Eitan Webb and Ari Israel: What's Next for Jewish Students in Secular College? [Denominations 4/5]
18Forty Podcast
18Forty
4.7 • 704 Ratings
🗓️ 3 February 2026
⏱️ 72 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode we discuss:
- Has there been a recent Jewish awakening on college campuses?
- How much attention should we pay to campus antisemitism?
- Are Chabad and Hillel able to work together on college campuses?
Interview begins at 18:01.
Rabbi Eitan Webb co-founded the Princeton University Chabad House in 2002, with his wife Gitty. He has been a Jewish Chaplain at Princeton University since 2007. In addition to his Princeton activities, Eitan serves on the board of directors of the Chabad on Campus International Foundation, and of the Sinai Scholars Society.
Rabbi Ari Israel serves as Maryland Hillel’s Executive Director—a role he has held for more than 20 years. In addition to Rabbinic ordination, Ari has Master's degrees in Medieval Jewish History as well as Secondary Education. Ari is an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland where he teaches a Jewish Leadership course.
References:
No Country for Old Men (2007)
Tanya by Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi
Likkutei Sichot - Volume 10
This Is My God by Herman Wouk
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, friends, and welcome to the 1840 podcast where each month we explore different topic |
| 0:19.4 | balancing modern sensibilities with traditional |
| 0:21.9 | sensitivities to give you new approaches to timeless Jewish ideas. |
| 0:26.3 | I'm your host, Evan Bischefkin, and today we are exploring Jewish life on college campuses. |
| 0:32.4 | This podcast is part of a larger exploration of those big, juicy Jewish ideas. |
| 0:37.3 | So be sure to check out 1840.org. |
| 0:39.6 | That's 1-8-F-O-R-T-Y.org, where you can also find videos, articles, recommended readings, and weekly emails. |
| 0:46.9 | I want to open up with a question I mentioned on a previous episode, a statement that I made that got not a tremendous amount, |
| 0:56.0 | but a considerable amount of pushback, criticism, people asking me kind of flesh out what |
| 1:01.2 | exactly did I mean by that because it relates so closely to today's conversation. |
| 1:06.7 | And that is the statement that I made when I was interviewing Diana Fstco, who is the rabbi of the reform village temple. |
| 1:13.9 | And I mentioned, though I've mentioned this in the past as well, that I believe not everyone can or should be orthodox. |
| 1:21.9 | The can and the should in that statement for a lot of people was quite shocking to hear from somebody who, aside from |
| 1:28.9 | being an Orthodox Jew, I don't introduce myself this way, but I am an Orthodox rabbi. How can it be |
| 1:34.9 | that an Orthodox rabbi could say that not everyone can or should be Orthodox? What exactly |
| 1:41.1 | did I mean by that? And I think it's a very fair. I also happen to think it's a very |
| 1:45.1 | important question and one that lies quite closely to the work that we do on 1840. And let me begin |
| 1:52.3 | by saying, I understand why people found that upsetting. I understand it because of the amount of |
| 1:59.1 | generations and time and effort and financial resources |
| 2:03.1 | and genuine sacrifice that have taken place over the last, I would say, hundred years to build |
| 2:08.9 | this modern edifice of a community that we call the Orthodox community in the United |
| 2:13.7 | States of America. It did not have to turn out this way. And the fact that we have the community that we do, I have also said many times, is nothing |
... |
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