News From Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters by Chabad Lubavitch Headquarters

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‫ב’’ה‬

W W W. LU BAV I TC H . C O M

LUBAVITCHINTERNATIONAL NEWS FROM THE CHABAD – LUBAVITCH GLOBAL NETWORK | J U LY 2010 Machne ISRaeL DeveLopMenT FunD

ANNOUNCES EARLY CHILDHOOD INITIATIVE

Merkos Shlichus Group Photo

chaBaD ouTReach pRoGRaM

honors 250 - Year Yahrzeit

OF BAAL SHEM TOV

At the Chabad Aleph Bet Preschool Richmond VA

abbi Yehuda Krinsky, Chairman of Machne Israel, has announced a major gift by Mr. and Mrs. david Slager to the Machne Israel development Fund. The gift will be used to create the Chabad early Childhood Initiative to promote Jewish continuity through the development of Jewish preschools. The Slagers have committed a sum of $5,000,000 to this initiative. Chabad centers in burbank, Ca, Weston, FL and Coral Springs, FL were among the first to be approved. "The generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Slager, and their profound insight and concern for the education of today’s generation of children bodes well for the future of Judaism," says Rabbi Krinsky. "This investment in the infrastructure of our early childhood education system will surely impact future generations of the Jewish people."

Mrs. elana Kornfeld, director of Chabad of burbank’s preschool says she is “delighted to be one of the first” to receive funding. “This will take Chabad of burbank to a completely new level and will literally enable children who are currently in non-Jewish preschools to experience authentic Judaism.” The generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Slager, and their profound insight and concern for the education of today’s generation of children bodes well for the future of Judaism.

our hundred rabbinical students will begin a summer tour of duty that will take them to 2500 cities and over ten thousand communities, where they will reach out to Jewish communities worldwide. The students will visit small, isolated communities in places as remote as vietnam, Ireland, Peru, and many others where only a handful of Jews make up the existing Jewish population. Now in its 65th year, Merkos Shlichus, as the Jewish community enrichment program is oﬃcially known, challenges ChabadLubavitch rabbinical students to apply their training out in the field while providing a vital service in locations where there is often no Jewish community infrastructure.

“This is a program that has seen incredible results over the years,” says Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky of Lubavitch World Headquarters. “Scores of Chabad-Lubavitch centers have opened as a result of these initial visits by our rabbinical students. and we cannot begin to estimate the numbers of Jewish people whose lives have been aﬀected in a positive way, as a result of this program.” This summer, he says, the program is intensified in honor of the 250th passing of the baal Shem tov, who began the tradition as an itinerant teacher. “our students literally travel the world, in the spirit of the baal Shem tov, and in a tradition established by the Lubavitcher Rebbe in 1946, to search Jewish people out, continued on page 8

FULL-TIME CHABAD REPRESENTATIVES

TO SETTLE IN

MUMBAI

With the help of this grant, Chabad of Coral Springs will open a new school that ubavitch World Headquarters has apis expected to enroll thirty students in its pointed Rabbi Chanoch and Leiki first year, says Chabad co-director Mrs. Gechtman of Israel to serve as full time continued on page 10 Chanie bronstein. Chabad representatives to Mumbai. Since the Mumbai terrorist attack of November 2008, during which Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, along with MaCHNe ISRaeL/CHabad LubavItCH HeadquaRteRS Non Profit Org other visitors at the Chabad Nariman 770 eastern Parkway US POStAGE brooklyn,NY 11213 House were murdered, Chabad services PAID were maintained in Mumbai through rabPermit #1235 binical students working there on an interim Brooklyn, NY basis. The Gechtmans and their baby will now take up permanent residence in the city, though not in Nariman House, which is

continued on page 5

INteRNatIoNaL a historic Synagogue Reopens in china

INteRvIeW Food Boutique Dairy Farm In conversation with natan in Germany Sharansky Goes Kosher

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JouRNeYS From pasadena to Rostov

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LUBAVITCHINTERNATIONAL

EDITORIAL

LUBAVITCHINTERNATIONAL

‫ב”ה‬ 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 citizens and its government, to preserve the Jewish integrity of the country. Its educational system must be founded and inspired by Jewish values and the Jewish tradition so that citizens of Israel grow to be proud keepers of their Jewish heritage. In its relations with other nations, those responsible for representing its government in foreign aﬀairs must do so with pride in the country's Jewish character.

NEWS FROM THE CHABAD–LUBAVITCH GLOBAL NETWORK WWW.LUBAVITCH.COM

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

on The BIoGRaphy oF The ReBBe Baila Olidort

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

Chairman Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky Editor-in-Chief baila olidort

Executive Editor Rabbi Joseph Friedman Managing Editor Zalman Feldman Production Manager Yaacov behrman

Contributing Writers Zalman abraham R. C. berman S. Fridman dvora Lakein Mordechai Lightstone Levi Margolin amihai Zippor

Published by LubavItCH NeWS SeRvICe

The oﬃcial news network of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement since 1958

LubavI tCH WoRLd HeadquaRteRS

770 eastern Parkway brooklyn, NY 11213 email: editor@lubavitch.com WWW.LubavItCH.CoM

iographies of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, who passed away on the third day of tammuz in 1994, are now making appearances in mainstream bookstores. I’m still waiting for a particular one that has been incubating for years. a prolific author with a rare mind who benefited from more than forty years of personal interaction with the Rebbe, the writer has shelved a first attempt and is working with painstaking diligence on a second, for more than a decade now. I have not asked him why he has taken so long on this work, but would venture that somewhere along the process, he has come uncomfortably close to a humbling recognition: the more he ponders the Rebbe’s life, the greater he discovers is his subject matter and the more inadequate he feels to the task. Rabbi adin Steinsaltz is in his 70s, and is possessed of an old-fashioned sobriety that is in short supply these days. He understands basic rules of proportionality that set elegant thinkers and writers apart from clumsy ones. Though a credible biography of the Lubavitcher Rebbe has yet to be produced, and though he knows that he is likely more qualified than most to deliver such a work, he seems unhurried, if uneasy about it. It seems to me that among his other credentials, his tempered reluctance makes him eminently qualified for the project. This man’s appreciation for the gravitas of his subject would make his biography of the Rebbe, when it is finally done, one worth reading. In the meantime, there are other books

that have come out, and still more in the works. So far they disappoint on many counts, especially in their failure to reconcile the facts of a life of prodigious achievements with the story they tell, and in their inability to apprehend the phenomenon of greatness. There is no attitude more poorly suited to a study on the life of the Lubavitcher Rebbe than cynicism. It should surprise no one that Chabad Chasidim feel that as regards the Rebbe’s life and teachings, our perspective and our version is the accurate one. It is true of the way most children and students of famous personalities feel, and justifiably so. but we also know that just as the Rebbe freely interacted with people outside of the Chabad community in his lifetime, he is now, as well, theirs to study and scrutinize. and though we know that they will bring their own, at times questionable perspectives, Chabad generally cooperates with researchers and biographers seeking to write about the Rebbe. but in hazarding something as enormous as a work on the life and afterlife of the Lubavitcher Rebbe—and his life spanned 92 years—it should not be too much to ask that the writers immerse themselves in the study of the Rebbe’s scholarly works which were of an absolute, unified whole with the Rebbe himself. Nor is it unreasonable to expect biographers to unburden themselves from their cherished cynical convictions, so that they may approach the concept of the tzaddik with some measure of honesty. to resist, as they do, the idea that every once in a while, the world is blessed with an individual of a diﬀerent spiritual order whose existence will

