Hundreds gather for Mega Shabbat 1000, largest Jewish event in Bloomington history

Hundreds of Jewish students, faculty and friends gathered under a sprawling Dunn Meadow tent on March 29 for a Shabbat dinner that Indiana University Chabad says is the largest Jewish event in Bloomington’s history.

Black and gold banners across the tent called for “Jew-nity” and the release of Israeli hostages. Pastel sweatshirts and hoodies for sale declared, “I Love Being Jewish.” As attendees flooded in for the sunset dinner, each was given a nametag and a bright blue sticker reading “Am Yisrael Chai” – “The Jewish Nation Lives.”

As IU Chabad Rabbi Levi Cunin took the stage in front of an audience of nearly 900 Jews and allies – many of whom he’d personally greeted and shook hands with as they came in – he shouted, “Let me tell you, as a Jewaholic, I feel like I’m about to pass out.”

'There is no agenda'

Shabbat dinner – and Shabbat services – are a key pillar of Judaism occurring from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. Congregants break challah loaves, light candles and engage in an intentional day of rest – a respite from the rush of school, work and day-to-day life.

IU Chabad, the Orthodox Jewish center and self-described “home away from home” for Jewish students on campus, hosts Shabbat dinners every Friday on campus. But they usually occur inside the Chabad House, and typically for a group of 100 or so Jewish students and staff.

Mega Shabbat, as IU Chabad student president Carly Bernard explained while running from table to table and greeting familiar faces by name, was created to up that ante.

“We were cooking for one of the Shabbats, and I thought, ‘Why not do a Mega Shabbat? Why don’t we unite the Jewish community and Hoosier community beyond that to just come together and celebrate a holiday as one and unify everyone?’” Bernard said.

IU Chabad hosted one Mega Shabbat before, in winter 2022, to an audience of about 400 people. With this year’s “Mega Shabbat 1000,” Bernard said, Chabad hoped to increase the attendance during a time of marked ostracization for Jewish students.

Even as public opinion from young American Jews is divided over Israel’s response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, antisemitic incidents have spiked nationwide, and Jewish outreach organizations like Chabad and Hillel have seen an increase in interest and attendance.

“On campus, there’s definitely been a lot of division, and we wanted to make a sense of unity,” Bernard said. “We wanted to find a way to not fight fire with fire, but build a bonfire on the side.”

Josephine Stockwell, a doctoral student at IU and Jewish student who’s been involved with Chabad since coming to IU, said Mega Shabbat 1000 was not a political event.

“There is no agenda,” Stockwell said. “We’re not proving a point. We’re just being together.”

Mabel Poindexter, an IU graduate and researcher at the Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism at IU, said the event was a respite from the politics foisted on her Jewish identity.

“This is a place where I can really feel like I’m at home,” Poindexter said. “This is a safe place where I don't have to worry about possible backlash, or hate crimes, really.”

Poindexter said even as American Jews hold a wide range of political opinions, Mega Shabbat was an opportunity to focus on unity through collective Jewish identity.

“You know the saying, ‘Two Jews, three opinions?’ It’s really more like 10 opinions,” Poindexter said. “But we don’t have to agree. It’s a place where I uniquely feel respected because I’m Jewish, and I can’t get that anywhere else.”

'It's the family away from home'

IU is home to a particularly large Jewish community. IU Hillel estimates there are approximately 4,000 Jewish undergraduates at IU, approximately 12% of IU’s total undergraduate enrollment.

Still, moving to college can be a trying experience for Jewish students, who face difficulties accessing kosher foods, receiving religious exemptions for high holidays and a general lack of cultural understanding from non-Jewish friends and classmates.

Stockwell said Chabad exists largely to ease that transition, offering home-cooked kosher foods, Jewish learning classes and fostering a sense of community among Jewish students.

“It’s often, truly, your home away from home,” Stockwell said. “Their job is to serve the community.”

Poindexter said IU Chabad was integral to her finding a “Jewish home” on campus when she first came to IU.

“I don’t know if I would’ve survived without it, to be honest,” Poindexter said. “The experience of being Jewish can be isolating, so when you have another Jewish student there to support you, I think that it makes a world of difference.”

Bernard said she hoped the event would serve not only as a celebration of Jewish pride, but to remind Jewish students and the surrounding community that they’re part of a larger family.

“It’s the family away from home, for sure,” Bernard said. “And I know at school, a lot of us don’t have that family here, so we just created that.”

Reach Brian Rosenzweig at brian@heraldt.com.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: mega shabbat 1000 largest jewish event in bloomington history