The Charlotte Jewish News - June 2021 - Page 13
Inspiring Summer Sundays at Chabad This summer, Chabad will be launching an exciting new Torah study initiative in Charlotte. Chabad of Charlotte will feature a unique chavruta-style learning program starting on Sunday night, June 13, followed by consecutive Sundays through the summer, culminating on Sunday, August 1. Participants will be paired with one of the rabbis and scholars in the community. Topics of Torah that will be studied will include Tanach, Talmud, Chassidic thought, Tanya, and much more. The Sunday evening program will begin with Mincha, the afternoon service at 7:30 p.m., followed by a one-onone hour of study with a partner in a chavruta-style learning. Maariv, the evening service, will be at 8:45 p.m., and the program will conclude at 9 p.m. On the two summer fast days, the 17 of Tamuz and Tisha B’Av, the study
will focus on the inner meaning of Jewish fast days and the relevance of the past to our times. This program is free of charge. In addition, Chabad will offer a parallel study program that will be an in-depth, advanced Yeshiva-style learning initiative. In this program, Chabad will offer eight round-the-year topics that will explore and delve into the deeper meaning and fascinating facts about the Jewish holidays and days of significance on the Jewish calendar. These eight subjects will cover the holidays of Tu B’Shevat (new year for trees), the counting of the Omer and Shavuot, Purim, Passover, High Holidays, Sukkot, and Chanukah. The launch of this project will focus on the topic of the three weeks of mourning, during which we reflect on the destruction of the Temple and the long
Jewish journey through the Diaspora. This subject will be taught in two sessions on two consecutive Tuesdays: July 6 and 13, at 7:30 p.m. These classes will be offered in person and by Zoom. There is a nominal fee for each class, or you can register for the whole series of eight topics throughout the year. Please check www.chabadnc.org and watch your email for registration information, or call Chabad at (704) 366-3984 in June for more information. The Return of the Shabbaton Dinner: Mini Summer Shabbatons at Chabad After a long break because of COVID precautions, Chabad of Charlotte will open our famed Friday night Shabbaton program gradually. This will allow us to provide social programming with three, small-scale, limited group Shabbaton dinners limit-
ed to between 25 and 30 people at each event. This series of Mini-Shabbatons will be held on the three Fridays during the three weeks of July 2, 9, and 16. These three weeks coincide with the three weeks of mourning. Although the three weeks are thought of as a time of sadness and reflection, on Shabbat, we reflect with joy and hope for a better future, which will bring us extra joy into those Shabbats. Each Shabbaton will begin with early candle lighting at 7:30 p.m., followed by Mincha and Kabbalat Shabbat, and will feature a delicious gourmet Shabbat dinner prepared by Kosher Charlotte. To follow the COVID safety guidelines, tables will be spaced apart from each other in the Social Hall at the Epstein Family Chabad Center of Jewish Life. One of the Chabad rabbis and
rebbetzins will host each event. These events will be first come, first served. Registration will close once each of these events fills up. Please send your request to sign up to rabbicohen@chabadnc.org. You will then be contacted to confirm your availability to participate. The cost of these dinners will be $25 per person. If you can’t make it to join one of these three Shabbatons, have no fear, as Chabad will have many more opportunities throughout the coming year!
Charlotte Lost a True Hero This Winter
Rabbi Yudi Dukes
By Rabbi Yossi Groner Rabbi Yudi Dukes, who led JNet, Chabad’s international remote learning study program, passed away on January 21, 2021. On that day, when Yudi passed away at age 39, the world at large, and more specifically the world of Torah learners, lost a shining light. A pioneering online teacher and director of JNet, the organization that connects Jews around the world in Torah study, Rabbi Dukes was, among other things, personally responsible for connecting thousands of people to the sweet, holy words of Torah. As recounted by so many, he lived and breathed his calling to connect Jews with each other in the study of Torah by connecting people with phone chavrutas, or study partners, for weekly Torah study sessions. This tragedy is especially painful here in Charlotte. Rabbi Yudi would regularly visit
Charlotte each holiday. Together with his wife, Sarah, a Charlotte native, they would celebrate the major Jewish holidays with Sarah’s parents, Dr. Selwyn and Cheryl Spangenthal. On every High Holiday, Rabbi Yudi’s melodious voice inspired the participants at Ballantyne Jewish Center and helped lift their prayers heavenward. Every other holiday he could be found at Chabad of Charlotte’s Sardis Road campus, now known as the Epstein Family Chabad Center for Jewish Life. Yudi’s energy was contagious. Whenever he was in town, he would read the Torah at Chabad in a unique and inspiring way. His voice was strong, so powerful that it reverberated throughout the whole shul in a way that uplifted all who heard him. Simchat Torah was his favorite, celebrating at Chabad with palpable joy that touched everyone who knew him. Doing a headstand, dancing, singing, and carrying one of his six beautiful children on his shoulders were some ways Yudi would always celebrate. Yudi earned a special place in our hearts, and our community will never forget him. A global campaign to carry on the torch that defined Rabbi Dukes’s very life: more Torah-study partners, 1,800 of them to be exact, is an ongoing initiative. Organizers stress that the primary goal is to increase Torah study, whether it’s using the JNet website to find a new
chevruta match or just registering a new commitment with a friend in the registry. What counts is that the legacy of this positive person with a perpetual smile will carry on. Yudi will be remembered for meeting his harrowing, yet te-
nacious, battle with COVID-19 with an upbeat attitude, and although he suffered, he refused to yield to that suffering. He will be remembered for greeting others with a smile and being a source of inspiration — that was Yudi’s way of life.
Although Yudi has physically left us, his soul is still positively affecting us. It is now up to us to pick up where he left off, ensuring that his work leads to thousands more people sitting down to study Torah together. For more information, visit www.jnet.org.
