news from chabad lubavitch world headquarters

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LUBAVITCHINTERNATIONALNEWS FROM THE CHABAD–LUBAVITCH GLOBAL NETWORK | JULY 2010

ב’’ה

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INteRvIeWIn conversationwith natanSharanskyPG 4

chaBaD ouTReach pRoGRaMhonors 250 - Year YahrzeitOF BAAL SHEM TOV

At the Chabad Aleph Bet Preschool Richmond VA

Merkos Shlichus Group Photo

Four hundred rabbinical students willbegin a summer tour of duty that will

take them to 2500 cities and over ten thou-sand communities, where they will reach outto Jewish communities worldwide.

The students will visit small, isolatedcommunities in places as remote as viet-nam, Ireland, Peru, and many others whereonly a handful of Jews make up the existingJewish population.

Now in its 65th year, Merkos Shlichus, asthe Jewish community enrichment programis officially known, challenges Chabad-Lubavitch rabbinical students to apply theirtraining out in the field while providing avital service in locations where there is oftenno Jewish community infrastructure.

“This is a program that has seen incredi-ble results over the years,” says Rabbi MosheKotlarsky of Lubavitch World Headquar-ters. “Scores of Chabad-Lubavitch centershave opened as a result of these initial visitsby our rabbinical students. and we cannotbegin to estimate the numbers of Jewishpeople whose lives have been affected in apositive way, as a result of this program.”

This summer, he says, the program is in-tensified in honor of the 250th passing ofthe baal Shem tov, who began the traditionas an itinerant teacher.

“our students literally travel the world,in the spirit of the baal Shem tov, and in atradition established by the LubavitcherRebbe in 1946, to search Jewish people out,

INteRNatIoNaLa historicSynagogueReopens in chinaPG 11

FoodBoutique Dairy Farmin GermanyGoes KosherPG 3

Machne ISRaeL DeveLopMenT FunDANNOUNCESEARLY CHILDHOOD INITIATIVE

Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, Chairman ofMachne Israel, has announced a

major gift by Mr. and Mrs. david Slagerto the Machne Israel development Fund.The gift will be used to create the Chabadearly Childhood Initiative to promoteJewish continuity through the develop-ment of Jewish preschools.

The Slagers have committed a sum of$5,000,000 to this initiative. Chabad cen-ters in burbank, Ca, Weston, FL andCoral Springs, FL were among the first tobe approved.

"The generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Slager,and their profound insight and concernfor the education of today’s generation ofchildren bodes well for the future of Ju-daism," says Rabbi Krinsky. "This invest-ment in the infrastructure of our earlychildhood education system will surelyimpact future generations of the Jewishpeople."

Mrs. elana Kornfeld, director ofChabad of burbank’s preschool says she is“delighted to be one of the first” to receivefunding. “This will take Chabad of bur-bank to a completely new level and willliterally enable children who are currentlyin non-Jewish preschools to experienceauthentic Judaism.”

With the help of this grant, Chabad ofCoral Springs will open a new school thatis expected to enroll thirty students in itsfirst year, says Chabad co-director Mrs.Chanie bronstein. continued on page 10

The generosity of Mr. andMrs. Slager, and theirprofound insight andconcern for the educationof today’s generation ofchildren bodes well forthe future of Judaism.

continued on page 8

MaCHNe ISRaeL/CHabad LubavItCH HeadquaRteRS770 eastern Parkwaybrooklyn,NY 11213

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PAIDPermit #1235Brooklyn, NY

L ubavitch World Headquarters has ap-pointed Rabbi Chanoch and Leiki

Gechtman of Israel to serve as full timeChabad representatives to Mumbai.

Since the Mumbai terrorist attack ofNovember 2008, during which RabbiGavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, along withother visitors at the Chabad NarimanHouse were murdered, Chabad serviceswere maintained in Mumbai through rab-binical students working there on an interimbasis.

The Gechtmans and their baby will nowtake up permanent residence in the city,though not in Nariman House, which is

continued on page 5

FULL-TIME CHABAD REPRESENTATIVESTO SETTLE IN MUMBAI

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LUBAVITCHINTERNATIONAL

EDITORIAL

Published by LubavItCH NeWS SeRvICeThe official news network of theChabad-Lubavitch movement

since 1958

LubavItCHWoRLd HeadquaRteRS

770 eastern Parkwaybrooklyn, NY 11213

email: [email protected]

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Biographies of the LubavitcherRebbe, Rabbi Menachem M.Schneerson, who passed away on

the third day of tammuz in 1994, are nowmaking appearances in mainstream book-stores.

I’m still waiting for a particular one thathas been incubating for years. a prolific au-thor with a rare mind who benefited frommore than forty years of personal interactionwith the Rebbe, the writer has shelved a firstattempt and is working with painstakingdiligence on a second, for more than adecade now.

I have not asked him why he has takenso long on this work, but would venture thatsomewhere along the process, he has comeuncomfortably close to a humbling recog-nition: the more he ponders the Rebbe’s life,the greater he discovers is his subject matterand the more inadequate he feels to the task.

Rabbi adin Steinsaltz is in his 70s, andis possessed of an old-fashioned sobrietythat is in short supply these days. He under-stands basic rules of proportionality that setelegant thinkers and writers apart fromclumsy ones. Though a credible biographyof the Lubavitcher Rebbe has yet to be pro-duced, and though he knows that he is likelymore qualified than most to deliver such awork, he seems unhurried, if uneasy aboutit.

It seems to me that among his other cre-dentials, his tempered reluctance makes himeminently qualified for the project. Thisman’s appreciation for the gravitas of hissubject would make his biography of theRebbe, when it is finally done, one worthreading.

In the meantime, there are other books

that have come out, and still more in theworks. So far they disappoint on manycounts, especially in their failure to reconcilethe facts of a life of prodigious achievementswith the story they tell, and in their inabilityto apprehend the phenomenon of greatness.There is no attitude more poorly suited to astudy on the life of the Lubavitcher Rebbethan cynicism.

It should surprise no one that ChabadChasidim feel that as regards the Rebbe’slife and teachings, our perspective and ourversion is the accurate one. It is true of theway most children and students of famouspersonalities feel, and justifiably so.

but we also know that just as the Rebbefreely interacted with people outside of theChabad community in his lifetime, he isnow, as well, theirs to study and scrutinize.and though we know that they will bringtheir own, at times questionable perspec-tives, Chabad generally cooperates with re-searchers and biographers seeking to writeabout the Rebbe.

but in hazarding something as enormousas a work on the life and afterlife of theLubavitcher Rebbe—and his life spanned92 years—it should not be too much to askthat the writers immerse themselves in thestudy of the Rebbe’s scholarly works whichwere of an absolute, unified whole with theRebbe himself.

Nor is it unreasonable to expect biogra-phers to unburden themselves from theircherished cynical convictions, so that theymay approach the concept of the tzaddikwith some measure of honesty. to resist, asthey do, the idea that every once in a while,the world is blessed with an individual of adifferent spiritual order whose existence will

have a profound impact on the lives of many,and will, even in the afterlife, continue to in-spire remarkable dedication to a great vision,is to their discredit. one need not “believe”in the idea of the tzaddik to recognize thepresence of greatness.

Shortly after the Rebbe passed away,Rabbi Michael Paley, the scholar-in-residence at the Jewish Resource Center ofuJa-Federation of New York, and an ad-junct professor at the Columbia School ofJournalism, wrote this in an editorial col-umn in New York Newsday.

“In my meeting long ago, I felt from theRebbe what I have rarely felt from most lead-ers, religious or political: a vibrant passion anda vision of what the world could be. The Rebbe’spresence pierced me and in some strange way,increased the velocity of our interaction. Welearn from modern physics that at the ultimatevelocity, time stands still and there is only amoment of the present . . . .The followers of theRebbe have experienced such a moment withtheir leader . . . . For the followers of the Rebbe,and I include myself from a distance, this is atime of hope against fear, of love in the face ofdarkness.”

Sixteen years after his passing there aremore of us—not fewer—who experiencethe moment. every year, a new generationof young men and women, their idealismfired by the Rebbe’s vision of what the worldcould be, join the ranks of ChabadShluchim, vying for the opportunity to par-ticipate in its realization.

