Hirschy Zarchi

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Hirschy Zarchi is an American rabbi and a Chabad shaliach, or emissary. Since 1997, he has led the Chabad House at Harvard University, one of the largest campus Chabad programs in the United States, and he serves as Harvard’s Jewish chaplain for students and alumni.

He was born in 1973 in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Zarchi studied at Oholei Torah and Rabbinical College of America and was ordained in 1994 by Central Lubavitch Yeshiva. In the 1990s, he was sent to Boston to work with Jewish students, starting in Harvard Square to encourage men to wear tefillin. He married Elkie in 1997, and that year they opened the Harvard Chabad House. He became a recognized campus chaplain in 2003, the same year Harvard dedicated a new Chabad building.

In 2006, Zarchi organized a 650-person Shabbat dinner in Annenberg Hall, the largest in Harvard’s history; Harvard President Larry Summers attended. Harvard Chabad later began SHABBAT1000, a Shabbat dinner on campus for more than 1,000 people.

Zarchi has connected with many Jewish students, including Jared and Josh Kushner. In 2022 his position received a $5 million endowment to help support Harvard Chabad’s roughly $9 million annual budget, making it one of the largest campus Chabad operations in the country. Some observers describe Harvard Chabad as a “citywide Jewish empire,” with four student centers, four preschools, and a Jewish day school.

After the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, Zarchi and investor Bill Ackman organized a screening of Bearing Witness on campus for about 150 Harvard affiliates and Cambridge community members—the first on campus. He has said that viewing such material can be justified if it helps save lives. At a 2023 Hanukkah menorah lighting at Widener Library, he criticized Harvard’s approach to antisemitism and spoke before Harvard President Claudine Gay about Jewish students’ fears. He noted that Harvard does not allow the menorah to stay lit overnight due to vandalism concerns, a point referenced in antisemitism lawsuits against Harvard.

Gay faced criticism in 2023 congressional hearings for not doing enough to combat campus antisemitism. Zarchi has also urged Harvard to de-recognize the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee. In 2024, the Jerusalem Post named him one of the “50 Most Influential Jews” for his leadership in difficult times.