This story is part of Illinois Student Newsroom’s series: Champaign’s Honorary Streets: the Stories Behind the Signs.
CHAMPAIGN — When Rabbi Dovid Tiechtel and his wife Goldie founded the Chabad Center for Jewish Life at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2003, they operated out of the second floor of a small house on North Fourth Street. The organization thrived there, outgrowing the space as more students and community members got involved.
In 2020, Chabad purchased a 27,000-square-foot former fraternity house on the 200 block of East Armory Avenue. In 2023, they moved in. Not long after, Tiechtel applied to the City of Champaign for an honorary street sign designation.
“People suggested, ‘Why don’t you? Why don’t you do it?,’” he said. “‘You have a new building, 20 years of Jewish life. Let’s celebrate that.’”
Soon, a distinctive brown street sign designating “Honorary Chabad Way” went up not far from the sculptural 9-foot menorah that fronts the building.
“I believe strongly that we have to create spaces that people can feel proud of who they are,” Tiechtel said. “When people see [the sign], even if they would never step foot into Chabad, although they all do, but hypothetically speaking, they say, ‘Oh, wow, I could be proud of who I am.’”
Chabad is an international organization comprised of thousands of individual branches and centers. It began as a Hasidic movement in the 18th century, but Chabad is open to all Jews regardless of background or level of observance. In addition to its residential community, the center hosts hundredsof Illinois students and local residents for social and religious events every week. There’s space for studying, games, discussion groups, meals and prayer.
Ethan Comrov, a U of I junior studying business, is on Chabad’s student executive board.
“It just became like a natural home for me and a lot of my friends to go to for all kinds of events,” he said. “I’m observant, so I like going on the Sabbath for prayers and for meals and things.”
Comrov said Chabad is one of the few places on campus he can find kosher meals to eat regularly.
Comrov grew up in Skokie and went to a Jewish school before going to college. He said living next door to Chabad gave him the opportunity to reconnect with his identity on his own terms.
He recalled one of his favorite memories, where a meal before Passover exceeded the expected attendance.
“We had like, 400 people there, spilling onto the deck and everything like that,” he said. “And I really just felt like that, for me, that is what Chabad means. It’s community.”
Chabad was the first organization to offer university-affiliated Jewish housing in the United States, though its rooms are open to any students for leasing.
Comrov said he hopes Jewish students who pass by Chabad feel pride, and those who aren’t Jewish will want to learn more.
“We’re strong, and we’ve been here for thousands of years, and will continue to be here for thousands of years,” he said. “And that sign, that honorary sign, evokes that — that strength and kind of introspection.”
