The Rebbe Remembered on Yahrtzeit in Monroe

MONROE TOWNSHIP, NJ — One of the most influential people in the Chabad movement, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, was remembered on his yahrtzeit, July 7 at the Chabad Jewish Center of Monroe.

Rabbi Eliezer Zaklikovsky and his wife, Chanie Zaklikovsky, hosted the event. In attendance were approximately 20 members of the Chabad, Leonard Posnock, a past president and current board of the Jewish Federation of Central New Jersey and the co-chair of the New Jersey Israel Commission, and Rabbi Avrohom Berkowitz, the executive director of the Federation of Jewish Communities of the Former Soviet Union.

The Rebbe never rested in his attempt to spread Judaism and though it’s been 14 years since his passing, his legacy goes on, Zaklikovsky said.

“He inspired young couples, people in their 20s, people that never met him, but more importantly that spark influenced their lives today,” Zaklikovsky said.

It’s important that the Rebbe touches the whole community, which is why honoring him was vital, Zaklikovsky said.

“For me, it was very personal growing up in Detroit in a Chabad house where my father was the rabbi,” Zaklikovsky said. “Because I studied with the Rebbe for so many years I grew up wanting to help other Jews, just like the Rebbe did.

”I miss the Rebbe very sorely, I miss his guidance and blessing, and it’s a very sad day for me,“ he said. ”Ultimately I held the event to show people what the Rebbe’s life was about spiritually.“

According to a biography on Chabad.org, the Rebbe was born in 1902, in Nikolaev, Russia, to Rabbi Levi Yitzchak and Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson. In 1941, the Rebbe and his wife arrived in the United States, after surviving the Holocaust. After the passing of his father-in-law, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, in 1950, he became the leader of the Lubavitch movement, whose headquarters are at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, N.Y. The outreaching philosophy of Chabad-Lubavitch was translated into ever greater action, as Lubavitch centers and Chabad houses were opened in dozens of cities and university campuses around the world.

Berkowitz grew up in Detroit with Zaklikovsky and in 1999 moved to Russia to become the head of the Jewish Federation there.

”The Rebbe taught us to do ‘street outreach’ where for example, I would ask someone “It’s almost Shabbos would you like to light candles?” Berkowitz said.
Berkowitz and his wife moved to Russia in 1999, tasked with the privilege to save and revive Jewish life in Russia.

“I have been able to transform Jewish life and bring it back to the glory days of old,” Berkowitz said.

Berkowitz said in 1990, there were two types of Jews in Russia, ones that were religious and eventually left for Israel and ones that were indifferent about their religion.

“Since my wife and I have been there we have changed or at least tried to change all of the Jews that were indifferent about their religion,” Berkowitz said.

Berkowitz has made sure that the Rebbe’s message is still carried out today by reaching more than one million Jews in Russia since he has been there that are now participating in Jewish life.

In Russian, the word Lubavitch means love, and Berkowitz has helped continue what the Rebbe started by spreading the love of Judaism throughout Russia.

Berkowitz said today there are three different types of Jews in Russia: People over 65 who participate in Jewish life because they have memories of Jewish things they did when they were younger; people between 35 and 60 who are atheists that are more resistant to Judaism; and people under 30 who love the Jewish culture and have the thirst for knowledge and learning.

In 2002, while flying from Russia to Washington D.C. to celebrate the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s 100-year anniversary, Berkowitz met a very interesting young man on his flight.

“During the flight I went to go daven, and after I finished a young man said to me that I just did a horrible thing,” Berkowitz said.

Berkowitz was shocked. He asked the young man, “What did I do wrong?”

The young man replied, “Is the plane going to crash or are we going to die? You should only be wearing that if you are going to die.”

“I said I don’t understand — we are not going to die,” Berkowitz said. “I simply put the tefillin on because when you pray you are supposed to.”

“Before my grandpa died, I was at his bed with him, and he told me to go into his closet and to get the shoe box in there,” the young man said. “He told me to take the tefillin and wrap his arm and head before he died.”

“Your grandpa lived in Russia during times where he couldn’t live with religious freedom, which is why he only showed you the tefillin before he died, but in fact you are suppose to use tefillin every day, not just before you die,” Berkowitz explained.

The rabbi then persuaded the young man to perform the mitzvah of wearing tefillin for the first time.

“I had a personal connection as a kid, even though [the Rebbe] was eight decades older, he impacted my life, where he taught me it is important to learn, to live, but most importantly to teach Judaism, and I am one of a 1,000 followers that he turned into a leader,” Berkowitz said.

Berkowitz said the Rebbe was a visionary who cared about the Jewish community while at the same time maintained his strong identity as a Russian Jew.

“Because of the Rebbe, I have been trying and still am to rebuild and inspire the local Jewish people of Russia to become better,” he said.

For a long time the Chanie Zaklikovsky’s mother couldn’t get pregnant, and eventually her parents went to the Rebbe and told him their problem, she said.

“He simply told them to be patient and soon they would have a child,” Zaklikovsky said. “Not soon after they visited with him, I was born.”

Her parents and Chanie are grateful to the Rebbe, she said. She was named after the rebbetzin, Chana Schneerson and her son, Mendel, is named after the Rebbe.

“He is a teacher, a leader, he inspired us, and I feel privileged to have known him as a student,” Zaklikovsky said.

Posnock, who has helped many Russian Jews immigrate to Israel, said it was a highly emotional time when he met the Rebbe.

“When I went to Russia with my wife Frieda, we simply brought the message: we will not forget you,” Posnock said.

Posnock would give each Russian Jew he met a watch, a ring, and a pair of jeans.
“The greatest feeling was years later after we had helped these people immigrate to Israel we would see them again when we were in Israel,” Posnock said.

David Holman, a resident of Monroe and a member of the Chabad said “Judaism is vital, it’s a family, it has been around for thousands of years, and listening to Rabbi Berkowitz speak brought me clarity” Holman said.