The number of lives that continue to betouched and transformed by a legacy thatendures and grows, is countless. The biogra-phy that has yet to be told becomes evermore interesting.

on The BIoGRaphy oF The ReBBe

The life stories of the righteous are to be found in their achievements . . . (Midrash Rabbah, Genesis)

Baila Olidort

LU

BAV

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ChairmanRabbi Yehuda Krinsky

Editor-in-Chiefbaila olidort

Executive EditorRabbi Joseph Friedman

Managing EditorZalman Feldman

Production ManagerYaacov behrman

Contributing WritersZalman abraham

R. C. bermanS. Fridman

dvora LakeinMordechai Lightstone

Levi Margolinamihai Zippor

ב”ה

NEWS FROM THECHABAD–LUBAVITCHGLOBAL NETWORK

WWW.LUBAVITCH.COM

G-d enabled the Jewish people to live as sovereigns in the Holy Land,the place of our forefathers – the land promised to the Jews by G-d.This reality places a special burden and privilege upon Israel’s citi-zens and its government, to preserve the Jewish integrity of thecountry. Its educational system must be founded and inspired byJewish values and the Jewish tradition so that citizens of Israel growto be proud keepers of their Jewish heritage.In its relations with other nations, those responsible for representingits government in foreign affairs must do so with pride in thecountry's Jewish character.

From the Lubavitcher Rebbe,Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of blessed memory


JULY 2010 | WWW.LUBAVITCH.COM

3INTERNATIONAL

Germany’s kosher consumers can nowenjoy a full line of locally produced

boutique cheeses and milk that come froma small dairy farm near the major Northerncity of Hamburg.

“until now,” explains Rabbi Shlomobistritzky, Chabad representative to Ham-burg, “I’d go to the dairy farm myself, andsupervise the kashrut of a small quantity ofkosher milk for my family and the school’skitchen,” he says, referring to the city’s Jew-ish community school.

Chabad representatives and other con-sumers throughout Germany who observechalav yisrael (which requires supervisionbeginning at the milking process), had to dothe same, or depend on dairy products im-ported from France. but with many Ger-

man Jews now keeping kosher, and giventhe growing numbers of Chabad represen-tatives across the country, a full line of chalavyisrael dairy products will fill a gap in Ger-many’s kosher food market.

The dairy line has fast gained a following,and the numbers are telling. Weekly ordersamount to some 300-400 liter of milk perweek and 300 kilo of dairy products.

“The beauty of it is that we’ve managedto provide consumers with a truly high qual-ity product, with excellent kosher standards,

and all at veryfair prices,” saysZeev Lluz, theen t rep reneurresponsible forKoscheremilch.“We did this sothat people findthey are actuallygetting a supe-rior product at agood price andhave no reasonnot to keep thehighest standards of kashruth.”

at Koscheremilch, everything frommilking the cows to packaging the cheesehappens on the farm. “It’s nothing like com-mercially processed dairy products,” says

Zeev, where growth hormones and moreprocessing is used to ensure long shelf lifeand greater profitability.

Consumers are quick to notice the differ-ence in the taste and texture of the dairyproducts. “If you leave the milk standing fora day, the cream rises to the top, and you’vegot to shake it up,” says Zeev.

Koscheremilch products are now sold atshops in ten major German cities,and can be purchased online atwww.koscheremilch.de.

BouTIque DaIRy FaRMIn GeRManyGOES KOSHER Hamburg, Germany

on Wednesday april 28, members ofthe dutch government apologized to

Holland's Jewish community at the site ofthe former Westerbork concentration camp.

The apology, for the actions of the dutchpopulation and government during the Sec-ond World War and its aftermath, was madeat one of many events held across theNetherlands to mark 65 years since the endof the war. The memorial events led up toLiberation day on May 5, the anniversaryof dutch liberation from Nazi occupation.

Located in the northeastern Netherlands,Westerbork is widely regarded as a symbolof the suffering and annihilation of dutchJewry during the War. The camp was erectedin 1939 to absorb the influx of Jews fleeingfrom the east. In total, 101,000 dutch Jewsand 5,000 German Jews (among them thenow famous diarist anne Frank and herfamily) were sent to their deaths from West-erbrok, after being deported to auschwitz-birkenau, Sobibór, bergen-belsen andTheresienstad.

although queen beatrix of the Nether-lands publicly apologized in 1995 for thefailure of the dutch government to aid its140,000 Jewish citizens during the Holo-caust, the government has remained largelysilent on dutch complicity with the Nazis,and the harsh treatment of Jewish refugeeswho returned after the War.

on april 12, dr. ab Klink, Minister ofHealth, Welfare and Sport, apologized forthe country’s failure to help its citizens re-turning from concentration and dP campsafter the war. Jews returning to Hollandfound that their homes and businesses hadbeen appropriated by their non-Jewishneighbors.

Selma Weinberg, the last remainingdutch survivor of the Sobibór extermina-tion camp, was at the memorial event.Weinberg, who today resides in the u.S.,spoke of the difficulties she faced resettlingin her homeland. Returning after the Warwith her husband, a Polish citizen, the cou-ple found themselves turned away at theborder by dutch authorities.

according to Rabbi binyomin Jacobs,Chief Rabbi of interprovincial Holland,Chairman of the dutch Council of Rab-binical affairs and a Chabad-Lubavitchemissary, the younger generation has begunto question the sanitized image of dutchaide to its Jewish population during theHolocaust.

“While the majority of Holland's popu-lation did not abet the Nazis, neither didthey take action to stop the deportation oftheir Jewish friends and neighbors,” Jacobssaid. “The younger generation wishes tocome to terms with the complicity of thosewho aided in the extermination of dutchJewry.”

Jacobs is quick to add that acts of heroismdid take place among the dutch resistanceand in the general population. In recentyears, a group of non-Jewish volunteers has

helped Jacobs tend to the 240 Jewish ceme-teries in areas now devoid of Jewish com-munities. While Jacobs is troubled by arecent spike in anti-semitism in Holland, hefeels that interest from the general popula-tion has also had a positive affect. “Peopleare now learning about the hundreds ofyears of Jewish history in the Netherlands.The destruction of dutch Jewry during theWar is no longer something that took placein a foreign land - but rather in their ownbackyards.”

at the ceremony in Westerbork on april28, dick van Putten, the Lieutenant-Gen-eral of the the Koninklijke Marechaussee orKMar, the dutch Royal Military Police, ad-dressed the crowd. during the Nazi occu-pation, members of KMar wereincorporated into the German SS andserved as the camp's guards.

“I realize that those policemen [whoserved under the Germans] were forced bythe regime,” van Putten said. “[However]that commitment to serve the occupiershould never have happened. I regret thisvery much.”

Through the KMar's acknowledgment ofits past and its renewed dedication to keep-ing the memory of those who perished alive,van Putten hopes that the story of thosewho suffered at Westerbork will be con-veyed to future generations.

“behind each one [of the 102,000 de-ported from Westerbork for extermination]is a story. and each story is unique. TheRoyal Military Police draws lessons fromthe past. We suffer along with the survivorsand mourn along with their families. Theydeserve our attention, compassion, respectand appreciation.”

among those attending the event wasRabbi Yitzchak vorst, director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Holland. a survivor himself,vorst spent his childhood behind Wester-brok's walls. addressing the crowd, he re-called his experience as one of only ahandful of children remaining in the camp'sschool. despite his pain and discomfort inreturning to the camp, vorst felt an ironicsense of justice.

“The first time I came back to this placeafter so many years,” vorst recalled, “I wasstruck by the irony that the same police-force that had held me captive as a child wasnow standing to salute me as a rabbi.

DuTch GoveRnMenTacKnoWLeDGeS FaILuReTo pRoTecT JeWSSurvivors Recall Betrayal After War

people are now learningabout the hundreds of yearsof Jewish history in thenetherlands. The destructionof Dutch Jewry during theWar is no longer somethingthat took place in a foreignland - but rather in their ownbackyards.”

“

The beauty of it is that we’ve managedto provide consumers with a truly highquality product, with excellent kosherstandards, and all at very fair prices.”

“


4


INTERVIEW

IN CONVERSATION:

NATAN SHARANSKY

Baila Olidort:As Chairman of the Jewish Agency, you are going to refocus the organization’s agenda andmake building Jewish education and Jewish identity a priority. Why the change?

Natan Sharansky:It’s not that the aims of the Jewish agency have changed. The Ja was created in orderto mobilize Jewish people around the idea of the Jewish state, and to bring Jews whowant and who need to be saved, to Israel. They brought 3.2 million Jews over the years.billions of dollars were raised and hundreds of settlements and towns were built withthe help of world Jewry.but those operations of saving Jews whether from the Iron Curtain or arab countriesor from ethopia are now behind us. today aliyah is aliyah of choice and those who doit, do it because they have a strong commitment to the Jewish people, a commitment tolive in a Jewish state.

