Rabbi Chaim Brook’s path was never in doubt. The rabbi and his wife Raizel grew up separately, in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, where they “had the merit to be present near the Rebbe,” he said. “Our goal in life always was to be there for our Jewish people as the Rebbe inspired us to do and open a Chabad House.” Which they did, as a team, at Cal State Northridge (CSUN), where he is campus director for Jewish students. Now in his 20th year at CSUN Rabbi Brook declares, “I love every Jew. My most rewarding moment is when I see a Jewish student embrace his Judaism and take steps to further his Judaism.”
His job means he deals frequently with young men who question their roots. If guys are not wearing yarmulkes, how does the rabbi know if a student is Jewish? “I say ‘Excuse me, sir. Are you Jewish?’” and he laughs heartily. He is proud that his “roots always were frum.”
Rabbi Brook and Rebbetzin Raizel, mother of their 11 children, were married in 2004, about a year before they arrived in Northridge. Have their expectations been fulfilled? No, the rabbi insists. “Until I reach every single Jew at CSUN, I have not fulfilled my expectations.” On one hand, he said other people’s expectations were “very low. Since CSUN is a commuter school, everyone felt Chabad won’t have a successful Chabad House, like in older big schools. I said, ‘If there are people there, we will fill their needs.’ So the expectations of people – I think we have far exceeded. But our expectation is to bring Moshiach. That is mine.”
So what would Rabbi Brook consider success? “A tricky question,” he said. “There is short-term success, which is: You have a semester and how many students came to events this semester? How many students came to a social event? How many came to [Chabad] classes? That is short-term success. Obviously we evaluate, make some goals, and we see if we reach them.
“But the real success – my real life – that’s what I’m here for – is to make differences in peoples’ lives. A difference would be when people take it upon themselves to further their Judaism, to do more mitzvahs, to marry Jewish, to educate their children Jewish, to learn more Torah. It’s almost like asking a teacher in second grade what expectations she has. Expectations may be that the kid should read. But today education is more for the future — until 10 years later when we see our students living Jewish lives and they say, ‘Oh, yeah, I remember when we were there once on a Friday night and your wife did so-and-so.’ These, he said, inspired them – even years later with their big decisions in life.” What about differences between approaching young men and young women?
“That,” he said, “is why I am here with my wife. We are full partners in this endeavor on which the Rebbe sent us. Obviously her main focus is the women and mine with the men – although there are many women coming to my classes and she is involved in every other area as well. While we are not exclusive, I find the boys will connect more with me and the women with my wife – one of the blessings of doing this mission in life is doing it as a couple. Men and women come to both of us.”
Rabbi Brook described the foundation of his approach: “There’s a saying in Chabad: Initially, go straight in. That is what the Rebbe inspired us always to do. We moved. It was the first week of the semester. We just walked onto campus, and from then, everything is history.”
They started on a Monday, the first week of the semester, and by Thursday they had decided on their plan. “We told every Jew we met, we were going to do a ‘Parsha-and-pizza’ on Thursdays at 12 p.m.,” he said. “We have been doing it since – every single Thursday, at noon, except during COVID when we did it on Zoom – it is Parsha-and-pizza time.”
Among CSUN’s almost 40,000 students, Rabbi Brook estimates 95% of Jewish students are not religious. Many grew up without a Jewish education. Since Oct. 7, there has been an awakening among Jewish students. On his impact on Jewish students’ lives, he said, “At the same time we have a lot more to do. Our students are constantly changing. Every year new people, and we are starting from zero. We have been lucky because over the years, one of the hardest challenges – the financial challenges are hard because the students are not our supporters. The people we are servicing are not the ones supporting our activities. We have to reach out to alumni, community members and families of the students” to meet a $600,000 annual budget. “At CSUN,” he said, “we don’t have, like, major donors. We have many, many small donors. A ton.”
Relaxing is a foreign concept to the rabbi. “Challenge No. 1 is we are always starting at zero, with new students,” the rabbi said. “Freshmen don’t know us from anyone. The financial challenge is the hardest because activities constantly are growing. Expenses are growing. We have to find new donors to support us. Every single day of the week we have activities.”
Rabbi Brook laughed and said “A lot of food goes through Chabad House. Hundreds of students every week. One goal is to have a kosher restaurant on campus sooner than later.”
Not incidentally, on a typical Shabbat, the Brooks host 50 to 60 students for meals.
Fast Takes with Rabbi Brook
Jewish Journal: Your next goal?
Rabbi Brook: To spend more time learning Torah with my 11 children.
JJ: Your favorite childhood memory?
RB: Seeing the Rebbe at the end of Yom Kippur. Every year, right before the blowing of the shofar, singing a joyous song called “The Napoleon’s March,” the Rebbe covered his face with the tallis and encouraged the singing with such joy and energy while thousands in the whole shul sang with such energy and verve.
JJ: Your favorite moment of the week?
RB: Sunday mornings when I go to the Jewish fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Pi, to wrap tefillin. It’s called BLT — bagels, lox and tefillin.
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