For students
Your seat is already set.
First year or fifth, day school or no school, religious or nothing of the sort. If you're Jewish and at Duke, this is your house.
Here's how Friday works. Twenty minutes after sundown, the backyard fills up. Candles, kiddush, challah, a full home-cooked dinner, and a couple hundred people who are genuinely glad you showed up. No fee, no quiz on your Judaism. RSVPs are appreciated so we set enough seats, but nobody checks a list at the door.
RSVP the way everyone here does: text "Shalom" to (919) 897-7018 and the Cha-Bot takes it from there. Nervous to walk in alone? Tell it that too, or DM @chabadstagram, and we'll seat you next to someone worth meeting.
The rest of the week has its own rhythm. Sinai Scholars pays you a stipend to take Torah seriously with fifteen other students. Birthright gets you to Israel on a bus full of Blue Devils, led by people who actually know you. Loaves of Love puts flour on your hoodie for a good cause, and if you can't make Friday night, a challah can come to you.
Hungry between Fridays? Yalla, our kosher food truck, parks on campus. And every Jewish student at Duke gets a free mezuzah from the Mezuzah Bank, hung on your dorm door by people who'll tell you what the scroll inside actually says.
Birthdays come with a cake and a room that sings. Sick days come with chicken soup at your door. Tell us your birthday, tell us when you're under the weather, and let the house do its thing.
Nossen & Chaya
Grad students & the just-graduated
Past the undergrad years? You still have a Chabad.
Rohr Chabad of UNC and Duke serves grad students across the Triangle from Chapel Hill, and Chabad Young Professionals Raleigh keeps a packed calendar for the twenties-and-thirties crowd downtown. Both houses are family. Tell them we sent you.
Come this Friday.
That's the whole pitch. One dinner, and you'll understand the rest.