In that case, what are the challenges as you perceive them today?

today our challenge is whether we can stick to our identity when we have the freedomto choose our identity.

It’s clear from your books that you were prepared to die for your principles.

It wasn’t a decision about suicide, it was a decision about what was important for me inmy life.In my life in the Soviet union I had no basic freedoms, but I had no inner sense tofight, because to do that you have to feel that there’s something more important thanphysical survival. and in the Soviet union it was all about physical survival.It was only when we discovered our identity and began to connect with it, that we foundthat there is something more important than physical survival.

Is the Agency’s focus primarily on Jews living in the Diaspora?

Not only for diaspora Jews. We need to strengthen Jewish identity everywhere. Peoplehere sometimes underestimate how important it is for Israel.The Ja is going to be much more involved strengthening Jewish identity in the state ofIsrael.Jews of Israel sometimes feel themselves more as Israelis than Jews. They are losing theirhistorical or cultural connection with their Jewish roots.

So what are some of the ways the agency will work to strengthen Jewish identity?

The Jewish agency is a main channel of communication between the Israeli governmentand Jewish communities around the world. So when Jews from Israel meet other Jewishcommunities abroad, and spend some quality time inside [those communities], or havemutual projects with them, it helps to strengthen their Jewish identity.as american Jewry discovered, it’s important to strengthen forms of informal Jewisheducation, especially for people who don’t get a formal Jewish education—whether it isthrough summer camps or different seminaries. We are doing it, but we have to do itmore.

What you are proposing resonates with the work of Chabad-Lubavitch. Do you see theJewish Agency cooperating with Chabad on some of these projects?

We already have this cooperation. In the FSu there are many places where our repre-sentatives sit in the centers of Chabad, and on the contrary where Chabad is using ourfacilities, and I am very much in favor of this.on campuses as well, we are broadening on our activities there, and Chabad is doingthe same and we welcome it. I meet more and more Chabad rabbis on the campusesand we will have more of our shlichim on campuses.

Baila Olidort and Mr. Natan Sharansky

Natan Sharansky, Chairman of the Jewish Agency since last June, announced a shift in the organization’s mission that has sparked wide discussion.The famous Soviet dissident who made headlines for standing up to communist authorities during the 1980s, attributes his fearless perseverance

to a discovery he made as a young man: the vitality of his Jewish identity. Sharansky insists that despite postmodern attitudes scornful of particularloyalties, especially those tied to religion and family, today’s challenges to Israel and the Jewish people are best overcome through the active in-

volvement of Jews who are educated about their heritage and passionate about Jewish life.The diminutive figure who survived numerous, months-long hunger strikes during his near decade of incarceration, and was prepared to fight

to death for his values and deeply held principles, is hoping for more than token allegiances to Jewish life. The author, most recently of The Case forDemocracy and Defending Identity, Sharansky is guiding the Agency to develop a program that will foster a meaningful connectedness to Jewish

history among young Jews, and translate into a tangible commitment to the future of the Jewish people.Recently, Mr. Sharansky met with Baila Olidort, editor of Lubavitch News Service in his office at the Jewish Agency’s headquarters in

Jerusalem, where he talked about his vision, his respect for Chabad’s model of outreach, and the moral ambiguities he discovered in freedom.


We can learn a lot from the determination, stubbornness and persistenceof Chabad shlichim.When [some] representatives . . . came to me and asked me how it isthat I gave all of Russian Jewry under the control of Chabad, I said, whatdo you mean “we gave?”“Well, it’s all their shlichim and not ours. It’s not fair,” they said.I promised them that the moment they have a person who is ready to gofor all their lives—like to exile—to omsk or Perm or Kamtchatka orSakhalin, as Chabad shlichim do, not one month, not one year, but tospend all their lives there—and look what happens: a Chabad shliachcomes with wife and one child, and there are 10 Jews and he spends 10years there. Now he has four children, and there are 150 Jews who ap-peared from nowhere, and he is building a community and he spends an-other 10 years and community is becoming even bigger—“If you have such people,” I told them, “I promise we’ll help them go toSakhalin or Kamchatka.”

Jewish universal values are widely embraced everywhere. What are some of the specificJewish values that you want to promote in your work in the JA?

Personally, I’m glad that my daughters have a traditional Jewish life. My wife keepsmore of the mitzvot than I keep and my daughters even more than my generation.as far as the Jewish agency, we do want more and more people to be connected in dif-ferent ways to their heritage, to the values of Judaism and to wish that their childrenwill be no less committed Jews than their fathers were. but we here are not religious –we have representatives of all the streams and we are not going to impose in any way.Still, I do believe that it is absolutely a wrong statement that you have to choose whetherto be a person of universal values or of Jewish values. It is as false today as it was before.There’s a deep connection between the two—if I have the strength to fight for humanrights it’s only because I discovered my Jewishness.

Towards the end of your book Fear No Evil , which you wrote shortly after you gained yourfreedom, you expressed some sadness about leaving your life in Russia in prison. You talkedabout the absolute certainty between good and bad, and you wondered whether once in thefree world, you will know “how to enjoy the vivid colors of freedom without losing the ex-istential depth” that you felt in prison.

I have to say that now [so many years later], I’m surprised how right I was then—to seethis as a major challenge to my life. I was in this place where there was such clarity be-tween good and evil, friends and enemies. and it’s practically impossible to reach thislevel of moral and practical clarity in daily life.I spent nine years in prison, but I also spent nine years in government. I was in four dif-

ferent governments and I resigned twice. I was in four different pris-ons, I never “resigned”—so there’s some deep dissatisfaction fromour daily life [about the fact] that you really cannot get this stage ofclarity—you have to go through all sorts of compromises.

You’ve gone back to visit Russia and the prisons where you spent somany years of your life. What was it like?

The first time I went was 10 years after my release. and it was suchan elevating experience. to think that this was the place where theleaders of the KGb—the most powerful organization in theworld—told me that this was the end of Jewish movement, thatevery Jew is afraid to mention our names, and instead, 20 years later,there is no KGb, no Soviet union, and the world is a more secureplace.each time when I go back I have this feeling that this is the placewhere we tested and proved our power as a people. So it is important

to draw the right conclusions about what can be done today.

As a Soviet prisoner, you dreamed about Israel, about one day living here. You’ve been livinghere now 24 years. How does the reality meet your expectations?

I dreamed that Israel is a paradise. and 24 years later I feel it’s the best place for a Jew tolive but it needs a lot of tikkun. a lot needs to be corrected. Morally, it is much more difficultto live in paradise than in hell, because in hell you know exactly what your role is.

What was your greatest disappointment?

When we were struggling, all our friends had the feeling that we are one people, and itwas so clear that we are one people. but when I came, I discovered that there’s no limitto the divisions among us—and to this day this is very disappointing and frustrating.Still, we see that at critical moments, these walls fall apart and we become one peopleagain. So this is our biggest challenge: to make these walls come down.

What is your greatest concern regarding Israel?

today we have a big problem of advocacy for Israel, of defending the very idea of a Jew-ish state today. and again, people who are ready to fight against new hostile anti-Semi-tism are people who have a commitment, connection and strong feeling offamily—people who want to make sure that their children will grow as Jews and willcontinue being part of the family.So whatever challenges we are facing, we will come to the same driver to solve the chal-lenges: to strengthen our Jewish identity.


5INTERVIEW

Mr. Natan Sharansky

under repair and will be dedicatedas a visitors’ center and a memo-rial to the Holtzbergs and theothers killed there.

Rabbi Gechtman spent timeMumbai as a rabbinical student,helping his good friends Gabi andRivka in their outreach work.More recently, in the summer of2009, the couple spent time inMumbai while considering theidea of settling there.

There are a lot of emotionaland physical adjustments to maketo a move like this, they admit.“but,” says Leiki, “we found a realneed here, and a tremendous amount of po-tential; it became clear to us that we aremeant to do this.”

Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky of LubavitchWorld Headquarters says that althoughChabad has maintained rabbinical internsin Mumbai since the terror attacks, “it isgratifying that, thanks to the cooperation ofthe Indian government, we will finally havefull time resident Shluchim. The Gecht-mans have what it takes to continue thework of Gabi and Rivki, both in spirit andpractice.”

