Tell us about your nominee. Why should he or she be recognized as a Jewish Community Hero?
Almost 3,000 young Jews have sat down for dinner in Rabbi Mendel and Raizy Rubin's 2-bedroom home in Albany, NY, over the past 12 years. Mainly, students arrive expecting only to tell their parents that they visited the campus Chabad; most leave having found a surrogate family. Students, alumni, community members and visitors join Mendel, Raizy and their six children in finding normalcy in the abnormal environment of a college campus. Every week, Mendel and Raizy's Shabbos House provides more than 180 students of varying religious observance a home cooked Shabbat meal, a respite from college life, and a home away from home. In addition to Shabbat and holiday meals, they provide programming virtually each and every day of the week: "Torah Tuesdays" learning nights, Rosh Chodesh breakfasts, Women's Circle events, Jam sessions, graduation parties and more, all the while welcoming Jews of all backgrounds and making them feel at home. Rabbi Mendel and Raizy invest their time in students' lives, making themselves accessible to both current students and alumni in person, via email, and on instant messenger to talk Torah, give advice, or simply catch up. They have more than 1,000 friends on Facebook, in addition to over 300 members of their Shabbos House group. They've even started to dabble with Twitter as a means to keep up with the larger Jewish community. Mendel and Raizy work together with all campus Jewish groups without financial support from the university or the Chabad movement, relying solely on private donations. Believing that every Jew is family, Rabbi Mendel and Raizy have not only ensured that Jews on campus, community members, and visitors in the Albany area can pray, eat, and celebrate, but for the thousands of people who have passed through its doors, they truly make Shabbos House a home away from home.