have a profound impact on the lives of many, and will, even in the afterlife, continue to inspire remarkable dedication to a great vision, is to their discredit. one need not “believe” in the idea of the tzaddik to recognize the presence of greatness. Shortly after the Rebbe passed away, Rabbi Michael Paley, the scholar-inresidence at the Jewish Resource Center of uJa-Federation of New York, and an adjunct professor at the Columbia School of Journalism, wrote this in an editorial column in New York Newsday. “In my meeting long ago, I felt from the Rebbe what I have rarely felt from most leaders, religious or political: a vibrant passion and a vision of what the world could be. The Rebbe’s presence pierced me and in some strange way, increased the velocity of our interaction. We learn from modern physics that at the ultimate velocity, time stands still and there is only a moment of the present . . . .The followers of the Rebbe have experienced such a moment with their leader . . . . For the followers of the Rebbe, and I include myself from a distance, this is a time of hope against fear, of love in the face of darkness.” Sixteen years after his passing there are more of us—not fewer—who experience the moment. every year, a new generation of young men and women, their idealism fired by the Rebbe’s vision of what the world could be, join the ranks of Chabad Shluchim, vying for the opportunity to participate in its realization. The number of lives that continue to be touched and transformed by a legacy that endures and grows, is countless. The biography that has yet to be told becomes ever more interesting.

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JULY 2010 | WWW. LUBAVITCH . COM

INTERNATIONAL

DuTch GoveRnMenT acKnoWLeDGeS FaILuRe To pRoTecT JeWS Survivors Recall Betrayal After War n Wednesday april 28, members of the dutch government apologized to Holland's Jewish community at the site of the former Westerbork concentration camp. The apology, for the actions of the dutch population and government during the Second World War and its aftermath, was made at one of many events held across the Netherlands to mark 65 years since the end of the war. The memorial events led up to Liberation day on May 5, the anniversary of dutch liberation from Nazi occupation. Located in the northeastern Netherlands, Westerbork is widely regarded as a symbol of the suffering and annihilation of dutch Jewry during the War. The camp was erected in 1939 to absorb the influx of Jews fleeing from the east. In total, 101,000 dutch Jews and 5,000 German Jews (among them the now famous diarist anne Frank and her family) were sent to their deaths from Westerbrok, after being deported to auschwitzbirkenau, Sobibór, bergen-belsen and Theresienstad. although queen beatrix of the Netherlands publicly apologized in 1995 for the failure of the dutch government to aid its 140,000 Jewish citizens during the Holocaust, the government has remained largely silent on dutch complicity with the Nazis, and the harsh treatment of Jewish refugees who returned after the War. on april 12, dr. ab Klink, Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport, apologized for the country’s failure to help its citizens returning from concentration and dP camps after the war. Jews returning to Holland found that their homes and businesses had been appropriated by their non-Jewish neighbors. Selma Weinberg, the last remaining dutch survivor of the Sobibór extermination camp, was at the memorial event. Weinberg, who today resides in the u.S., spoke of the difficulties she faced resettling in her homeland. Returning after the War with her husband, a Polish citizen, the couple found themselves turned away at the border by dutch authorities. according to Rabbi binyomin Jacobs, Chief Rabbi of interprovincial Holland, Chairman of the dutch Council of Rabbinical affairs and a Chabad-Lubavitch emissary, the younger generation has begun to question the sanitized image of dutch aide to its Jewish population during the Holocaust. “While the majority of Holland's population did not abet the Nazis, neither did they take action to stop the deportation of their Jewish friends and neighbors,” Jacobs said. “The younger generation wishes to come to terms with the complicity of those who aided in the extermination of dutch Jewry.” Jacobs is quick to add that acts of heroism did take place among the dutch resistance and in the general population. In recent years, a group of non-Jewish volunteers has

BouTIque DaIRy FaRM In GeRMany

GOES KOSHER Hamburg, Germany

“ people are now learning about the hundreds of years of Jewish history in the netherlands. The destruction of Dutch Jewry during the War is no longer something that took place in a foreign land - but rather in their own backyards.”

helped Jacobs tend to the 240 Jewish cemeteries in areas now devoid of Jewish communities. While Jacobs is troubled by a recent spike in anti-semitism in Holland, he feels that interest from the general population has also had a positive affect. “People are now learning about the hundreds of years of Jewish history in the Netherlands. The destruction of dutch Jewry during the War is no longer something that took place in a foreign land - but rather in their own backyards.” at the ceremony in Westerbork on april 28, dick van Putten, the Lieutenant-General of the the Koninklijke Marechaussee or KMar, the dutch Royal Military Police, addressed the crowd. during the Nazi occupation, members of KMar were incorporated into the German SS and served as the camp's guards. “I realize that those policemen [who served under the Germans] were forced by the regime,” van Putten said. “[However] that commitment to serve the occupier should never have happened. I regret this very much.” Through the KMar's acknowledgment of its past and its renewed dedication to keeping the memory of those who perished alive, van Putten hopes that the story of those who suffered at Westerbork will be conveyed to future generations. “behind each one [of the 102,000 deported from Westerbork for extermination] is a story. and each story is unique. The Royal Military Police draws lessons from the past. We suffer along with the survivors and mourn along with their families. They deserve our attention, compassion, respect and appreciation.” among those attending the event was Rabbi Yitzchak vorst, director of ChabadLubavitch of Holland. a survivor himself, vorst spent his childhood behind Westerbrok's walls. addressing the crowd, he recalled his experience as one of only a handful of children remaining in the camp's school. despite his pain and discomfort in returning to the camp, vorst felt an ironic sense of justice. “The first time I came back to this place after so many years,” vorst recalled, “I was struck by the irony that the same policeforce that had held me captive as a child was now standing to salute me as a rabbi.

ermany’s kosher consumers can now enjoy a full line of locally produced boutique cheeses and milk that come from a small dairy farm near the major Northern city of Hamburg. “until now,” explains Rabbi Shlomo bistritzky, Chabad representative to Hamburg, “I’d go to the dairy farm myself, and supervise the kashrut of a small quantity of kosher milk for my family and the school’s kitchen,” he says, referring to the city’s Jewish community school. Chabad representatives and other consumers throughout Germany who observe chalav yisrael (which requires supervision beginning at the milking process), had to do the same, or depend on dairy products imported from France. but with many Ger-

and all at very fair prices,” says Zeev Lluz, the entrepreneur responsible for Koscheremilch. “We did this so that people find they are actually getting a superior product at a good price and have no reason not to keep the highest standards of kashruth.” at Koscheremilch, everything from milking the cows to packaging the cheese happens on the farm. “It’s nothing like commercially processed dairy products,” says

“ The beauty of it is that we’ve managed to provide consumers with a truly high quality product, with excellent kosher standards, and all at very fair prices.” man Jews now keeping kosher, and given the growing numbers of Chabad representatives across the country, a full line of chalav yisrael dairy products will fill a gap in Germany’s kosher food market. The dairy line has fast gained a following, and the numbers are telling. Weekly orders amount to some 300-400 liter of milk per week and 300 kilo of dairy products. “The beauty of it is that we’ve managed to provide consumers with a truly high quality product, with excellent kosher standards,

Zeev, where growth hormones and more processing is used to ensure long shelf life and greater profitability. Consumers are quick to notice the diﬀerence in the taste and texture of the dairy products. “If you leave the milk standing for a day, the cream rises to the top, and you’ve got to shake it up,” says Zeev. Koscheremilch products are now sold at shops in ten major German cities, and can be purchased online at www.koscheremilch.de.