The Gechtmans say they expect to con-tinue the work of the Holtzbergs, servingvisiting businesspeople and internationaltravelers. “Gabi created an exceptional at-mosphere of openness and warmth together

with a love for torah study,” recalls RabbiGechtman of the time he spent with Gabiin Mumbai.

In an interview with Lubavitch.com,Rabbi Gechtman emphasized that he andhis wife are also interested in turning theirfocus to the local Jewish community, madeup of some 4,000-5,000 Jews.

“There is a great need to reach out to thiscommunity made up of many, many poorfamilies. My dream is to establish a centerthat will help these people in an immediateway, but also give them the tools to becomeself-sufficient.”

The Gechtmans will be moving to Mum-bai in several weeks. officials at LubavitchHeadquarters confirm that security arrange-ments have been addressed.

Chabad representatives to settLe in MuMbaicontinued from page 1

Rabbi Chanoch Gechtman visiting Mumbai in the summer of 2009

Fun and tradition know no languagebarriers, as members of the Jewish

deaf community of Riverside discoveredat a recent Challah-making workshop.

Rabbi Shmuel Fuss and his wife,tzippy, welcomed about 15 children andadults to the Chabad Jewish CommunityCenter of Riverside on June 17 wherethey learned how to make the traditionalbraided Jewish loaves.

Led by Joshua Soudakoff of Los an-geles, a deaf yeshiva student, the entireworkshop was conducted in americanSign Language. to make it easy to followalong, a Powerpoint presentation detailedthe steps of preparing the Challah. When

participants were ready to tackle theirdough, a video featuring Mrs. Fuss braid-ing a six-strand Challah illustrated howto assemble the loaves. The happy Chal-lah-makers took their bread home toshare with others.

Riverside is home to dozens of deafJewish residents, many living in closeproximity to the California School for thedeaf.

Rabbi Fuss said the workshop is justone example of Chabad’s ongoing effortsto reach the deaf community and makeJudaism accessible to all Jews. Passingalong Jewish traditions in an entertainingway, is an important part of that effort.

LOCAL CHABAD CENTERLEADS CHALLAH BAKINGWORKSHOP FOR DEAF

Led by Joshua soudakoffof Los angeles, a deaf

yeshiva student, the entireworkshop was conducted in

american sign Language.


A JEWISH FAMILY MAKES A RADICAL MOVE

6


JOURNEYS

americans across the eco-nomic spectrum have

radically lowered their livingstandards in the past twoyears, in ways many had neveranticipated. For most, it was amatter of numbers, not choice.but one young couple’s decision to give uptheir car, their home, and the comforts of anall-american life, had nothing at all to dowith the economy.

In december 2008, Chaim and Kailadanzinger packed up their belongings,traded in their children’s beach toys fordown coats with extra loft, and bade farewellto a community they have come to love insunny Pasadena, California, for one they feltneeded them even more, in frigid Rostov-on-don, Russia.

“assimilation here is at around 95 per-cent,” says Chaim danzinger, trying to ex-plain what motivated him and his wife tomake the move. “So you have a narrow win-dow of opportunity to reach Jews—basicallybetween the ages 20-24, before the risk oflosing them becomes even greater.”

danzinger, 28, spent several years as arabbinical student in ukraine and Russia.after he married Kaila estrin from Pitts-burgh, the couple was recruited by RabbiChaim Hanoka to Pasadena, where theylived for two years and began to build a fam-ily.

Chaim was program director at the localChabad House, led JLI and adult educationclasses for students at Caltech. Kaila workedas a preschool teacher. and the living waspleasant.

but Chaim hankered for the extremechallenge that he felt could only be had in aplace like Russia, where Jewish life had

come to a halt for nearly a century. “He kepttalking about shlichus in Russia,” his wifesays. Knowing that fewer candidates aredrawn to Russia than to California, the needseemed more urgent to Chaim, she explains.

although Kaila, 26, spent a summer as acounselor in Moscow and Simferopol, she“never imagined living here.” but with herhusband coming back to the idea again andagain, she finally began to consider it.

ChoosiNg Rostov-oN-DoN

Chaim contacted Russia’s Chief Rabbiberel Lazar. Most Chabad representativesin the FSu are either Israeli, or homegrownshluchim of Chabad communities that havedeveloped there over the past two decades.of 400 couples serving as shluchim in theFSu, only about 30 are made up of oneamerican, and fewer still like thedanzingers, where both husband and wifeare american, says Rabbi Lazar.

but Rabbi Lazar was open to having thedanzingers join the network of Chabadrepresentatives in Russia. “What’s importantto us is not where the shluchim come from,but that they can meet the standards andneeds of the community,” Rabbi Lazar toldlubavitch.com.

Language, and the ability to understandthe culture and mentality of Russian Jewry,he adds, are essential. Chaim’s summer stintsserved him well on both counts. So Rabbi

Lazar suggested a number of cities, and thedanzingers went on a scouting mission.

What attracted them to Rostov, saysKaila, is the city's unusually large youngpopulation. “We saw a lot of youth, manyyoung people and college age kids.” Theneed and opportunity were immediately ap-parent, and the danzingers have not beendisappointed. The couple hosts some 100people every Friday night, 40 of them col-lege age students who participate in theprayer services and join the festive Shabbosdinner.

There’s a sense of urgency in Rostov, ex-plains Chaim, that's decidedly unlike thelaid-back pace on america's west-coast.“There’s no comparing the lifestyles. InPasadena, we had beautiful views of the sunand the mountains, we spent time with thekids in local parks, and enjoyed warmweather year round.”

LEaRNiNg a NEw LiFEstyLE

While Pasadena’s winter temperaturesaverage at a balmy 60 degrees farenheit, inRostov, the mercury hovers at about 15 de-grees. “Here you can’t just hop into the car(the danzingers don’t own one) and go totarget to get stuff.”

Kosher food is also hard to come by inRostov, and the danzingers must drive fourhours across the border to donetsk, ukrainefor basic kosher products. Kosher meat is

shipped from Moscow, a 20-hour train ride. as Kailapoints out, everyday essentialsthat were easily obtainable inLos angeles now require se-rious planning.

Kaila works as the admin-istrator for the local ohr avner schoolwhere she oversees the Judaic curriculumand is a Judaica instructor herself. In addi-tion, she’s busy working with teenagers andcollege students who, she says, “are differentfrom their american peers. Here, when I gettogether with a group of girls, they want toget into conversations of real substance. Wedon’t need to plan fun ideas as a way ofdrawing them in.”

twelve months into their new lives, thedanzingers have earned Rabbi Lazar’swarm approbations. “They are like fish inwater,” he tells lubavitch.com. “They aredoing incredible work. People in the com-munity love them. We are seeing a lot ofsuccess in their work.”

The danzingers are especially proud ofRostov’s history.

“a really big factor in choosing Rostov isthat we have the ohel [resting place] of theRebbe Rashab—the fifth Chabad Rebbe[Rabbi Sholom dovber, 1860-1920] here.”

FRoM paSaDena To RoSTov-on-Don:

The story of a young couple’s decision to give up their car,their home, and the comforts of an all-American life,

and move into the cold unknown.

In contrast to Pasadena’s sunny beach weather all year long, the winters in Rostov-on-Don are long and harsh.

Number of Chabad Centersin the FSU

1989 . . . . . . .. . 02010 . . . .... . 426!



7JOURNEYS

Rostov was a significant Chasidic hub atone time. “It is an amazing feeling to walkdown the streets knowing that I am treadingon same ground as the Rebbe Rashab andan older generation of Chasidim.”

RussiaN JEws—a DiFFERENtMENtaLity

More interesting still, Kaila says that Jewswho know almost nothing about Judaismseem to experience an immediate connec-tion with Chabad’s history here. In waysthat are strikingly different from americanJews who have no religious background,here she says, “even though most Jews hereare non-observant, they want to go to theohel, and they feel a connection.”

Rostov’s ohr avner school counts 140kids; the city’s Jewish preschool has 20 chil-dren enrolled. a host of student clubs, a vi-brant StaRS educational program forcollege-age students are substantial enoughin size that the danzingers recently sent agroup on a birthright Israel trip.

“There’s so much activity here, that ourlives center almost exclusively on home andshul,” leaving the couple with little time tonotice and miss the things they enjoyed intheir “past” lives.

