This page is in progress, we’ll be adding to this, and some photos in the next few days…
Chabad on Campus’ NYC Pegisha was the largest yet with 2000 registered students in attendance!
Below are some of Mendel’s highlights and takeaways, in no particular order, as richly experienced along with our UAlbany delegation. It was quite the jam-packed weekend! Many thanks to Raizy and Co. for keeping a beautiful Shabbos (and an alumna’s daughter’s Bat-Mitzvah on Sunday) back on the home front at Shabbos House.
OUR SWEATSHIRTS
Every year we make a creative sweatshirt or t-shirt, for our student board and/or for the annual UAlbany Pegisha participants. This year’s was a twist on the popular “Anti-Social Social Club” design, with the Chassidic twist of the “Beyond Worldly Worldly Club”. A highlight of Pegisha was the feedback and appreciation we got for this sweatshirt, ranging from the Pegisha’s videographer to a student from ASU, especially the Chabad on Campus rabbis, the Shluchim, who know how meaningful this paradoxical balance is in Chassidic thought and Chabad life, and how emphasized this was in the Rebbe’s teaching and vision to be both within and beyond the world – at the same time. The rabbi from Miami at Ohio was so impressed with how well our students explained it. So many people got it!
REGISTERING…
Most of our group (which came in different cars and times) all got to Pegisha Registration by 12pm. We all found parking (no small miracle!) and got the group registered at the Jewish Children’s Museum (which some of our group remembered from their childhood school visits) and went to “770” for the classic photo on the front steps. That’s where we met the group from University of Miami, and others. We were lucky enough to be there still in time for Rebbe’s Room to be open for us to enter for a quick prayer. It’s all rushed on Erev Shabbos, but we tried to explain the significance and history of the space and all the memories and meaning it holds for us. In a sense, this was a deeper layer of “registering”…
GESHMAK TO BE A YID!
This Pegisha had a specific theme, how it is “Geshmak to be a Yid” – how deliciously, richly enjoyable, delightful. Or as the rabbi from Syracuse and his students put it: “Finger-Licking-Good!” Chabad on Campus gave each participant a pull-over sweatshirt emblazoned with “Geshmak to be a Yid” in a fun funky scripty font – which many wore throughout the weekend. Those of our students who come to Shabbos morning know the melody, it’s an old Chassidic melody that we sing each Shabbos morning for “The Hodu Song” and more recently it was put to the words “Geshmak to be a Yid” and for Pegisha Chabad on Campus added a whole set of lyrics. Either way, it was sung a lot all weekend. I was walking up the flights of steps in the Razag Hall after the mega dynamic musical Havdalah with all that loud music and dancing – and the big guys on the steps ahead of me, all wearing non-traditional t-shirts and such, were singing and humming “Geshmak to be a Yid!” so that was quite sweet to witness…
AARON BARRY
Even with splitting up the Shabbat portion into two venues (Oholei Torah on Eastern Parkway and Razag Ballroom on East New York Ave) Pegisha was packed. People everywhere. It was quite crowded and could be hard to get around and get through the crowded throngs of people. That’s why I was impressed with a guy I met in a wheelchair. I asked him how he managed to navigate the crowds and accessibility. He responded with such positivity and strength and appreciation – that only grew once I learned his story. Man, this guy is a tremendous inspiration. Next time you feel down, or think you can’t, or feel weighed down by life, or want to complain and kvetch – think Aaron Barry. He’s from Houston, he lost his parents in an accident that paralyzed both him and his brother, both of whom are “Wheelchair Basketball” athletes and life enthusiasts.
EVERYONE HAS A STORY
Our Pegisha weekend culminated with a prayer visit at the Rebbe’s Ohel. Some of the guys in our group and I were standing together on that line. Just in front of us was a group from overseas. One or two in that group we also met on our midnight trek to Times Square on Sat Night, so we crossed paths the night before. We were chatting with J. in particular, he seemed so warm and friendly and positive, upbeat. Turns out one of his Chabad rabbis is a classmate of mine, so we took a photo and I sent it as a regards. After we left the Ohel I got a message back from that classmate rabbi overseas, what a nice boy this J. is – and that his life is a series of miracles. I showed that to one UAlbany student in our group and he said, “It really is true, everyone has a story.”