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LUBAVITCHINTERNATIONAL 4

INTERVIEW

IN CONVERSATION:

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 particular loyalties, especially those tied to religion and family, today’s challenges to Israel and the Jewish people are best overcome through the active involvement 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 for Democracy 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.

Baila Olidort and Mr. Natan Sharansky

Baila Olidort: As Chairman of the Jewish Agency, you are going to refocus the organization’s agenda and make 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 order to mobilize Jewish people around the idea of the Jewish state, and to bring Jews who want 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 with the help of world Jewry. but those operations of saving Jews whether from the Iron Curtain or arab countries or from ethopia are now behind us. today aliyah is aliyah of choice and those who do it, do it because they have a strong commitment to the Jewish people, a commitment to live 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 freedom to 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 in my life. In my life in the Soviet union I had no basic freedoms, but I had no inner sense to fight, because to do that you have to feel that there’s something more important than physical 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 found that 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. People here sometimes underestimate how important it is for Israel. The Ja is going to be much more involved strengthening Jewish identity in the state of Israel. Jews of Israel sometimes feel themselves more as Israelis than Jews. They are losing their historical 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 government and Jewish communities around the world. So when Jews from Israel meet other Jewish communities abroad, and spend some quality time inside [those communities], or have mutual projects with them, it helps to strengthen their Jewish identity. as american Jewry discovered, it’s important to strengthen forms of informal Jewish education, especially for people who don’t get a formal Jewish education—whether it is through summer camps or diﬀerent seminaries. We are doing it, but we have to do it more.

What you are proposing resonates with the work of Chabad-Lubavitch. Do you see the Jewish Agency cooperating with Chabad on some of these projects? We already have this cooperation. In the FSu there are many places where our representatives sit in the centers of Chabad, and on the contrary where Chabad is using our facilities, and I am very much in favor of this. on campuses as well, we are broadening on our activities there, and Chabad is doing the same and we welcome it. I meet more and more Chabad rabbis on the campuses and we will have more of our shlichim on campuses.

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JULY 2010 | WWW. LUBAVITCH . COM

INTERVIEW

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

We can learn a lot from the determination, stubbornness and persistence of Chabad shlichim. When [some] representatives . . . came to me and asked me how it is that I gave all of Russian Jewry under the control of Chabad, I said, what do 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 go for all their lives—like to exile—to omsk or Perm or Kamtchatka or Sakhalin, as Chabad shlichim do, not one month, not one year, but to spend all their lives there—and look what happens: a Chabad shliach comes with wife and one child, and there are 10 Jews and he spends 10 years there. Now he has four children, and there are 150 Jews who appeared from nowhere, and he is building a community and he spends another 10 years and community is becoming even bigger— “If you have such people,” I told them, “I promise we’ll help them go to Sakhalin or Kamchatka.”

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

The first time I went was 10 years after my release. and it was such an elevating experience. to think that this was the place where the leaders of the KGb—the most powerful organization in the world—told me that this was the end of Jewish movement, that every 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 secure place. Mr. Natan Sharansky each time when I go back I have this feeling that this is the place where we tested and proved our power as a people. So it is important Jewish universal values are widely embraced everywhere. What are some of the specific to draw the right conclusions about what can be done today. Jewish values that you want to promote in your work in the JA? As a Soviet prisoner, you dreamed about Israel, about one day living here. You’ve been living here now 24 years. How does the reality meet your expectations? Personally, I’m glad that my daughters have a traditional Jewish life. My wife keeps more of the mitzvot than I keep and my daughters even more than my generation. I dreamed that Israel is a paradise. and 24 years later I feel it’s the best place for a Jew to as far as the Jewish agency, we do want more and more people to be connected in diflive but it needs a lot of tikkun. a lot needs to be corrected. Morally, it is much more diﬃcult ferent ways to their heritage, to the values of Judaism and to wish that their children to live in paradise than in hell, because in hell you know exactly what your role is. will 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. What was your greatest disappointment? Still, I do believe that it is absolutely a wrong statement that you have to choose whether to be a person of universal values or of Jewish values. It is as false today as it was before. When we were struggling, all our friends had the feeling that we are one people, and it There’s a deep connection between the two—if I have the strength to fight for human was so clear that we are one people. but when I came, I discovered that there’s no limit rights it’s only because I discovered my Jewishness. to 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 people Towards the end of your book Fear No Evil , which you wrote shortly after you gained your again. So this is our biggest challenge: to make these walls come down. freedom, you expressed some sadness about leaving your life in Russia in prison. You talked about the absolute certainty between good and bad, and you wondered whether once in the What is your greatest concern regarding Israel? free world, you will know “how to enjoy the vivid colors of freedom without losing the existential depth” that you felt in prison. today we have a big problem of advocacy for Israel, of defending the very idea of a Jewish state today. and again, people who are ready to fight against new hostile anti-SemiI have to say that now [so many years later], I’m surprised how right I was then—to see tism are people who have a commitment, connection and strong feeling of this as a major challenge to my life. I was in this place where there was such clarity befamily—people who want to make sure that their children will grow as Jews and will tween good and evil, friends and enemies. and it’s practically impossible to reach this continue being part of the family. level of moral and practical clarity in daily life. So whatever challenges we are facing, we will come to the same driver to solve the chalI spent nine years in prison, but I also spent nine years in government. I was in four diflenges: to strengthen our Jewish identity.

Chabad representatives to settLe in MuMbai continued from page 1

under repair and will be dedicated as a visitors’ center and a memorial to the Holtzbergs and the others killed there. Rabbi Gechtman spent time Mumbai as a rabbinical student, helping his good friends Gabi and Rivka in their outreach work. More recently, in the summer of 2009, the couple spent time in Mumbai while considering the idea of settling there. There are a lot of emotional Rabbi Chanoch Gechtman visiting Mumbai in the summer of 2009 and physical adjustments to make to a move like this, they admit. “but,” says Leiki, “we found a real need here, and a tremendous amount of po- with a love for torah study,” recalls Rabbi tential; it became clear to us that we are Gechtman of the time he spent with Gabi in Mumbai. meant to do this.” In an interview with Lubavitch.com, Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky of Lubavitch World Headquarters says that although Rabbi Gechtman emphasized that he and Chabad has maintained rabbinical interns his wife are also interested in turning their in Mumbai since the terror attacks, “it is focus to the local Jewish community, made gratifying that, thanks to the cooperation of up of some 4,000-5,000 Jews. “There is a great need to reach out to this the Indian government, we will finally have full time resident Shluchim. The Gecht- community made up of many, many poor mans have what it takes to continue the families. My dream is to establish a center work of Gabi and Rivki, both in spirit and that will help these people in an immediate way, but also give them the tools to become practice.” The Gechtmans say they expect to con- self-suﬃcient.” The Gechtmans will be moving to Mumtinue the work of the Holtzbergs, serving visiting businesspeople and international bai in several weeks. oﬃcials at Lubavitch travelers. “Gabi created an exceptional at- Headquarters confirm that security arrangemosphere of openness and warmth together ments have been addressed.