The danzinger children now visit theirgrandparents via skype. They haven’t hadmeat or poultry in six weeks, and instead ofpicking up pizza or sushi at the local koshercafé, Kaila’s kneading pita bread and makingwraps and tomato sauce from scratch.

asked if she sometimes questions themove she made, Kaila says, “It depends onthe day—many days I come back from aprogram and am on a high. The sense of realaccomplishment confirms why I’m here.and there are other days where I need to re-mind myself why we moved here.”

Three year old Mendel danzinger, and

his one year old brother Yakov, are tooyoung to appreciate their parents’ idealism.but they are among the first children ofamerican Jews who will grow up in Russia,turning the old model (of Russian immi-grant parents with american-raised chil-dren) on its head. Indeed, Kaila admits thatit took her time to come to terms with theidea that her California-born children “willprobably speak with a Russian accent.”

but, she offers, “They’ll grow up with astronger identity as Jewish role models,”than they would growing up in an La Jew-ish day school.

“They’ll also probably be better at math-ematics, science and music.”

there’s a senseof urgency inrostov that'sdecidedlyunlike thelaid-back paceon america'swest-coast.there’s nocomparing thelifestyles.

assimilationhere is ataround 95percentso you have anarrowwindow ofopportunityto reach Jews

the danzingers must drive four hours across the border to donetskfor basic kosher products. Kosher meat is shipped from Moscow, a20-hour train ride.

When Russia’s President dmitryMedvedev met several months ago

with leading representatives of his country’smajor religious faiths, one of the items onhis agenda was the development of a courseon religious education for elementary stateschools.

The result is a new six-volume series onorthodox Christianity, Islam, Judaism,buddhism and two additional volumes onthe history of world religions and secularethics.

Come September 2010, The Foundationsof Jewish Culture, as the Jewish volume isnamed, will be delivered along with theother volumes, to the 4th and 5th gradeclassrooms in 19 regions of the State. The95-page textbook offers an authentic reviewof Judaism including an introduction toJewish spiritual tradition, the foundations offaith,the exodus from egypt, Jewish holi-days, traditions and customs.

It’s a dramatic shift and a first for thecountry’s elementary school children sincethe rise of communism nearly a century ago,when state education denied students expo-sure to religious studies.

“Religion was altogether in anotherworld when I was growing up,” says andreyGlotser, an aide to Rabbi berel Lazar and amember of the team who worked on theJewish volume. Glotser graduated from

Russia’s State university of the Humanitiesin 1980, under communist rule. “This is anamazing victory for democracy.”

barely one percent of the public schoolchildren who will be using the book are Jew-ish. all the more important then, says Rus-sia’s Chief Rabbi Lazar, for the Jewish childwho may find himself a minority in his class.“The idea that a Jewish child is offered byhis teacher the option of exploring his her-itage gives the student who may otherwisefeel outnumbered and isolated, an importantsense of legitimacy.”

“We tried to make the material simpleand accessible so that it would be under-standable for children from Jewish families,as well as from other faiths,” says Glotser,who worked with Mikhail Chlenov, a Pro-fessor of Jewish Studies and the director ofthe euro-asian Jewish Congress, andGalina Mindrina, a teacher at an ohr avnerschool in volgograd, under severe time con-straints to complete the volume.

Rabbi Lazar says the new course reflectsa general shift in Russia’s attitude towardsreligion. “Russia has made a 180 degree turnaway from its anti-religious doctrine.” Hepoints to Prime Minister vladimir Putin’s-recent decision to lend government supportto the construction of the Jewish museumin Moscow, a project of the Jewish commu-nity, as an example.

“The government has proven a genuinedesire in taking real steps to correct commu-nism’s biggest mistake—which was to re-move G-d from life.”

originally resisted by church-and-stateseparationists, the initiative offers studentsthe freedom to choose from among any ofthe six courses corresponding with the vol-umes, including the one on secular ethics.

Though Rabbi Lazar admits that the ma-jority of the school children will probably

choose the course on secular ethics, he in-sists that the benefit to the students willeventually be appreciated in Russian societyat large. “The Lubavitcher Rebbe insistedthat even in public schools, children need tobe educated with an awareness of ‘an eyethat sees and an ear that hears,’ instilling asense of accountability for their actions.”

The course will run as a pilot program,with adjustments to be made after teachersevaluate its effectiveness.

RUSSIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO EMBRACERELIGIOUS EDUCATION

L-R Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev, Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar, and Rabbi Alexander Barada.


8


BOOKS

The eighth volume of Sefer Ha'ArachimChabad, the Chabad Encyclopedia,

was recently released by Kehot Publica-tion society.

beginning with the Hebrew entry “az”(alef-zayin) and ending with “echad” (alef-chet-daled), the volume covers a range oftopics from “hyssop grass” (an ingredient ofthe Passover and Parah adumah cere-monies) and the meaning of fraternity, tothe unity of G-d.

This newest volume represents just oneslice of a monumental project aimed at ex-plaining issues raised in the discourses of theChabad Rebbes. although the encyclope-dia’s primary function is to define the oftencomplex and arcane terminology found inworks of Chabad Chasidic philosophy, en-tries also explore the spiritual and psycho-logical meaning of particular mitzvoth, aswell as their practical application.

The tradition of organizing concepts inJudaic thought is not new. Rabbenu bachyaben asher (d. 1340) compiled KadHakemach, the encyclopedia of torahThoughts. Closer to our times works such asthe S'dei Chemed, an eclectic compendium ofconcepts in Jewish Law, was published byRabbi Chaim Chezekiah Medini of Crimea,ukraine, in 1890, and the Talmudic Encyclo-pedia—a current project which aims at sum-marizing talmudic discussions and theirrelevant Rabbinic commentaries—havetaken a prominent place in torah literature.

The Sefer Ha'Arachim project is unique inits focus on the texts of the Chabad Cha-sidic movement. despite the movement'srenown for unique depth of explanation andanalysis, it had yet to organize themes andterms in an easily accessible way.

Chabad Chasidic works—scattered

among some 700 volumes of discourses,books and letters—were typically culledfrom oral sermons on the weekly torah por-tion or the various holidays, making the taskof indexing particularly difficult. Studentsseeking to research the discussion on a per-tinent topic would have little resources tohelp them reference it, or to find related dis-cussions.

In a letter written in april of 1971 to theeditor of the talmudic encyclopedia, RabbiShlomo Yosef Zevin, the LubavitcherRebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneer-son, of blessed memory, explained the im-petus in spearheading the project. despitethe absence of a precedent for a project ofthis kind—a single concentrated work in-dexing the concepts discussed in ChabadChasidic philosophy, the Rebbe explainedthat the task seemed “particularly fitting tothe outlook of Chabad's philosophical the-ory,” given that one of its core componentsis the analysis of various spiritual conceptsin a clear and defined manner. Indeed, in1942, after he was appointed the head of

Kehot, the publishing arm of the ChabadLubavitch movement, the Rebbe began theprocess of publishing edited and indexedversions of the various fundamental worksof the Chabad Rebbes.

The job of leading the project ultimatelyfell to Rabbi Yoel Kahan of brooklyn. Rabbi

Kahan, who was born in the Soviet unionand raised in Israel, was at the time alreadywell known for his brilliance in torah andChasidic philosophy. one of the Rebbe's“chozrim” it was his job to memorize theRebbe's Shabbat talks, when electronicrecordings and even note-taking are forbid-den, and then write the entire discourse ver-batim after the conclusion of Shabbat.

based on directives of the Rebbe, RabbiKahan set about the daunting task of lead-ing the editorial board for the encyclopedia.The resulting first volume, published in1970, included an appendix, a discourse spe-cially delivered by the Rebbe on the essenceof Chasidic philosophy and its expression inall aspects of torah study.

While a collaborative effort between ateam of scholars lies behind the project,Rabbi Kahan's scholarship is its drivingforce.

His unique approach to the subject andhis encyclopedic breadth of knowledge arewell reflected in the encyclopedia’s entries.beyond the basic definitions for the termsdiscussed, his scholarship is particularly ev-ident in the addenda to the book that delvemore extensively into the entries, and pro-vide additional analysis of tangential topics.

Soon after the release of the initial vol-ume, the Sefer Ha'Arachim assumed an inte-gral role in the study of Chasidic works andideas.

The breadth of discussion in its entriescan at times seems overwhelming, but theencyclopedia has allowed for the clarifica-tion of essential concepts in Chasidic study.according to Rabbi Y. Paltiel, who lectureson Chasidic thought and is a teacher inunited Lubavitcher Yeshiva in brooklyn,Sefer Ha'Arachim has proved useful in his re-search.

