E-News
February 14th, 2007

JHP Tops Own Record: 3000 for Shabbos!!

How did they do it? Incredible! Unheard of! All in one night! 3000 Again! Last November 8th, 2006, 3000 Jews celebrated Shabbos simultaneously in Philadelphia involving Penn students, JHP Young Professionals & crowds at JHP OCJAC.(JHP e News Nov. 8th, 2006).

This semester, 3000 again! Similarly intriguing & amazing! Breaking Records! Shabbos for 2000 at Penn, beating last semester’s 1500, 1850 Penn students, in the midst of freezing temperatures & a storm watch, scurried along to 80 separate locations throughout Penn’s campus, celebrating the Shabbos, simultaneously, all in one night! Can you imagine the prep? -- Over 1000lbs of chicken, with kugels, challahs, salads & all the trimmings-- Weeks in preparation by JHP Fellows, interns, cooks & other students and volunteers involved, along with all the students that attended, made this event an incredible success.
Last year, at Pitt’s inaugural “Shabbos for 1000,” 770 students attended, an impressive turnout for the first time ever. This year, sponsored by Chabad with JHP, breaking all records, 1025 students celebrated Shabbos together, prompting Stacey Formal & her interns to rent out Carnegie Mellon’s Auditorium in their University Center.
Per Stacey, “It was insane, over 1000 students all sitting down, in 1 place, my interns & I all over the place running around, greeting and ushering people and joining in celebration. Even the Mayor of Pittsburgh, Luke Ravenstahl, who is 26 years old, joined in celebration and related so well with the students & said he was so glad to see all these students celebrating Shabbos & it was so wonderful. Local Jewish leaders from such organizations as Jewish Federation also attended. Everyone had a ball; it was so much fun.”
Binghamton Students also attended a Shabbos dinner orchestrated by David Schneid, JHP Fellow, & his interns at the SDT sorority house. Per David, “Students came to JHP “How To Shabbos,” & had a great time, learned, welcomed the Shabbos & got to connect as Jews, celebrating the Shabbos,” all in one night!
Under the leadership of Alexis Biebelberg, JHP Fellow, a Shabbos dinner was also held in one of the dorms on Temple’s campus, all in one night!
All this, in one night: Shabbos celebrations. Besides turning Philadelphia upside down, JHP is spreading its wellsprings, turning Pittsburgh & Binghamton upside down, inside out, incredible happenings, breaking records, exceeding expectations, all in one night, all at the same time, all interconnected through JHP & Yiddishkeit.. Unheard of! How wonderful!

A Note...
From Deborah Baer Moses, Director of Cultural Affairs, Consulate General of Israel, to Menachem Schmidt, February 8th, 2007:
“It’s been many years since the Bear Project. I have been meaning to reconnect. Today's note is a thank you. My daughter Marta is a JHP intern at Temple University. She transferred this year and within days of being at Temple was in Old City at a JHP Shabbat. The JHP community has been wonderful. You are doing great work I see the ruach that has developed between the JHP young adults.”

All the best,
Deborah