About Chabad at UC

Chabad came to Cincinnati close to forty years ago.

During this time, Chabad served the Jewish campus community sporadically; as the University was primarily a commuter school, most of the students went home for the weekends and attended their local synagogues.

In recent years, this has changed.

In 2005, a group of Chabad Rabbinical students were approached by UC students who wanted some large-scale Jewish programming - both fun and educational - as well as complete Shabbat and Holiday services. Until then, a handful of the more traditional students had been making their way to Amberley to join the Jewish community there for these special days. No more....

In 2006, Rabbi Yitzi and Dina Creeger arrived in Cincinnati with their two young sons to start a full-time Chabad House on Campus. A fantastic building was quickly found, fixed up and opened its doors to the Jewish students, faculty and staff of UC and nearby colleges (Xavier, HUC, NKU) as well as area residents. A full programming schedule quickly followed, and as one quarter followed the next, the attendance increased.

Today, Chabad sees a wide variety of students from across the Jewish spectrum at its numerous activities.

Yitzi Creeger
Dina Creeger
The Creeger Boys
Born and raised in College Park, Maryland, Yitzi is a natural for Chabad on Campus. His parents, although they worked during the week, had an open house for the students at UMD for Shabbat and holidays, and helped Chabad run the traditional services at the Hillel House. After moving to Pittsburgh in 1986, Yitzi looked up the Pittsburgh Chabad on Campus and volunteered there from his Bar Mitzvah onward whenever possible. He completed Yeshiva High School in Pittsburgh, and went on to attend the Rabbinical Colleges of Australia (1 year) and Canada (2 years) before doing his Rabbinic internship running youth programs in South Manchester, England.

Yitzi met and married Dina in 2000, and soon found a position as Program Director at the hugely successful Chabad on Campus at Binghamton, NY. After four years of innovative programming, teaching and other work, it was time to run his own, independent Chabad House. One year in Syracuse gave him the experience he needed, and an urgent call from Cincinnati brought him to Ohio.

 Dina Weiss was born and spent her youth in Manchester, England. She attended local schools until age 17, when she went to France for one year at a Women's Seminary. After a couple years teaching preschool and learning hairdressing in England, she made the move to Montreal to further her education, and then Brooklyn, New York, where she continued to teach pre-school.

In 2000, she met and married Yitzi Creeger, ontinued to live in Brooklyn for a short while. When the opportunity presented itself, they picked up and moved to Binghamton in upstate New York to work with Chabad on Campus there. Preparing food for over 250 students every Friday night, raising two young boys and working as the Judaic Educator in the local JCC preschool were just some of her regular duties. Similar work in Syracuse, but this time oveseeing all aspects of Chabad on Campus work, helped set the stage for her current position as co-director of Chabad at the University of Cincinnati. Her classes and kosher cooking instruction, as well as the new UC Noshim women's group, vie for her time while raising three young boys.

 The Creeger Boys are well known around the Chabad House. Rumor has it that they are the real reason for the students coming over for Friday night dinner....

Schneur, the red-head, loves to help his parents set up for activities and tries to stay up late at night to join his older friends, the students. He enjoys telling a Dvar Torah during Shabbat Dinners, announcing the pages during sevices, and playing on computers (or board games on Shabbat).

Yossi is the grinning, mischievious one, who enjoys being independent - making his own kiddush and hamotzi, helping in the kitchen, and playing with his cars. Students are greeted with a hug and their name shouted by this bundle of energy.

Mendel is the perfect baby, now with a toothy grin, walking around and always laughing on cue. He likes to feed himself but the food usually ends up all over his face and floor. Students are eager to baby-sit him, which is a challenge as he likes to escape....