“Chasidic texts can be very deceivingwhen studied superficially,” he says. “oftenthe text can seem very repetitious in natureto the uninitiated. Sefer Ha'Arachim delin-eates the subject at hand forcing the studentto see the subtlety of the text and come to aproper understanding of the subject.”

The volumes of Sefer Ha'Arachim Chabadhave been used in the study of Chasidicthought beyond the yeshiva, in the broaderacademic world. elliot R. Wolfson, a profes-sor at NYu and scholar of Chasidism, hasused it in his research, calling it a “useful toolfor the academic and the non-acedemic,[that] makes the material more accessible.”

Though preferring to study from sourcematerial as opposed to reference works,Wolfson has used Sefer Ha'Arachim's entriesfor clarification and direction, noting that “itis very useful to have this systematic presen-tation of the key concepts, symbols, andterms that inform Chabad philosophy.”

The current volume joins the precedingentries in discussing fundamental topics ofJewish faith. Previous volumes included en-tries on the meaning of love in Chasidic ter-minology–both the immutable love betweenthe Creator and the Jewish people, as wellas the love between two people—the Kab-balistic understanding of the letters of theHebrew alphabet, and the revelation of theinfinite essence of G-d's divine 'light.'

according to Rabbi Sholom Charitonow,who joined the editorial team in 1981,among the most essential concepts ad-dressed in the current volume are its analysisof the unity of G-d, specifically as expressedin the Shema prayer, the fundamental affir-mation of Jewish faith.

“While there is no official title to thisvolume,” he said, “its implied subtitle is theunderlying concept of [G-d's] unity and itspervasive presence in our lives.”

The next volume of Sefer Ha'ArachimChabad is slated for release in the mid-2011.

The volume is available online, at:www.kehot.com.

NEW VOLUME OF CHABADENCYCLOPEDIA PUBLISHED

While there is noofficial title to thisvolume, its underlyingconcept of [G-d's]unity and its pervasivepresence in our lives

Rabbi Kahan’s uniqueapproach to the subjectand his encyclopedicbreadth of knowledgeare well reflected in theencyclopedia’s entries.Beyond the basic defi-nitions for the termsdiscussed, his scholar-ship is particularly evi-dent in the addenda tothe book that delvemore extensively intothe entries, and provideadditional analysis oftangential topics.

and connect with them no matter wherethey are.”

In an intensive 3-6 week stint, the studentswill become acquainted with their assignedcommunities, meet with its members andleaders, and evaluate their immediate needs.

The students will come prepared to teachintensive courses in Jewish tradition, talmud,kabbalah and the Jewish life cycle, adaptingthe program to the specific needs and interests

of each respective community.Paired in groups of two with individualized

itineraries, the students travel with a library ofJewish books, tapes, videos and even torahscrolls wherever necessary. In some commu-nities, they will teach the basics of kosher, andarrange for the availability of kosher products.In others, they will teach community mem-bers how to establish a summer day camp forJewish children. "It depends on the needs of

each individual community,” said coordinatorRabbi Schneor Nejar.

Throughout the ensuing year, studentswill maintain close contact with communi-ties and individuals, often visiting during theholiday seasons, sending shipments of Jew-ish literature and other Judaica, or answeringquestions long-distance, all in an effort tomake traditional Judaism a viable reality forall Jews, everywhere.

chaBaD ouTReach pRoGRaMcontinued from page one

“our students literallytravel the world, in thespirit of the baal shemtov, and as theLubavitcher rebbeestablished, to findJewish people in themost isolated places,and connect with them.”Meetings may be arranged with visiting rabbis this summer by contacting Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters.



9EDUCATION

neW GeneRaTIon oF SchoLaRS ponDeRS JeWISh exISTenTIaL ISSueS

is it rational to believe in the historicalaccuracy and divine origin of the

Bible? Can Jews exist as a communitywithout a land of their own? Is thetraditional role of women in Judaism anaffront to feminism?

These were some of the questions Jewishstudents explored and debated at the 2ndannual Sinai Scholars Symposium, hostedat dartmouth’s Nelson a. Rockefeller Cen-ter.

titled “ancient ethics in a PostmodernWorld,” the Symposium drew students fromuPeNN, dartmouth, NYu, university ofMiami, Cornell, uCLa, brandeis, bostonu, and the university of arizona, and of-fered students an unusual setting for inter-acting with professors and Jewish studentsfrom diverse disciplines and schools.

together students grappled with a rangeof issues facing the thinking Jew in a post-modern world, such as Zionism and JewishIdentity, dating and relationships, and Jew-ish responses to science and technology.

Rabbi dr. emmanuel J. Schochet, pro-fessor emeritus at Humber College, opened

the Symposium with a lecture on epistemo-logical methodology as it relates to definingreligious truth. Rejecting the notion of aprovable empirical truth, Schochet arguedthat consistency is the closest concept hu-mans have to absolute truth.

brandon Floch, a junior at dartmouthCollege, sparked a heated debate about bib-lical criticism when he raised the subject ofsubscribing to an observant Jewish lifestyleand performing mitzvot without acceptingthe divine origin of the torah.

andrew aidman, a recent graduate of theuniversity of Miami, spoke about a kabbal-istic approach to entrepreneurism, aidmandemonstrated how the mystical concepts ofunity and the pursuit of a higher form ofpleasure could serve a paradigm for eco-nomic growth.

according to Rabbi Yitzchok dubov,director of Sinai Scholars, the Symposiumoffers a unique opportunity for students to“connect to 3000 years of Jewish scholarshipthrough academic explorations of torahstudy.” It is specifically through learning andengaging with Jewish texts and ideas, saysdubov, that young Jews develop a strongsense of identity and commitment.

The Sinai Scholars Society is a joint pro-gram of the Rohr Jewish Learning Instituteand Chabad-on-Campus. Students are ad-mitted by application process to the pro-gram’s intensive, semester-long Jewish studyprograms that offer in-depth Jewish studyand follow-up opportunities like this con-ference. Some 1500 Jewish students at 52participating Chabad campus centers inNorth america are part of the Society.

Rabbi Levi Krinsky, Chabad representa-tive to the state of New Hampshire, intro-duced Mr. GeorgeRohr, the principalpatron of Chabad-on-Campus and SinaiScholars. Mr. Rohrmet with the students,and encouraged themto maximize their in-dividual potential.“don’t suffice with baking bread when youare capable of polishing diamonds,” he toldthem, citing Hayom Yom, a book of dailythoughts from the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

asked what motivates him to donate sogenerously to Sinai Scholars, Mr. Rohr re-sponded humbly. “I’m not a philanthropist,”he said. “I’m an investor and I know of nomore valuable a cause in which to invest. Itsimply gives me the best return on mymoney.”

Rabbi Moshe Gray, co-director ofChabad at dartmouth College, was thrilledto host what he called “the most excitingprogram that Chabad-on-Campus offers.”

“It is really inspiring to see the passionthat the students have for torah learningand to see them interact with some of theeminent academic minds in the Jewishworld today. I think the goal of the Sympo-sium is to inspire students to continue intheir academic pursuit of torah study and Iam honored that I was chosen to host this.”

Many students spoke highly of the pro-gram as well. Zachary bodner, a uPenn sen-ior majoring in cognitive sciences, toldlubavitch.com that the Symposium was “oneof the most amazing experiences” of his col-lege career. “I learned a lot of new ideas inJewish philosophy that are pertinent to whatI have been thinking about lately.”

The winning paper was delivered byZachary Klein, a senior majoring in musiccomposition with piano emphasis at IthacaCollege. Klein’s paper compared prayer tomusic and art, focusing specifically on theinterplay between performer and audience.

The Symposium drew others, likeMelissa Garber, who are no longer in theuniversity setting. a dartmouth alumna,Garber enjoyed the chance to engage withJewish ideas in an academic environment.“being outside of college, something that I

miss the most isthe academic en-vironment whereyou can talkabout things thatare academicallystimulating aswell as Jewishlymotivated. I

went to last year’s symposium in Princetonand I loved it so much I absolutely had tocome back again this year. I can’t wait tocome again next year.”

by encouraging open, honest discussionson a range of issues, the symposium, saysRabbi dubov, helps foster a sense of “deepappreciation, warmth and passion towardJewish learning and living.”

bodner, for one, is thankful that theSymposium gave him the opportunity toengage in dialogue with other students, andshowed him “that there are others my ageout there with Jewish experiences vastly dif-ferent to my own who think about Jewishphilosophy in a similar intense manner asmyself.” For him, “this discovery was ex-tremely meaningful.”

the symposium offers aunique opportunity forstudents to “connect to 3000years of Jewish scholarshipthrough academicexplorations of torah study.”