MEETING NEW PEOPLE
That’s a big highlight of a weekend like this, at least for me. It’s an awesome setting to play Jewish geography. We shared a binary code Chassidic teaching with a MIT student while in line for ice-cream at The Vibe, and also at the Vibe discussed a Chabad insight to Life of Pi with a physics student from ASU. On the stoop outside Oholei Torah we met a freshman student from a small Connecticut college who is eager to bring Chabad to his campus. Also on that stoop we met a student from Toledo OH who was amazed we knew of and visited the Museum of Glass in his hometown. On the subway back from Times-Square we met Rowan College students, one of whom knows a student who used to go to Albany. We met Jews from France, from London England, a bunch from Canada, we even met a man from Singapore. This older businessman from Singapore was making his way through Times Square when he heard us and others sing “Kol HaOlam Kulo” and he tried to teach it to me in Japanese. This man speaks 8 languages and is here on food-tech business. And a college student from Siena College, the lone representative from his college joined our group, so we got to know him as well.
SEEING FAMILIAR PEOPLE
For many of our students this was a major highlight. They got to meet up with old friends from home, or people they met on trips like Snorkel and Study or studying at Mayanot Yeshiva in Jerusalem, or were together on a JNF trip, or going back to high school trips like C-Teen, USY and more. We met students who remember the last regional Pegisha hosted at Shabbos House. Pegisha was so big this year it was split into two tracks for Shabbos, so it wasn’t until Sat Night’s Vibe (all together) in the Armory that one of our students got to meet a friend who goes to UF. One of our students met a family friend back from her days when her family still lived in NJ – and this girl is now at Muhlenberg College. One of our students said that seeing these friends from past experiences evoked and brought back a lot of positive memories and good feels.
WHY THE NAME ZUSHA?
The Zusha Band played up a storm in the Armory at the end of the Vibe. The next day at the Closing Session, they were interviewed and they said something really beautiful about the chosen name of their band. Why “Zusha” if neither of them (Shlomo Gaisin nor Zachariah Goldschmiedt) are named Zusha? Well, it goes back to the Chassidic master Reb Zusha, who was famous for this quip: “When I go to heaven they won’t ask me why I wasn’t like Abraham or Moses. They will ask me, Why weren’t you Zusha!?” Before they became religious they were into music, and channeling that talent and energy and style and past personal experience into religious/spiritual music feels like “their Zusha” for them. So they turned to the crowd at the Closing Session, asking each of us to bring our own Zusha to the table, involve and engage and bring out the best in our own Zusha.
DON’T LEAVE ME ON MY OWN
One more thing about Zusha’s music. They explained that this song is not from a person’s perspective, as most might think. It’s G-d speaking. He needs us, wants us. We have a mission to fulfill and it’s not the same without each of us. The higher and lower Unity isn’t the same without YOU – i.e. us. And then when they played that song again, with the lyrics up on the big screen, it had a whole different meaning and effect.
THE GRAFITTI SCRAWL
At the Sat Night Vibe in the Armory there were a number of art projects and crafts including screen printing bags, hammering metal bracelets, making Mezuzah covers and Tzedakah boxes and more -but also two oversized paint walls for students to add color and messages. NGL, it was a little heart-warming to see a bunch of UAlbany mentions, especially a few scrawls of “UAlbany is in the Sukkah!” and at least one “UA U KNOW!”. Leaving your mark! A lasting imprint!
WORKSHOPS AND SESSIONS
There were a lot of options. Not all of our students went to sessions, which were often packed and overflowing, but some did. Two of us attended a workshop by Rabbi Asher Crispe about the mechanics of film (you know, the old moving motion-picture) with the “blink of an eye” concept in Talmud and Chassidic thought. It was quite interesting. Others went to Mrs. Sarah Crispe’s workshop on dealing with stress. Two of our students got up early enough on Shabbos morning for R’ Tzvi Freeman’s lens on how all types of studies and knowledge can be elevated and sublimated and spiritualized.