LOCAL CHABAD CENTER LEADS CHALLAH BAKING WORKSHOP FOR DEAF

un and tradition know no language barriers, as members of the Jewish deaf community of Riverside discovered at a recent Challah-making workshop. Rabbi Shmuel Fuss and his wife, tzippy, welcomed about 15 children and adults to the Chabad Jewish Community Center of Riverside on June 17 where they learned how to make the traditional braided Jewish loaves. Led by Joshua Soudakoﬀ of Los angeles, a deaf yeshiva student, the entire workshop was conducted in american Sign Language. to make it easy to follow along, a Powerpoint presentation detailed the steps of preparing the Challah. When

Led by Joshua soudakoﬀ of Los angeles, a deaf yeshiva student, the entire workshop was conducted in american sign Language.

participants were ready to tackle their dough, a video featuring Mrs. Fuss braiding a six-strand Challah illustrated how to assemble the loaves. The happy Challah-makers took their bread home to share with others. Riverside is home to dozens of deaf Jewish residents, many living in close proximity to the California School for the deaf. Rabbi Fuss said the workshop is just one example of Chabad’s ongoing eﬀorts to reach the deaf community and make Judaism accessible to all Jews. Passing along Jewish traditions in an entertaining way, is an important part of that eﬀort.

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LUBAVITCHINTERNATIONAL 6

JOURNEYS

FRoM paSaDena To RoSTov-on-Don:

A JEWISH FAMILY MAKES A RADICAL MOVE

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

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.

mericans across the economic spectrum have radically lowered their living standards in the past two years, in ways many had never anticipated. For most, it was a matter of numbers, not choice. but one young couple’s decision to give up their car, their home, and the comforts of an all-american life, had nothing at all to do with the economy. In december 2008, Chaim and Kaila danzinger packed up their belongings, traded in their children’s beach toys for down coats with extra loft, and bade farewell to a community they have come to love in sunny Pasadena, California, for one they felt needed them even more, in frigid Rostovon-don, Russia. “assimilation here is at around 95 percent,” says Chaim danzinger, trying to explain what motivated him and his wife to make the move. “So you have a narrow window of opportunity to reach Jews—basically between the ages 20-24, before the risk of losing them becomes even greater.” danzinger, 28, spent several years as a rabbinical student in ukraine and Russia. after he married Kaila estrin from Pittsburgh, the couple was recruited by Rabbi Chaim Hanoka to Pasadena, where they lived for two years and began to build a family. Chaim was program director at the local Chabad House, led JLI and adult education classes for students at Caltech. Kaila worked as a preschool teacher. and the living was pleasant. but Chaim hankered for the extreme challenge that he felt could only be had in a place like Russia, where Jewish life had

come to a halt for nearly a century. “He kept talking about shlichus in Russia,” his wife says. Knowing that fewer candidates are drawn to Russia than to California, the need seemed more urgent to Chaim, she explains. although Kaila, 26, spent a summer as a counselor in Moscow and Simferopol, she “never imagined living here.” but with her husband coming back to the idea again and again, she finally began to consider it.

ChoosiNg Rostov-oN-DoN Chaim contacted Russia’s Chief Rabbi berel Lazar. Most Chabad representatives in the FSu are either Israeli, or homegrown shluchim of Chabad communities that have developed there over the past two decades. of 400 couples serving as shluchim in the FSu, only about 30 are made up of one american, and fewer still like the danzingers, where both husband and wife are american, says Rabbi Lazar. but Rabbi Lazar was open to having the danzingers join the network of Chabad representatives in Russia. “What’s important to us is not where the shluchim come from, but that they can meet the standards and needs of the community,” Rabbi Lazar told lubavitch.com. Language, and the ability to understand the culture and mentality of Russian Jewry, he adds, are essential. Chaim’s summer stints served him well on both counts. So Rabbi

Lazar suggested a number of cities, and the danzingers went on a scouting mission. What attracted them to Rostov, says Kaila, is the city's unusually large young population. “We saw a lot of youth, many young people and college age kids.” The need and opportunity were immediately apparent, and the danzingers have not been disappointed. The couple hosts some 100 people every Friday night, 40 of them college age students who participate in the prayer services and join the festive Shabbos dinner. There’s a sense of urgency in Rostov, explains Chaim, that's decidedly unlike the laid-back pace on america's west-coast. “There’s no comparing the lifestyles. In Pasadena, we had beautiful views of the sun and the mountains, we spent time with the kids in local parks, and enjoyed warm weather year round.”

LEaRNiNg a NEw LiFEstyLE While Pasadena’s winter temperatures average at a balmy 60 degrees farenheit, in Rostov, the mercury hovers at about 15 degrees. “Here you can’t just hop into the car (the danzingers don’t own one) and go to target to get stuﬀ.” Kosher food is also hard to come by in Rostov, and the danzingers must drive four hours across the border to donetsk, ukraine for basic kosher products. Kosher meat is

shipped from Moscow, a 20hour train ride. as Kaila points out, everyday essentials that were easily obtainable in Los angeles now require serious planning. Kaila works as the administrator for the local ohr avner school where she oversees the Judaic curriculum and is a Judaica instructor herself. In addition, she’s busy working with teenagers and college students who, she says, “are diﬀerent from their american peers. Here, when I get together with a group of girls, they want to get into conversations of real substance. We don’t need to plan fun ideas as a way of drawing them in.” twelve months into their new lives, the danzingers have earned Rabbi Lazar’s warm approbations. “They are like fish in water,” he tells lubavitch.com. “They are doing incredible work. People in the community love them. We are seeing a lot of success in their work.” The danzingers are especially proud of Rostov’s history. “a really big factor in choosing Rostov is that we have the ohel [resting place] of the Rebbe Rashab—the fifth Chabad Rebbe [Rabbi Sholom dovber, 1860-1920] here.”

Number of Chabad Centers in the FSU

0 2010 . . . .... . 426! 1989 . . . . . . .. .

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JOURNEYS Rostov was a significant Chasidic hub at one time. “It is an amazing feeling to walk down the streets knowing that I am treading on same ground as the Rebbe Rashab and an older generation of Chasidim.”

RussiaN JEws—a DiFFERENt MENtaLity More interesting still, Kaila says that Jews who know almost nothing about Judaism seem to experience an immediate connection with Chabad’s history here. In ways that are strikingly diﬀerent from american Jews who have no religious background, here she says, “even though most Jews here are non-observant, they want to go to the ohel, and they feel a connection.” Rostov’s ohr avner school counts 140 kids; the city’s Jewish preschool has 20 children enrolled. a host of student clubs, a vibrant StaRS educational program for college-age students are substantial enough in size that the danzingers recently sent a group on a birthright Israel trip. “There’s so much activity here, that our lives center almost exclusively on home and shul,” leaving the couple with little time to notice and miss the things they enjoyed in their “past” lives. The danzinger children now visit their grandparents via skype. They haven’t had meat or poultry in six weeks, and instead of picking up pizza or sushi at the local kosher café, Kaila’s kneading pita bread and making wraps and tomato sauce from scratch. asked if she sometimes questions the move she made, Kaila says, “It depends on the day—many days I come back from a program and am on a high. The sense of real accomplishment confirms why I’m here. and there are other days where I need to remind myself why we moved here.” Three year old Mendel danzinger, and

his one year old brother Yakov, are too young to appreciate their parents’ idealism. but they are among the first children of american Jews who will grow up in Russia, turning the old model (of Russian immigrant parents with american-raised children) on its head. Indeed, Kaila admits that it took her time to come to terms with the idea that her California-born children “will probably speak with a Russian accent.” but, she oﬀers, “They’ll grow up with a stronger identity as Jewish role models,” than they would growing up in an La Jewish day school. “They’ll also probably be better at mathematics, science and music.”

assimilation here is at around 95 percent so you have a narrow window of opportunity to reach Jews

there’s a sense of urgency in rostov that's decidedly unlike the laid-back pace on america's west-coast. there’s no comparing the lifestyles. the danzingers must drive four hours across the border to donetsk for basic kosher products. Kosher meat is shipped from Moscow, a 20-hour train ride.

RUSSIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO EMBRACE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION hen Russia’s President dmitry Medvedev met several months ago with leading representatives of his country’s major religious faiths, one of the items on his agenda was the development of a course on religious education for elementary state schools. The result is a new six-volume series on orthodox Christianity, Islam, Judaism, buddhism and two additional volumes on the history of world religions and secular ethics. Come September 2010, The Foundations of Jewish Culture, as the Jewish volume is named, will be delivered along with the other volumes, to the 4th and 5th grade classrooms in 19 regions of the State. The 95-page textbook oﬀers an authentic review of Judaism including an introduction to Jewish spiritual tradition, the foundations of faith,the exodus from egypt, Jewish holidays, traditions and customs. It’s a dramatic shift and a first for the country’s elementary school children since the rise of communism nearly a century ago, when state education denied students exposure to religious studies. “Religion was altogether in another world when I was growing up,” says andrey Glotser, an aide to Rabbi berel Lazar and a member of the team who worked on the Jewish volume. Glotser graduated from

Russia’s State university of the Humanities in 1980, under communist rule. “This is an amazing victory for democracy.” barely one percent of the public school children who will be using the book are Jewish. all the more important then, says Russia’s Chief Rabbi Lazar, for the Jewish child who may find himself a minority in his class. “The idea that a Jewish child is oﬀered by his teacher the option of exploring his heritage gives the student who may otherwise feel outnumbered and isolated, an important sense of legitimacy.” “We tried to make the material simple and accessible so that it would be understandable for children from Jewish families, as well as from other faiths,” says Glotser, who worked with Mikhail Chlenov, a Professor of Jewish Studies and the director of the euro-asian Jewish Congress, and Galina Mindrina, a teacher at an ohr avner school in volgograd, under severe time constraints to complete the volume. Rabbi Lazar says the new course reflects a general shift in Russia’s attitude towards religion. “Russia has made a 180 degree turn away from its anti-religious doctrine.” He points to Prime Minister vladimir Putin’srecent decision to lend government support to the construction of the Jewish museum in Moscow, a project of the Jewish community, as an example.

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

“The government has proven a genuine desire in taking real steps to correct communism’s biggest mistake—which was to remove G-d from life.” originally resisted by church-and-state separationists, the initiative oﬀers students the freedom to choose from among any of the six courses corresponding with the volumes, including the one on secular ethics. Though Rabbi Lazar admits that the majority of the school children will probably

choose the course on secular ethics, he insists that the benefit to the students will eventually be appreciated in Russian society at large. “The Lubavitcher Rebbe insisted that even in public schools, children need to be educated with an awareness of ‘an eye that sees and an ear that hears,’ instilling a sense of accountability for their actions.” The course will run as a pilot program, with adjustments to be made after teachers evaluate its eﬀectiveness.

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BOOKS

NEW VOLUME OF CHABAD ENCYCLOPEDIA PUBLISHED he eighth volume of Sefer Ha'Arachim Chabad, the Chabad Encyclopedia, was recently released by Kehot Publication society. beginning with the Hebrew entry “az” (alef-zayin) and ending with “echad” (alefchet-daled), the volume covers a range of topics from “hyssop grass” (an ingredient of the Passover and Parah adumah ceremonies) and the meaning of fraternity, to the unity of G-d. This newest volume represents just one slice of a monumental project aimed at explaining issues raised in the discourses of the Chabad Rebbes. although the encyclopedia’s primary function is to define the often complex and arcane terminology found in works of Chabad Chasidic philosophy, entries also explore the spiritual and psychological meaning of particular mitzvoth, as well as their practical application.

among some 700 volumes of discourses, books and letters—were typically culled from oral sermons on the weekly torah portion or the various holidays, making the task of indexing particularly diﬃcult. Students seeking to research the discussion on a pertinent topic would have little resources to help them reference it, or to find related discussions. In a letter written in april of 1971 to the editor of the talmudic encyclopedia, Rabbi Shlomo Yosef Zevin, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of blessed memory, explained the impetus in spearheading the project. despite the absence of a precedent for a project of this kind—a single concentrated work indexing the concepts discussed in Chabad Chasidic philosophy, the Rebbe explained that the task seemed “particularly fitting to the outlook of Chabad's philosophical theory,” given that one of its core components is the analysis of various spiritual concepts in a clear and defined manner. Indeed, in 1942, after he was appointed the head of

While there is no oﬃcial title to this volume, its underlying concept of [G-d's] unity and its pervasive presence in our lives

The tradition of organizing concepts in Judaic thought is not new. Rabbenu bachya ben asher (d. 1340) compiled Kad Hakemach, the encyclopedia of torah Thoughts. Closer to our times works such as the S'dei Chemed, an eclectic compendium of concepts in Jewish Law, was published by Rabbi Chaim Chezekiah Medini of Crimea, ukraine, in 1890, and the Talmudic Encyclopedia—a current project which aims at summarizing talmudic discussions and their relevant Rabbinic commentaries—have taken a prominent place in torah literature. The Sefer Ha'Arachim project is unique in its focus on the texts of the Chabad Chasidic movement. despite the movement's renown for unique depth of explanation and analysis, it had yet to organize themes and terms in an easily accessible way. Chabad Chasidic works—scattered

Kehot, the publishing arm of the Chabad Lubavitch movement, the Rebbe began the process of publishing edited and indexed versions of the various fundamental works of the Chabad Rebbes. The job of leading the project ultimately fell to Rabbi Yoel Kahan of brooklyn. Rabbi

Rabbi Kahan’s unique approach to the subject and his encyclopedic breadth of knowledge are well reﬂected in the encyclopedia’s entries. Beyond the basic deﬁnitions for the terms discussed, his scholarship is particularly evident in the addenda to the book that delve more extensively into the entries, and provide additional analysis of tangential topics.

Kahan, who was born in the Soviet union and raised in Israel, was at the time already well known for his brilliance in torah and Chasidic philosophy. one of the Rebbe's “chozrim” it was his job to memorize the Rebbe's Shabbat talks, when electronic recordings and even note-taking are forbidden, and then write the entire discourse verbatim after the conclusion of Shabbat. based on directives of the Rebbe, Rabbi Kahan set about the daunting task of leading the editorial board for the encyclopedia. The resulting first volume, published in 1970, included an appendix, a discourse specially delivered by the Rebbe on the essence of Chasidic philosophy and its expression in all aspects of torah study. While a collaborative eﬀort between a team of scholars lies behind the project, Rabbi Kahan's scholarship is its driving force. His unique approach to the subject and his encyclopedic breadth of knowledge are well reflected in the encyclopedia’s entries. beyond the basic definitions for the terms discussed, his scholarship is particularly evident in the addenda to the book that delve more extensively into the entries, and provide additional analysis of tangential topics.