Photo Credit: B. Lifshitz

Chabad Campus Centers

1989 . . . . . 252010 . . . . . . .. 130!


10


COMMUNITIES

THE HIDDEN JEWS OF SOLANO COUNTY

It’s an 820 square mile swath in NorthernCalifornia with a population of about

500,000. until recently, anyone living therewho happened to be Jewish kept quietabout it.

They thought they were the only ones. In fact, this bedroom community to San

Francisco and Sacramento counts at leastsome 2500 households in which at least onemember is Jewish.

barbara abeling, a nurse and a mother ofthree girls, has been living in vacaville since2001.

until the Rabbi Chaim and aidel Zaklosarrived here in october, she says, “everyonethought they were the only Jews here. Sonow there’s a sort of coming out of thecloset. They are drawing people out of theirlittle niches and bringing us together in a

way that’s never happened here.”before deciding to settle here, the Zak-

loses explored the area. “We had no idea ifwe’d even manage to pull a minyan togetherfor Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur,” saysRabbi Zaklos. but he bought a list of 2500Jewish-sounding names, printed a cus-tomized Jewish calendar for Solano County,and mailed it out.

“We got an amazing response. We gotcalls from people who heard about the cal-

endar and wanted to get one of their own.”The couple and their infant hadn’t com-

pleted their move in time for RoshHashana, but they were there all the same,launching their first services in a space theyrented at the Hampton Inn, a local hotel.“We had some 70 people walk in to servicesduring Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur,”says the proud rabbi.

2500 Jews are 2500 reasons for Chabadrepresentatives to settle in Solano County.but finding them, says Mrs. Zaklos, is “likesearching for a needle in a haystack.”

The only way to do that, she says switch-ing metaphors, is “to shake the tree.” Soshake the tree they are. The energetic couplebegan by introducing lively Jewish pro-grams, each designed to let Jewish residents

in the area in on the secret: “there are otherJews here, and you can find them atChabad.”

The area’s first ever menorah lighting at-tracted 250 locals. billed Menorah on Main,a Jewish spin on the X-mas Merriment onMain, the event was a smashing success.

“at first there was a misunderstanding bysome about our naming it, Menorah onMain,” explains Rabbi Zaklos. but thingswere quickly smoothed over when the

Rabbi reached out to those who sponsor theMerriment on Main festival, and the city’sMayor, as well as dignitaries from county tostate levels, participated. The event broughtmany to joyful tears, and the Zakloses re-ceived dozens of enthusiastic responses. Thisone is by Marla Schapiro:

“I just wanted to take a moment to thankyou ever so much for the Hanukkah cele-brate in town square. My heart was so fullthat night and my emotions were not incheck. Myself as well as my dearest friendsthe Lazars were in tears as the menorah waslit. There were so many people that came. Iwill never ever forget that night as you havebrough back my faith and my passion forJudaism.”

barbara abeling, who was “born on aschool bus” and grew up in many states withno formal Jewish education, says “the base-line for me was my Jewish faith,” much ofwhich came through The Spice and Spiritof Kosher Cooking.

It’s one of those stories where lots of littledetails conspire to stitch a compelling plot-line together. In this case, barbara’s friend

Galila was at a supermarket when she sawthe cookbook on a kosher display table. atthe table was Mrs. esther blau, editor ofThe Spice and Spirit with her daughter, yes,aidel Zaklos. Galila gave her barbara’snumber. aidel called barbara and invitedher over.

That was their first encounter, and today,only a few months later, barbara is makingup for lost time. Chabad of Solano Countyhas made it possible for her, she says, to give

her three girls Jewish educational opportu-nities they wouldn’t have otherwise had.

“I tried previously to go to a synagoguewith them,” she says. The experience left herfeeling empty. “I’ve had enough of alterna-tive Judaism. Now Chabad is providing mewith an amazing education for my threegirls, an education that allows us to be Jew-ish, rather than feel Jewish.”

2500 Jews are 2500 reasons for Chabad representatives to settle in Solano County. Rabbi Chaim Zaklos reads the Megillah

“The cornerstone of a Jewish communityis the education it provides to its youth. Weare extremely grateful to be able to fill thisvoid, with the new preschool providing awholesome Jewish education to the Jews ofour area,” says bronstein.

Chabad of Weston will add new class-rooms to its existing preschool of thirty stu-dents, opening space for twelve morechildren, explains the community’s RabbiYisroel Spalter.

applications for funding will be evalu-ated by an advisory committee of earlychildhood educational professionals,Shluchim and experienced preschool direc-tors with extensive knowledge of contem-porary preschool educational methodologiesand managerial structures. The committeemembers are: Rabbi Nochem Kaplan, New

York; Rabbi Meir ossey, Mrs. Pearl Stroh,New York; Mrs. batya Lisker, New York;Rabbi Yossi New, Rabbi Moshe denburg,boca Raton, FL; Rabbi Mendy Herson,basking Ridge, NJ; Mrs. esty Marcus, S.Mateo, Ca; Mrs. devora Krasnianski, NewYork.

Chabad of the West Side early LearningCenter of New York City will provide guid-ance for the development of grant-receivingpreschools.

The Machne Israel development Fundwas established by the Lubavitcher Rebbe,Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, ofblessed memory, in 1984, as a funding or-ganization for sustaining the growth and ex-pansion of Chabad-Lubavitch activitiesworldwide. Spearheading the effort areRabbis Shmaya Krinsky and avrahamberkowitz of the MIdF executive commit-tee.

Chabad institutions may apply for agrant through The Chabad ChildhoodInitiative: MIdF-Lubavitch at LubavitchWorld Headquarters, or by email at:[email protected].

2005 . . . . . . ..73 2010 . . . . . . 114!Number of Chabad Preschools

1989 . . . . . . .. . 452010 . . . .... . .. .163!

Number of Chabad Centersin the State of California

MACHNE ISRAELDEVELOPMENT FUNDcontinued from page 1When Rabbi elazar and Shira Green

were casting about for fundraisingideas to maintain their work with Jewishstudents at Franklin and Marshall College,they looked to their own backyard. For sev-eral summers, they’ve opened a four-bed-room guest home on their property totravelers looking for a kosher, reasonablypriced play to stay during their visit to thePennsylvania dutch Country, home toamusement parks and other tourist traps.

“visitors see the work we do with Jewishstudents and want to help out,” said RabbiGreen, co-director of the Chabad Jewishenrichment Center of Lancaster and York.“So, now we’ve opened the guest house yearround. a bit of creative fundraising.”

When Wall Street cheers as the dowJones scrapes its way up from 12-year lows,it sounds faint and hollow to Chabad cen-

ters on Main Streets around the world.With creativity and faith, Chabad represen-tatives have dreamt up ways to maintain sta-tus quo and even expand during therecession.

In the last week of december, Chabad ofSan antonio did what very few non-profitsare doing these days. They demolished theirbuilding to begin new construction, a proj-ect that was in jeopardy.

The Chabad Center for Jewish Life wasin the planning stage when it got a one-twopunch: the architect’s bid jumped by $2 mil-lion just as local donors were tighteningtheir belts. Rabbi Chaim block, executivedirector of Chabad of San antonio, beganto consider a scaled down program. Hefeared his supporters’ reaction, because theyhad pledged toward a grander project. Theopposite was true.

chaBaD cenTeRS DevISeSTRaTeGIeS To ouTWITThe ReceSSIon

When Wall Street cheersas the Dow Jones scrapesits way up from 12-yearlows, it sounds faint andhollow to chabad centerson Main Streets aroundthe world.

continued on page 12

With creativity and faith,chabad representativeshave dreamt up ways tomaintain status quo andeven expand during therecession.



11COMMUNITIES

E xpo fever is raging in shanghai.The world Expo of 2010—the

largest to date—opened saturday,May 1. one hundred world leadersparticipated, and 190 countries wererepresented in its pavilions and exhi-bitions.

