By Parker Thompson 

On the eve of Simchas Beis Hashoeva 5785, a palpable energy was stirring in the sukkah at the University of Delaware Chabad. Students from many different walks of Jewish life were excited to travel to Crown Heights with Rabbi Avremel Vogel, almost all for the first time, for an energetic night of dancing, farbrenging, and a trip to the Ohel.

However, with the arrival of the sixth Vogel child, b’ezrat Hashem, it was clear that Rabbi Vogel could no longer lead the trip.

As a ba’al teshuva graduate student at the university, I was admittedly surprised by the overwhelming excitement and subsequent disappointment from the students. Embarrassingly, I couldn’t have imagined so many undergraduates excited to travel to Brooklyn in the middle of the night. This was clearly a testament to the vibrancy of the shlichus at University of Delaware. 

With no backup plan or car to get to the Rebbe’s shchunah, the trip seemed to be a wash. However, when three students learned I was planning on going via train, they were not just eager to join, but essentially demanded they come along. I was in awe of their resolve. Each spent a considerable amount of money to travel from Delaware to Brooklyn, arriving at 2:45 in the morning. 

Buzzing with energy, they danced in the streets with fellow Yidden for well over an hour, explored Rubashkin’s sukkah, and mingled in 770, still as energetic as when they first arrived. To be clear, these students weren’t just there for a good time. They were having extraordinarily meaningful spiritual experiences. 

One senior student, Avery, reflecting on trekking to Rebbe’s Ohel as the sun rose, wrote, “It was so beautiful to watch the sun rise while we prayed, reminding me I had not slept, but yet felt so awake. I felt emotional seeing all the letters from the people before me, knowing that Hashem heard their prayers and also mine.” Another student, Lucy, a freshman, wrote of her experience at the Ohel, “Visiting the Rebbe’s grave site moved me to tears. It was such a spiritually enriching experience for me.” 

Reflecting on the trip, I am still somewhat surprised by the determination of these students. However, it is obvious that Rabbi and Rebbetzin Vogel have infused such a love and passion for Yiddishkeit in their students. 

As Chabad on Campus embarks on its “Shine Brighter” campaign, I encourage everyone to support the nurturing of Jewish at life at the University of Delaware and other campuses by contributing today.

For the second time in about a month, a constable’s gun has been fired accidentally in a Delaware school.

No one was injured in either incident. The first occurred Thursday, Nov. 7 at Stanton Middle School, while the most recent incident occurred Tuesday, Dec. 10 in the Milford School District. District officials did not say at which school the incident occurred in an announcement to families, and when asked, district spokesperson Patricia Gerken said she could not share that information.

The announcement, shared on the district’s Facebook page, said the accidental discharge occurred in a “private staff workroom” and “did not impact our instructional areas with access to staff and students.” There was no threat to the safety or security of anyone in the school, the announcement said.

“While we understand this is concerning, please be assured that our constable staff receive thorough and on-going certification and training regularly,” the announcement said. “We are working closely with our law enforcement partners to investigate this incident thoroughly and to ensure all necessary safety measures are in place and followed with fidelity. This is an on-going personnel investigation and no additional details are able to be shared at this time.”

Education roundup: DelTech boosts health care degrees, Red Clay celebrates Moon Trees

The district turned off comments on the Facebook post, but conversation about the incident was alive in local groups.

“If the district wants to be transparent then tell us the school and what’s going to be done about this mishandling of a firearm. Absolutely no excuse for this. Training is clearly lacking or they are getting super careless,” Megan McCarthy commented in “Milford DE Locals Group.”

In the incident at Stanton Middle School, the constable was in a school hallway and was “repositioning his holster” when his firearm discharged, Principal Matt Robinson said in an email to parents. Students were in class at the time and no one was injured.

Both Robinson and Milford’s Gerken declined to identify the type of firearm involved in the incidents.

Shannon Marvel McNaught reports on southern Delaware and beyond. Reach her at smcnaught@gannett.com or on Twitter @MarvelMcNaught.

From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!

Removing dams to restore fish passage, creating rain gardens to reduce flooding and stormwater runoff and building trails to improve access to the outdoors — these are just some of the projects funded by the Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund each year.

On Monday, environmental agencies celebrated seven years of conservation work funded by the federal grants.

The program funds habitat restoration and conservation initiatives throughout the Delaware River watershed. This year, 45 projects received over $17 million in funding — the largest amount spent in the fund’s history.

“The health of the environment is so intricately tied to the health of people and our mental health, our physical health, the economy, and just the opportunity to get out in nature and the awe of nature and the beauty of nature,” said Wendi Weber, regional director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “It’s so critically important that we continue the work out on the ground, and preserve and conserve these special places, not only for us, but the future generations.”

The program, launched in 2018 by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, was made possible by the 2016 passage of the congressional Delaware River Basin Conservation Act.

Since 2018, the fund has awarded more than $72 million to more than 200 projects that aim to restore habitat and wetlands, and improve water quality.