The Chabad House at UCLA is an historic milestone for Chabad-Lubavitch movement and for today's Judaism. It is the very first “Chabad House” (a center for Jewish awareness) in the world! It was established in 1969 in order to ensure that the challenging college years will be a time of wholesome learning, not self-destructing behavior, and to provide a safe, comfortable place for personal growth for the Jewish students.
Today, Chabad Houses are found on nearly 260 campuses in North America and at many other colleges and universities worldwide. A college student can find a Chabad-Lubavitch center at Cambridge, the University of Moscow, in Durham, NC, and even Kinshasa, Zaire, all providing a “home away from home” for Jewish students to celebrate, learn and grow. Overall, there are over 3,000 Chabad Houses worldwide serving the Jewish communities from Hanoi, Vietnam to Anchorage, Alaska. Find one around the corner from you!
Chabad-Lubavitch recognizes that the college years may be the last stage of a person’s intellectual and moral development before beginning a family and building a career. Therefore, it is particularly critical that these young men and women be educated and experienced in their Jewish history, values and observances.
Key to the Chabad House success on campus is its staff — men and women who are knowledgeable, friendly, open, non-judgmental, and who are there for every student. Both graduate students and freshmen are encouraged to work with Chabad in creating a community for, by and about the student.
The Chabad House network has evolved into a global Jewish community in the truest sense of the term, a nerve center of educational and cultural activities, serving the needs of the student and larger Jewish community year after year.