MIDNIGHT AT TIMES SQUARE
Thanks to the desire to stay at the Zusha Concert, and all the crafts our students made, our group stayed at The Vibe very late this year. Maybe not for the farbrengen part, but until all activities there closed up. It’s been a tradition for us to take a late-night subway trip, some years to the waterside parks at DUMBO, once or twice to walk the Brooklyn Bridge at night, and some years to Times-Square. This year the consensus was to go to Times-Square – which we did, and a bunch of other groups did, too. We met up on the trains, sang all kinds of songs, frolicked and enjoyed, and had a fun light time. Amidst all the digital forest of bright glitzy billboard screens we shared the benefits of adding more pixels for a higher-res Judaism, and having a higher contrast ratio as proud Jews in whatever environment. And we sang up a storm, ourselves, with other groups. And one student paid for another to wear a snake.
THAT EXTRA SUBWAY STOP
Upon returning to Crown Heights long after midnight (maybe close to 2am) part of our group got off the #2 Train to stop off for drinks at Chocolatte, while the other group stayed on for one more stop to get off at Sterling Street. Alas, we became engaged in conversation, missed the Sterling stop and ended up at Winthrop. Now Winthrop doesn’t have an in-station transfer to go back in the opposite direction, so we ended up walking. Thanks to the woman in our group, who double-checked it after walked 2 blocks, we were going in the wrong direction! There were people out at that late hour, and one of our group knew a Jamaican greeting and got great responses. It was a nice walk in crisp cool nighttime air, it was a break from the loud crowded jam-packed Pegisha, the mistaken extra stop did us well.
OUR GROUP’S TIMELINESS
There were a bunch of times where timing was crucial and our group came through! The two minivans leaving from Shabbos House both left on time, at 6am and 8am respectively. And that’s a big deal considering early mornings for college students. We did all get to JCM at noon on Friday to sign in. And the two who came in afterwards arrived and settled in before Shabbos and in time for the Opening Program. We met up 7pm (on the bench on the island on Eastern Pkwy) to walk over to the Galperins. And everyone got to lunch at 12:45pm and we sat together. Same for Sat Night, we all met and got to the Vibe together, and on Sunday the cars were packed and we were ready for breakfast at the Armory by 9am. Pegisha is about the huge crowd and is also about the small group, and we’re grateful for the sticking together and keeping it together, even in a big city and amidst a huge program.
DINNER AT THE GALPERINS
Friday night meal is the one meal that Pegisha participants eat at host families. As said above we all met at the assigned bench and walked together to the Galperins. It was a beautiful meal with lots of good food and lively conversation. Also a testament to the phrase, “when there is room in the heart, there’s room in the home” – it was quite crowded, but almost all of us fit around the table! Though Pegisha had just begun, we did have by then the musical opening program with Joey Newcomb, the visit to 770 and Rebbe’s Room, the womens candlelighting and prayer and the guys lively Kabalat Shabbat with dancing down in the gym. And one set of workshops. Everyone ’round the table shared one highlight of their Pegisha thus far, and a lot of it had to do with seeing/meeting people. The girls who went to try on Sheitels early that morning – that was a highlight for many of them. Rabbi Galperin shared a beautiful story from one of the earliest Pegishas, where a student made a major commitment to have a circumcision and a Pidyon HaBen and R’ Berel Baumgarten brought to the Rebbe a chunk of the honey-cake and some of the Lchaim as a participation in the Simcha, and the Rebbe partook and responded: “Hechiyasani” You’ve enlivened me!
THE DRIVES, THE WALKS
Of course, Pegisha is mostly about the events and program, but the comings and goings are also a big part of it. For some groups flying home was complicated, delayed and altered by the government shutdown and flight cancellations and delays. That wasn’t an issue for us – the comings and goings were part of the fun, good times together, enjoying the journey. Same for the walks up and down Brooklyn Ave, or to and from the Armory, or around Times-Square.