Themed “better City – better Life,” theexpo, anticipating some 70 million visitorsover its six month duration, will also show-case Shanghai's status as a world city. an es-timated 35,000 Jews are expected at theexpo, and Chabad-Lubavitch representa-tives in Shanghai are prepared to greet them.

official religious activities are not al-lowed in association with the expo itself,but Chabad has initiated several projects in-cluding Shabbat meals in the downtownarea and a kosher minimarket that will de-liver orders made through their websitechinajewish.org. Chabad representatives willalso assist in arranging tours of Shanghai'shistorical Jewish sites and current commu-nal buildings.

under the leadership of Rabbi Sholomand dini Greenberg Chabad of Shanghaialready has three couples working at capac-ity to serve its Jewish population. but withthe expo, demands on Chabad’s serviceshave soared, prompting the Greenbergs torecruit Rabbi Mendy and Sara alevsky from

New York to help. together, the couples areworking hard to provide a “home away fromhome” for Jewish visitors

Rabbi alevsky, who describes every con-nection he makes with a visitor as “a worldunto itself,” sees a particular advantage inShanghai's exotic locale.

“very often,” he says, “I've seen peoplewho have not have participated in Jewishlife back at home suddenly feel a desire toreconnect with their roots while travelingabroad.”

While Jewish merchants linked with thefamed Silk Route have had a presence inChina for nearly one thousand years, thefirst modern Jewish presence in Shanghaibegan in the 1850s when Jewish traders ofIraqi descent settled here. a symbol of thecommunity's wealth and success is the ohelRachel Synagogue, built at the time to serveas the center for Jewish life in Shanghai.

during the Second World War, some18,000 Jewish refugees from eastern eu-rope were resettled by the occupying Japan-ese forces. For the first time in history, a sliceof shtetl life could be found in the Far east.The refugees were helped in large part, byRabbi Meir ashkenazi, a member of theChabad-Lubavitch movement who had beeninvited by Shanghai's Russian Jewish com-munity in 1928 to serve as rabbi. at the war'send, many of the city's Jewish refugees emi-

grated from Shanghai in the hopes of startingtheir lives anew in the united States and Is-rael, and from the early 1950s through theearly 1990s Jewish life here came to a halt.

In the last two decades, Shanghai hasseen a striking Jewish revival as Jewish émi-grés—a majority of them american andFrench expats—began arriving here. TheGreenbergs, in Shanghai since 1998, havebeen a vital force in the city’s Jewish renais-sance, working hard to create a positive ex-

perience for its 1500 Jewish residents andthousands of visiting tourists and business-men. They have since expanded to accom-modate the growing demands, withadditional Chabad representatives now serv-ing Chabad of Pudong, and another coupleserving the French Jewish community.

today Shanghai has its own Jewish dayschool, mikvah, and a kosher restaurant. amajor player on the international scene, thecity now boasts one of the world's fastestgrowing major economies, and its Jewish community has grown with it in leaps andbounds. estimates currently put the localJewish community's population increase at30% annually.

Sarah alvesky is working with a diversepopulation and trying to create a warm, wel-coming atmosphere—something shelearned to do as a child. as the daughter ofChabad emissaries in vienna, austria, Sara“encountered many different people fromvery diverse backgrounds,” she says.

“In the three weeks that we've been inChina, I've found those childhood experi-ences have been immensely helpful in wel-coming the people passing through theJewish center.”

Hopefully, she says, Jewish visitors willtake away a good Jewish experience fromtheir time in Shanghai, “and it will enhancetheir visit to China overall.”

WORLD EXPO 2010JEWISH VISITORS AT HOME WITHCHABAD OF SHANGHAIShanghai, China

an estimated35,000 Jews areexpectedat the expo, andchabad-Lubavitchrepresentatives inShanghai areprepared togreet them.

A HISTORIC SYNAGOGUE REOPENS IN CHINA

the ohel Rachel Synagoguemarked the culminating

achievement of Shanghai's FirstWave of Jewish immigrants. It wasbuilt to accommodate the commu-nity of baghdadi Jews (which at itspeak numbered 700), and opened inMarch 1920.

The Synagogue had been closedsince 1952. In recent years it was re-stored it to its original grandeur bythe city of Shanghai.

The ohel Rachel Synagogue wasformally celebrated in honor of theWorld expo 2010, and is open forweekly Shabbat services. It remainsthe most significant symbol of thecrucial Jewish role in Shanghai'shistory. ohel Rachel was the first ofseven synagogues built in Shanghai,and only one of two still standingtoday.

Rabbi Sholom Greenberg at the Synagogue opening.


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chaBaD cenTeRS DevISeSTRaTeGIeS To ouTWIT TheReceSSIoncontinued from page 10

“When the larger community saw howresponsible and realistic we were being,there was new excitement behind the proj-ect,” said Rabbi block.

Instead of traditional construction, steelwould be used. Instead of 16,000 squarefeet, the new building will be 10,000, facedin brick and landscaped, with the option ofadding modules as donors recuperate. Therewill still be plenty of room – classroom,chapel, kitchen, social hall – and finallyenough room for the 50 plus students at theHebrew School.

“We’ve only scratched the surface of whatwe will be able to do with a proper facility,”said program director Rabbi Yossi Marrus.

and the price tag? under $1 million. Keeping expenditures low is especially

important going forward, even if the worldeconomy begins to turn for the better. TheNational Council for voluntary organiza-tions in the united Kingdom saw charitabledonations plunge by 11% in 2009.

“our economy may be starting to showsigns of recovery, but the voluntary sector isgoing to lag behind as these cuts take theirtoll,” said NCvo chief executive Stuartetherington.

Making due has meant working smarterfor Chabad at Cambridge university. di-rector Rabbi Reuven Leigh has cut hisbudget by 20%, and rethought program-ming. Hosting internationally knownspeakers drew crowds but did not have asmuch of a lasting impact as weekly Shabbatdinners. So the podium and the mic werestashed into storage, and the focus on Shab-bat dinners got pumped up. as a result,

weekly attendance around the Leighs’ tablehas grown from 20 to between 40 and 50.

another tweak, said Rabbi Leigh was to“observe what students’ interests were andbuild around.” This term, Shabbat table talk

grew into Chabad hosting a reading groupto discuss philosopher emmanuel Levinas’s“Nine talmudic Readings.”

Judith Jacob, an english literature majorset to graduate in 2011, turned up for mostof the meetings. “It was a really casual andopen group. You felt really engaged becausewe all approached the text rather than justbeing taught by lecture, which is what wedo all day.” The Leighs are consideringKafka and Kuzari reading groups for futureterms.

For other Chabad centers, staying in thebusiness of reaching Jewish minds startedwith soothing Jewish pockets. Hebrewacademy Huntington beach in southernCalifornia froze its tuition fee.

“We are doing anything we can to helpstudents who would have left Jewish educa-tion stay in school, but it has put a real hard-ship on us,” said Rabbi Yitzchak Newman,director of the day school. The freeze and

tuition scholarships kept thenursery-12th grade studentbody level at 300, while otherJewish schools in southern Cal-ifornia lost as much as 7% oftheir students.

Parents suffering the conse-quences of unemployment areturning to the school for morethan tuition breaks, they knockon the door for counseling, too.“We’ve bonded to a greater ex-tent,” said Rabbi Newman.“When they are in distress, it isnot their problem. It’s ours.”

at Chabad centers inFlorida, a state where 1 in 165homes are in foreclosure, sec-ond only to Nevada, unemploy-ment is at 11.5%, a historicalhigh, distress is part of day-to-day survival. Rabbi YaakovZucker said that supporterswho used to fund everythingfrom the mortgage to theweekly, communal Shabbatcholent meal were hit too hardto continue their donations.The cholent continued, withchicken subbing for pricier beef,but the donation void changedChabad’s mindset.

Chabad of the Florida Keyshas asked its community to giveof their time instead of theircash. to host a community Lagb’omer bbq, Rabbi Zuckerput his maxed-out credit cardto rest and delegated. one fam-ily brought the paper goods, an-other the sodas. When the cityrequired the synagogue to land-scape, Chabad hosted a plant-ing day on tu b’Shevat, theJewish New Year for trees. un-able to hire young rabbinicalstudents to help with weeklyvisits and tefillin sessions withJewish businessmen, RabbiZucker has divvied up his routewith a young pony-tailed Israelinamed elron, who has begunobserving Shabbat and puttingon tefillin of his own thanks toRabbi Zucker’s guidance.

“When we stopped trying todo everything on our own, andlet the community join us, wegot such a powerful response,”said Rabbi Zucker. even afterthe economy rebounds, “I don’tthink I will go back to the oldway.”

When we stoppedtrying to do everythingon our own, and let thecommunity join us, wegot such a powerfulresponse,” said RabbiZucker. even after theeconomy rebounds,I don’t think I will goback to the old way.”

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