350 Chabad Centers to Participate in ‘One Shabbos’

In a divisive and contentious world, global harmony sounds like a dream. This year, over 350 Chabad Centers will be working to make that dream come true through their annual One Shabbat One World weekend.

According to Rabbi Chaim Hershkowitz, Director of the International Moshiach Campaign, One Shabbat One World is a time to taste the future in the present. “The Era of Moshiach will be marked by peace and tranquility. It will be a time when both the soul and the body will reach higher stages of being. Our hope is to model that experience by providing delicious Shabbat food, thought-provoking conversation, and a chance for people to share different perspectives in a spirit of harmony.”

One Shabbat One World began in 1998 as a way to interest Jews of all walks of life in Judaism and the Jewish concept of Moshiach. Since then, hundreds of Chabad community centers worldwide have adopted the annual event. “The ideas and ideals of the Era of Moshiach are fairly well-known—true peace, an end to suffering, a time of spiritual connection with God for all mankind,” says Rabbi Baruch Hecht of Chabad of Brentwood, CA. “But we cannot just wait for it to happen. We must all do our part.”

The role that One Shabbat One World is an important one, notes Rabbi Binyomin Scheiman of Chabad of Des Plaines, Ill. “We want to encourage people to perform acts of goodness and kindness, inspire them through the sanctity of Shabbat, and imbue them with the awareness of Moshiach’s imminent arrival.”