After Arson, Delaware U. Students and Alumni Campaign to Rebuild Chabad Center

Horrified at the deliberate destruction of their beloved “home away from home” when the Chabad center at the University of Delaware was set ablaze by an arsonist last week, Jewish students and alumni have launched a fundraising campaign to create a $3 million center that will be “bigger and better than ever.”

Within hours of hearing about the fire, Jessica Ehrlich, 21, a senior at the University of Delaware, sprang into action along with students Haley Levine and Grace Hollander, and alumni Gabby Taubenfeld and Arianna Marks. “I’ve been going to Chabad since my freshman year every Friday night, if not multiple times a week,” Ehrlich tells Chabad.org. For the past three years, like many students over the years, she has become a part of the Chabad family, sharing the warmth and spirituality that co-directors Rabbi Avremel and Shulie Vogel have shared with students at the center in Newark, Del., throughout the year.

Upon hearing of the blaze, Ehrlich was devastated. “I was so sad to hear that someone intentionally set fire to our Chabad House. The rabbi and Shulie truly are the best people I know. They’re so welcoming and caring, and the fact that someone would do this and potentially hurt them this really hurts my heart.”

As a member of Chabad’s student steering committee, she felt action was needed to help Chabad begin to recover. She and her friends began a GoFundMe campaign with the initial goal of raising $10,000. They have raised just over $430,000 at the time of writing, out of a revised first-round goal of $1,000,000. “It ended up just taking off,” exclaimed Ehrlich. “We’ve raised so much so far, it’s incredible!”

Students and alumni said they were determined to build a bigger and better center than before in response to the arson. Photo taken at an event last year.

More than just recovering the losses, Ehrlich is determined to see something positive come out of the ashes, with a new $3 million building that will provide more Jewish programs and activities for greater numbers of students than before. “It will be a home for future generations like it was for us. I’m hoping that people really start to support the Jewish community even more, and realize just how strong the Jewish community is and how much support we really can gather.”

Students and alumni were horrified at the deliberate destruction of their beloved “home away from home”. (Photo: Michael Romagnoli)

The efforts were immediately supported by the university administration and government officials. Presidential candidate Joe Biden, a University of Delaware graduate, wrote that the arson was "deeply disturbing" and called for an investigation.  University officials noted that Chabad “serves as a Jewish community center for our campus. … It is an active part of UD’s religious, faith and spiritual diversity. We affirm our solidarity with the Jewish community at this difficult time.”

“Our hearts go out to the many students and alumni who spent so much time at the Chabad center,” said university president Dennis Assanis. “Our sense of community flourishes in the shared experiences that happen in such spaces all across the campus, and the loss of this one is particularly troubling just as we are set to begin a new semester.”

Haley Levine,left, and Jessica Ehrlich, right, a senior at the University of Delaware, sprang into action along with other students and alumnii to set up an emergency building fund.

Noting the massive outpouring of generosity from the UD community and alumni, he added: “At the same time, the outpouring of support from alumni and friends of the Chabad center provides a measure of comfort to leaven this sad situation.”

The rabbi shares those sentiments. “We are firm in our resolve to rebuild and do even more than what we were able to before this happened,” he declared. “This individual tried to raze us to the ground; together we’ll rise to even higher heights than before!”

As a second-generation Delawarean, Vogel expected no less from the greater Delaware community than the outpouring of kindness and sympathy they’ve been met with. “The people of Newark, and more broadly, the state of Delaware, are people who build, not destroy. They are people who love and support.”

Vogel spent his childhood both on campus at UD and in Wilmington, where his parents Rabbi Chuni and Oryah Vogel have been the regional directors of Chabad-Lubavitch of Delaware since 1987. Between 1987 and 1992 the Vogels maintained an apartment on campus. “Avremi was the baby, the magnet for the students,” notes Rabbi Chuni Vogel. “How many people can say they started their career from birth?”

And the Jewish community in Delaware has rallied behind him, knowing that the rabbi they watched grow up will pull through.

Rabbi Avremel and Shulie Vogel, directors of the Chabad center, with their children.

“I’ve known him since he was born,” said David Margules, a longtime supporter and devoted member of Chabad-Lubavitch of Delaware. “We’ve considered the Vogels family since they came to town.”

Their children grew up together, and Margules always hoped that Avremel Vogel would return to Delaware to serve the community in which he was raised. “You could see from a young age, he had the tools to be a real superb shliach [emissary] of the Rebbe,” reminisced Margules. “He is just really among the cream of the crop in terms of the next generation of shluchim.”

To help Chabad UD rebuild, visit UDFireRelief.com.

Firefighters battled the blaze for hours. (Photo: Michael Romagnoli)

Ruins from the fire.

The Chabad House before the fire.