ChabadClinton.com

Chabad of Clinton

Campus Chabad House

Chabad of Clinton, serving the Jewish students of Hamilton College.

Chabad of Clinton is a home away from home at the bottom of College Hill where Jewish life at Hamilton College happens at full volume. Here is the story, the family, and the building.

In September 2014, Rabbi Didy and Devorah Waks moved to Clinton with no building, no members, and one conviction: every Jewish student at Hamilton College deserves a seat at a Shabbat table. So they set one. Students came. They told their friends.

What grew was never a program. It was a family. Students came for the food and stayed for everything else: holidays done right, real conversations, a rabbi who remembers your name and a rebbetzin who remembers how you take your coffee. Ten years of Friday nights, one table at a time.

In September 2024, almost ten years to the day after that first dinner, the community dedicated the Sands Chabad House at 108 College Street. A permanent home, dedicated by Richard '87 and Phylise Sands, and made possible by many alumni, parents and friends, for a community that had long since outgrown every room in the house.

From ChabadClinton.com

Programs

Jacob Shulman

On their site

Photos 34 / 85

Illustrated map: Sands Chabad House on College Street at Route 233, just east of the Hamilton College campus

All 34 photos

From ChabadClinton.com

People

Rabbi Didy WaksCo-director
Mrs. Devorah WaksCo-director

What they offer

Chabad of Clinton is a Chabad house on campus in Clinton, led by Rabbi Didy Waks.

There is a synagogue on the premises. Visitors are welcomed for Shabbat and holiday meals. Kosher meals are available on a meal plan. They kosher kitchens for the community.

Classes run regularly, one-to-one study can be arranged and public lectures are held.

Couples are prepared for marriage.

The center visits patients in hospital, visits Jewish prisoners and looks after the elderly.

Mezuzos and tefillin can be checked here.