries or the people they inspire, please let us know about them. That's podcast@lubavitch.com. To subscribe digitally to Lubavitch International Magazine or to receive it at your doorstep, please visit lubavitch.com/subscribe. This is a Lubavitch International podcast.