Playing and Praying in Playa del Carmen
About an hour south of Cancun and an hour north of Tulum, Mexico – smack in the middle of the Riviera Maya – sits the scuba-diving haven of Playa del Carmen. With an infusion of capital and visitors, the once-sleepy fishing village is undergoing a rapid transformation into a tourist’s paradise.
Smack in the middle of such an unlikely hub of religious life sits the new Chabad-Lubavitch Jewish Center, established just last month by Rabbi Mendel and Chaya Goldberg, a young couple who themselves discovered the Playa in 2008 on a visit to assist Rabbi Mendel and Rochel Druk at the Chabad Center in Cancun.
The Goldbers were appointed to their position by Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, vice chairman of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, the educational arm of Chabad-Lubavitch, and Mendel Druk, director of Chabad-Lubavitch activities in the Riviera Maya and Mexican Carribean. Druk visited Playa weekly for three years, and more recently, the community felt the need to have a permanent rabbi.
From their new home, the Goldbergs run prayer services and holiday programs, Torah classes and elaborate meals. But when they arrived, they didn’t know what to expect. Never before had the city played host to a Jewish organization.
Born travelers with experience in overcoming challenging situations, they quickly set to work getting to know the locals and the throngs of tourists.
A trained circumciser who has worked in Africa, Asia and the Pacific islands, the Parisian-born rabbi has earned the moniker of “Mohel of the Caribbean.” His wife, a Brooklyn-born educator who taught kindergarten in Shanghai, wants to start a youth program in Playa del Carmen.
Just before the High Holidays last month, the Goldbergs launched a website and hoisted a large banner to the front of their home to announce upcoming services. They soon discovered that approximately 100 Jews live in the surrounding area, a melting pot of people from all over the world. There’s a couple from Belgium, Israeli backpackers, part-time residents from Canada and American retirees, as well as transplants from Mexico City.
The day they raised the banner, a Canadian couple drove by, saw the sign and slammed on the breaks. Shocked, they knocked on the door and asked if it was true. Snowbirds from Toronto, they happened to be there in the waning days of summer to take care of business and were stuck without plans for the holidays. Without the Goldbergs, they said, they wouldn’t have known what to do.
Go Chaya!
Way to go!
In the know
Isn’t he the guy who had his pants stolen in Mikvah by 2 Tzfatim who came to the same town?
sad
to #2, it wasn’t him, it was one of the bochurim that came to help him. sick what tzfatim think they can do
Sheila Simon
dear Mendel and Chaya Loved seeing you. Take the children with you next time. Hatzlacha rabba. Take care of yourselves. See you in a few weeks. Love Zeidy and Bubby