Soon after the release of the initial volume, the Sefer Ha'Arachim assumed an integral role in the study of Chasidic works and ideas. The breadth of discussion in its entries can at times seems overwhelming, but the encyclopedia has allowed for the clarification of essential concepts in Chasidic study. according to Rabbi Y. Paltiel, who lectures on Chasidic thought and is a teacher in united Lubavitcher Yeshiva in brooklyn, Sefer Ha'Arachim has proved useful in his research. “Chasidic texts can be very deceiving when studied superficially,” he says. “often the text can seem very repetitious in nature to the uninitiated. Sefer Ha'Arachim delineates the subject at hand forcing the student to see the subtlety of the text and come to a proper understanding of the subject.” The volumes of Sefer Ha'Arachim Chabad have been used in the study of Chasidic thought beyond the yeshiva, in the broader academic world. elliot R. Wolfson, a professor at NYu and scholar of Chasidism, has used it in his research, calling it a “useful tool for the academic and the non-acedemic, [that] makes the material more accessible.” Though preferring to study from source material as opposed to reference works, Wolfson has used Sefer Ha'Arachim's entries for clarification and direction, noting that “it is very useful to have this systematic presentation of the key concepts, symbols, and terms that inform Chabad philosophy.” The current volume joins the preceding entries in discussing fundamental topics of Jewish faith. Previous volumes included entries on the meaning of love in Chasidic terminology–both the immutable love between the Creator and the Jewish people, as well as the love between two people—the Kabbalistic understanding of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and the revelation of the infinite essence of G-d's divine 'light.' according to Rabbi Sholom Charitonow, who joined the editorial team in 1981, among the most essential concepts addressed in the current volume are its analysis of the unity of G-d, specifically as expressed in the Shema prayer, the fundamental aﬃrmation of Jewish faith. “While there is no oﬃcial title to this volume,” he said, “its implied subtitle is the underlying concept of [G-d's] unity and its pervasive presence in our lives.” The next volume of Sefer Ha'Arachim Chabad is slated for release in the mid-2011. The volume is available online, at: www.kehot.com.

chaBaD ouTReach pRoGRaM continued from page one and connect with them no matter where they are.” In an intensive 3-6 week stint, the students will become acquainted with their assigned communities, meet with its members and leaders, and evaluate their immediate needs. The students will come prepared to teach intensive courses in Jewish tradition, talmud, kabbalah and the Jewish life cycle, adapting the 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 of Jewish books, tapes, videos and even torah scrolls wherever necessary. In some communities, they will teach the basics of kosher, and arrange for the availability of kosher products. In others, they will teach community members how to establish a summer day camp for Jewish children. "It depends on the needs of

each individual community,” said coordinator Rabbi Schneor Nejar. Throughout the ensuing year, students will maintain close contact with communities and individuals, often visiting during the holiday seasons, sending shipments of Jewish literature and other Judaica, or answering questions long-distance, all in an eﬀort to make traditional Judaism a viable reality for all Jews, everywhere.

Meetings may be arranged with visiting rabbis this summer by contacting Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters.

“our students literally travel the world, in the spirit of the baal shem tov, and as the Lubavitcher rebbe established, to ﬁnd Jewish people in the most isolated places, and connect with them.”

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EDUCATION

neW GeneRaTIon oF SchoLaRS ponDeRS JeWISh exISTenTIaL ISSueS

Photo Credit: B. Lifshitz

s it rational to believe in the historical accuracy and divine origin of the Bible? Can Jews exist as a community without a land of their own? Is the traditional role of women in Judaism an aﬀront to feminism? These were some of the questions Jewish students explored and debated at the 2nd annual Sinai Scholars Symposium, hosted at dartmouth’s Nelson a. Rockefeller Center. titled “ancient ethics in a Postmodern World,” the Symposium drew students from uPeNN, dartmouth, NYu, university of Miami, Cornell, uCLa, brandeis, boston u, and the university of arizona, and offered students an unusual setting for interacting with professors and Jewish students from diverse disciplines and schools. together students grappled with a range of issues facing the thinking Jew in a postmodern world, such as Zionism and Jewish Identity, dating and relationships, and Jewish responses to science and technology. Rabbi dr. emmanuel J. Schochet, professor emeritus at Humber College, opened

the Symposium with a lecture on epistemological methodology as it relates to defining religious truth. Rejecting the notion of a provable empirical truth, Schochet argued that consistency is the closest concept humans have to absolute truth. brandon Floch, a junior at dartmouth College, sparked a heated debate about biblical criticism when he raised the subject of subscribing to an observant Jewish lifestyle and performing mitzvot without accepting the divine origin of the torah. andrew aidman, a recent graduate of the university of Miami, spoke about a kabbalistic approach to entrepreneurism, aidman demonstrated how the mystical concepts of unity and the pursuit of a higher form of pleasure could serve a paradigm for economic growth. according to Rabbi Yitzchok dubov, director of Sinai Scholars, the Symposium oﬀers a unique opportunity for students to “connect to 3000 years of Jewish scholarship through academic explorations of torah study.” It is specifically through learning and engaging with Jewish texts and ideas, says dubov, that young Jews develop a strong sense of identity and commitment.

The Sinai Scholars Society is a joint proThe winning paper was delivered by gram of the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute Zachary Klein, a senior majoring in music and Chabad-on-Campus. Students are ad- composition with piano emphasis at Ithaca mitted by application process to the pro- College. Klein’s paper compared prayer to gram’s intensive, semester-long Jewish study music and art, focusing specifically on the programs that offer in-depth Jewish study interplay between performer and audience. and follow-up opportunities like this conThe Symposium drew others, like ference. Some 1500 Jewish students at 52 Melissa Garber, who are no longer in the participating Chabad campus centers in university setting. a dartmouth alumna, North america are part of the Society. Garber enjoyed the chance to engage with Rabbi Levi Krinsky, Chabad representa- Jewish ideas in an academic environment. tive to the state of New Hampshire, intro- “being outside of college, something that I duced Mr. George miss the most is the symposium offers a Rohr, the principal the academic enpatron of Chabad-onvironment where unique opportunity for Campus and Sinai you can talk students to “connect to 3000 Scholars. Mr. Rohr about things that years of Jewish scholarship met with the students, are academically and encouraged them stimulating as through academic to maximize their inwell as Jewishly explorations of torah study.” dividual potential. motivated. I “don’t suffice with baking bread when you went to last year’s symposium in Princeton are capable of polishing diamonds,” he told and I loved it so much I absolutely had to them, citing Hayom Yom, a book of daily come back again this year. I can’t wait to thoughts from the Lubavitcher Rebbe. come again next year.” asked what motivates him to donate so by encouraging open, honest discussions generously to Sinai Scholars, Mr. Rohr re- on a range of issues, the symposium, says sponded humbly. “I’m not a philanthropist,” Rabbi dubov, helps foster a sense of “deep he said. “I’m an investor and I know of no appreciation, warmth and passion toward more valuable a cause in which to invest. It Jewish learning and living.” simply gives me the best return on my bodner, for one, is thankful that the money.” Symposium gave him the opportunity to Rabbi Moshe Gray, co-director of engage in dialogue with other students, and Chabad at dartmouth College, was thrilled showed him “that there are others my age to host what he called “the most exciting out there with Jewish experiences vastly difprogram that Chabad-on-Campus offers.” ferent to my own who think about Jewish “It is really inspiring to see the passion philosophy in a similar intense manner as that the students have for torah learning myself.” For him, “this discovery was exand to see them interact with some of the tremely meaningful.” eminent academic minds in the Jewish world today. I think the goal of the Symposium is to inspire students to continue in their academic pursuit of torah study and I am honored that I was chosen to host this.” Many students spoke highly of the program as well. Zachary bodner, a uPenn senChabad Campus Centers ior majoring in cognitive sciences, told lubavitch.com that the Symposium was “one 1989 . . . . . of the most amazing experiences” of his college career. “I learned a lot of new ideas in 2010 . . . . . . .. Jewish philosophy that are pertinent to what I have been thinking about lately.”

25 130!

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COMMUNITIES

THE HIDDEN JEWS OF SOLANO COUNTY way that’s never happened here.” before deciding to settle here, the Zakloses explored the area. “We had no idea if we’d even manage to pull a minyan together for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur,” says Rabbi Zaklos. but he bought a list of 2500 Jewish-sounding names, printed a customized Jewish calendar for Solano County, and mailed it out. “We got an amazing response. We got calls from people who heard about the cal-

Rabbi Chaim Zaklos reads the Megillah

t’s an 820 square mile swath in Northern California with a population of about 500,000. until recently, anyone living there who happened to be Jewish kept quiet about it. They thought they were the only ones. In fact, this bedroom community to San Francisco and Sacramento counts at least some 2500 households in which at least one member is Jewish. barbara abeling, a nurse and a mother of three girls, has been living in vacaville since 2001. until the Rabbi Chaim and aidel Zaklos arrived here in october, she says, “everyone thought they were the only Jews here. So now there’s a sort of coming out of the closet. They are drawing people out of their little niches and bringing us together in a

endar and wanted to get one of their own.” The couple and their infant hadn’t completed their move in time for Rosh Hashana, but they were there all the same, launching their first services in a space they rented at the Hampton Inn, a local hotel. “We had some 70 people walk in to services during Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur,” says the proud rabbi. 2500 Jews are 2500 reasons for Chabad representatives to settle in Solano County. but finding them, says Mrs. Zaklos, is “like searching for a needle in a haystack.” The only way to do that, she says switching metaphors, is “to shake the tree.” So shake the tree they are. The energetic couple began by introducing lively Jewish programs, each designed to let Jewish residents

When Wall Street cheers as the Dow Jones scrapes its way up from 12-year lows, it sounds faint and hollow to chabad centers on Main Streets around the world. “visitors see the work we do with Jewish students and want to help out,” said Rabbi Green, co-director of the Chabad Jewish enrichment Center of Lancaster and York. “So, now we’ve opened the guest house year round. a bit of creative fundraising.” When Wall Street cheers as the dow Jones scrapes its way up from 12-year lows, it sounds faint and hollow to Chabad cen-

Galila was at a supermarket when she saw the cookbook on a kosher display table. at the table was Mrs. esther blau, editor of The Spice and Spirit with her daughter, yes, aidel Zaklos. Galila gave her barbara’s number. aidel called barbara and invited her over. That was their first encounter, and today, only a few months later, barbara is making up for lost time. Chabad of Solano County has made it possible for her, she says, to give

2500 Jews are 2500 reasons for Chabad representatives to settle in Solano County.

chaBaD cenTeRS DevISe STRaTeGIeS To ouTWIT The ReceSSIon hen Rabbi elazar and Shira Green were casting about for fundraising ideas to maintain their work with Jewish students at Franklin and Marshall College, they looked to their own backyard. For several summers, they’ve opened a four-bedroom guest home on their property to travelers looking for a kosher, reasonably priced play to stay during their visit to the Pennsylvania dutch Country, home to amusement parks and other tourist traps.

in the area in on the secret: “there are other Jews here, and you can find them at Chabad.” The area’s first ever menorah lighting attracted 250 locals. billed Menorah on Main, a Jewish spin on the X-mas Merriment on Main, the event was a smashing success. “at first there was a misunderstanding by some about our naming it, Menorah on Main,” explains Rabbi Zaklos. but things were quickly smoothed over when the

Rabbi reached out to those who sponsor the Merriment on Main festival, and the city’s Mayor, as well as dignitaries from county to state levels, participated. The event brought many to joyful tears, and the Zakloses received dozens of enthusiastic responses. This one is by Marla Schapiro: “I just wanted to take a moment to thank you ever so much for the Hanukkah celebrate in town square. My heart was so full that night and my emotions were not in check. Myself as well as my dearest friends the Lazars were in tears as the menorah was lit. There were so many people that came. I will never ever forget that night as you have brough back my faith and my passion for Judaism.” barbara abeling, who was “born on a school bus” and grew up in many states with no formal Jewish education, says “the baseline for me was my Jewish faith,” much of which came through The Spice and Spirit of Kosher Cooking. It’s one of those stories where lots of little details conspire to stitch a compelling plotline together. In this case, barbara’s friend

her three girls Jewish educational opportunities they wouldn’t have otherwise had. “I tried previously to go to a synagogue with them,” she says. The experience left her feeling empty. “I’ve had enough of alternative Judaism. Now Chabad is providing me with an amazing education for my three girls, an education that allows us to be Jewish, rather than feel Jewish.”

MACHNE ISRAEL DEVELOPMENT FUND

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, New York. Chabad of the West Side early Learning Center of New York City will provide guidance for the development of grant-receiving preschools. The Machne Israel development Fund was established by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of blessed memory, in 1984, as a funding organization for sustaining the growth and expansion of Chabad-Lubavitch activities worldwide. Spearheading the eﬀort are Rabbis Shmaya Krinsky and avraham berkowitz of the MIdF executive committee. Chabad institutions may apply for a grant through The Chabad Childhood Initiative: MIdF-Lubavitch at Lubavitch World Headquarters, or by email at: preschools.midf@lubavitch.com.

continued from page 1

With creativity and faith, chabad representatives have dreamt up ways to maintain status quo and even expand during the recession. ters on Main Streets around the world. With creativity and faith, Chabad representatives have dreamt up ways to maintain status quo and even expand during the recession. In the last week of december, Chabad of San antonio did what very few non-profits are doing these days. They demolished their building to begin new construction, a project that was in jeopardy. The Chabad Center for Jewish Life was in the planning stage when it got a one-two punch: the architect’s bid jumped by $2 million just as local donors were tightening their belts. Rabbi Chaim block, executive director of Chabad of San antonio, began to consider a scaled down program. He feared his supporters’ reaction, because they had pledged toward a grander project. The opposite was true. continued on page 12

“The cornerstone of a Jewish community is the education it provides to its youth. We are extremely grateful to be able to fill this void, with the new preschool providing a wholesome Jewish education to the Jews of our area,” says bronstein. Chabad of Weston will add new classrooms to its existing preschool of thirty students, opening space for twelve more children, explains the community’s Rabbi Yisroel Spalter. applications for funding will be evaluated by an advisory committee of early childhood educational professionals, Shluchim and experienced preschool directors with extensive knowledge of contemporary preschool educational methodologies and managerial structures. The committee members are: Rabbi Nochem Kaplan, New

Number of Chabad Centers in the State of California

45 2010 . . . .... . .. .163! 1989 . . . . . . .. .

Number of Chabad Preschools 2005 . . . . . . ..

73 2010 . . . . . . 114!

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COMMUNITIES

WORLD EXPO 2010 JEWISH VISITORS AT HOME WITH

CHABAD OF SHANGHAI Shanghai, China

xpo fever is raging in shanghai. The world Expo of 2010—the largest to date—opened saturday, May 1. one hundred world leaders participated, and 190 countries were represented in its pavilions and exhibitions. Themed “better City – better Life,” the expo, anticipating some 70 million visitors over its six month duration, will also showcase Shanghai's status as a world city. an estimated 35,000 Jews are expected at the expo, and Chabad-Lubavitch representatives in Shanghai are prepared to greet them. oﬃcial religious activities are not allowed in association with the expo itself, but Chabad has initiated several projects including Shabbat meals in the downtown area and a kosher minimarket that will deliver orders made through their website chinajewish.org. Chabad representatives will also assist in arranging tours of Shanghai's historical Jewish sites and current communal buildings. under the leadership of Rabbi Sholom and dini Greenberg Chabad of Shanghai already has three couples working at capacity to serve its Jewish population. but with the expo, demands on Chabad’s services have soared, prompting the Greenbergs to recruit Rabbi Mendy and Sara alevsky from

New York to help. together, the couples are working hard to provide a “home away from home” for Jewish visitors Rabbi alevsky, who describes every connection he makes with a visitor as “a world unto itself,” sees a particular advantage in Shanghai's exotic locale. “very often,” he says, “I've seen people who have not have participated in Jewish life back at home suddenly feel a desire to reconnect with their roots while traveling abroad.” While Jewish merchants linked with the famed Silk Route have had a presence in China for nearly one thousand years, the first modern Jewish presence in Shanghai began in the 1850s when Jewish traders of Iraqi descent settled here. a symbol of the community's wealth and success is the ohel Rachel Synagogue, built at the time to serve as the center for Jewish life in Shanghai. during the Second World War, some 18,000 Jewish refugees from eastern europe were resettled by the occupying Japanese forces. For the first time in history, a slice of shtetl life could be found in the Far east. The refugees were helped in large part, by Rabbi Meir ashkenazi, a member of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement who had been invited by Shanghai's Russian Jewish community in 1928 to serve as rabbi. at the war's end, many of the city's Jewish refugees emi-

an estimated 35,000 Jews are expected at the expo, and chabad-Lubavitch representatives in Shanghai are prepared to greet them.

grated from Shanghai in the hopes of starting their lives anew in the united States and Israel, and from the early 1950s through the early 1990s Jewish life here came to a halt. In the last two decades, Shanghai has seen a striking Jewish revival as Jewish émigrés—a majority of them american and French expats—began arriving here. The Greenbergs, in Shanghai since 1998, have been a vital force in the city’s Jewish renaissance, working hard to create a positive ex-

perience for its 1500 Jewish residents and thousands of visiting tourists and businessmen. They have since expanded to accommodate the growing demands, with additional Chabad representatives now serving Chabad of Pudong, and another couple serving the French Jewish community. today Shanghai has its own Jewish day school, mikvah, and a kosher restaurant. a major player on the international scene, the city now boasts one of the world's fastest growing major economies, and its Jewish community has grown with it in leaps and bounds. estimates currently put the local Jewish community's population increase at 30% annually. Sarah alvesky is working with a diverse population and trying to create a warm, welcoming atmosphere—something she learned to do as a child. as the daughter of Chabad emissaries in vienna, austria, Sara “encountered many diﬀerent people from very diverse backgrounds,” she says. “In the three weeks that we've been in China, I've found those childhood experiences have been immensely helpful in welcoming the people passing through the Jewish center.” Hopefully, she says, Jewish visitors will take away a good Jewish experience from their time in Shanghai, “and it will enhance their visit to China overall.”

A HISTORIC SYNAGOGUE REOPENS IN CHINA

he ohel Rachel Synagogue marked the culminating achievement of Shanghai's First Wave of Jewish immigrants. It was built to accommodate the community of baghdadi Jews (which at its peak numbered 700), and opened in March 1920. The Synagogue had been closed since 1952. In recent years it was restored it to its original grandeur by the city of Shanghai. The ohel Rachel Synagogue was formally celebrated in honor of the World expo 2010, and is open for weekly Shabbat services. It remains the most significant symbol of the crucial Jewish role in Shanghai's history. ohel Rachel was the first of seven synagogues built in Shanghai, and only one of two still standing today. Rabbi Sholom Greenberg at the Synagogue opening.

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“When the larger community saw how responsible and realistic we were being, there was new excitement behind the project,” said Rabbi block. Instead of traditional construction, steel would be used. Instead of 16,000 square feet, the new building will be 10,000, faced in brick and landscaped, with the option of adding modules as donors recuperate. There will still be plenty of room – classroom, chapel, kitchen, social hall – and finally enough room for the 50 plus students at the Hebrew School. “We’ve only scratched the surface of what we 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 world economy begins to turn for the better. The National Council for voluntary organizations in the united Kingdom saw charitable donations plunge by 11% in 2009. “our economy may be starting to show signs of recovery, but the voluntary sector is going to lag behind as these cuts take their toll,” said NCvo chief executive Stuart etherington. Making due has meant working smarter for Chabad at Cambridge university. director Rabbi Reuven Leigh has cut his budget by 20%, and rethought programming. Hosting internationally known speakers drew crowds but did not have as much of a lasting impact as weekly Shabbat dinners. So the podium and the mic were stashed into storage, and the focus on Shabbat dinners got pumped up. as a result,

“ When we stopped trying to do everything on our own, and let the community join us, we got such a powerful response,” said Rabbi Zucker. even after the economy rebounds, “ I don’t think I will go back to the old way.” weekly attendance around the Leighs’ table has grown from 20 to between 40 and 50. another tweak, said Rabbi Leigh was to “observe what students’ interests were and build around.” This term, Shabbat table talk

grew into Chabad hosting a reading group to discuss philosopher emmanuel Levinas’s “Nine talmudic Readings.” Judith Jacob, an english literature major set to graduate in 2011, turned up for most of the meetings. “It was a really casual and open group. You felt really engaged because we all approached the text rather than just being taught by lecture, which is what we do all day.” The Leighs are considering Kafka and Kuzari reading groups for future terms. For other Chabad centers, staying in the business of reaching Jewish minds started with soothing Jewish pockets. Hebrew academy Huntington beach in southern California froze its tuition fee. “We are doing anything we can to help students who would have left Jewish education stay in school, but it has put a real hardship on us,” said Rabbi Yitzchak Newman, director of the day school. The freeze and tuition scholarships kept the nursery-12th grade student body level at 300, while other Jewish schools in southern California lost as much as 7% of their students. Parents suﬀering the consequences of unemployment are turning to the school for more than tuition breaks, they knock on the door for counseling, too. “We’ve bonded to a greater extent,” said Rabbi Newman. “When they are in distress, it is not their problem. It’s ours.” at Chabad centers in Florida, a state where 1 in 165 homes are in foreclosure, second only to Nevada, unemployment is at 11.5%, a historical high, distress is part of day-today survival. Rabbi Yaakov Zucker said that supporters who used to fund everything from the mortgage to the weekly, communal Shabbat cholent meal were hit too hard to continue their donations. The cholent continued, with chicken subbing for pricier beef, but the donation void changed Chabad’s mindset. Chabad of the Florida Keys has asked its community to give of their time instead of their cash. to host a community Lag b’omer bbq, Rabbi Zucker put his maxed-out credit card to rest and delegated. one family brought the paper goods, another the sodas. When the city required the synagogue to landscape, Chabad hosted a planting day on tu b’Shevat, the Jewish New Year for trees. unable to hire young rabbinical students to help with weekly visits and tefillin sessions with Jewish businessmen, Rabbi Zucker has divvied up his route with a young pony-tailed Israeli named elron, who has begun observing Shabbat and putting on tefillin of his own thanks to Rabbi Zucker’s guidance. “When we stopped trying to do everything on our own, and let the community join us, we got such a powerful response,” said Rabbi Zucker. even after the economy rebounds, “I don’t think I will go back to the old way.”