Chabad Boosts Jewish Activity in Small Suburbs

ANNAPOLIS, MD — Next month’s meeting between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will turn international media attention to Annapolis. But one Jewish community in the city is enjoying a different focus.

Anne Arundel County in Annapolis is one in a new generation of Chabad centers opening in smaller cities and suburban outposts nationwide. Only a reasonable drive from Baltimore’s big time Jewish population, it’s way too far for most families busy with careers and carpools to establish ties.

Rabbi Nochum and Hindy Light, youngChabad representatives to Ann Arundel, moved their Chabad outfit out of their basement and into a 1,850 square foot space in time for Rosh Hashana. On the second floor of a commercial strip, the new synagogue shares parking lot space with Comcast’s regional office.

In the rush before the holidays, the Lights and their community arranged their chairs into the rows and placed the bima, reading table, in the center, making the office space look much more like a place of worship. With pride, they placed a newly donated Torah, with a link to Chabad-Lubavitch history, into the ark.

Aware of the importance of reaching all Jews, Annapolis’s synagogues have welcomed Chabad’s presence. They’ve told their congregants about www.kosherkaptain.com, Chabad’s kosher meat and poultry delivery service. Children at the local Hebrew Schools attend Chabad’s shofar factory and model matzah bakery programs. One rabbi went so far as to recommend Rabbi Light as a bar mitzvah tutor for artist Anna Fine Foer’s son Matthew.

“He [Rabbi Light] is very, very endearing,” said Fine Foer. “Matthew kept saying how awesome it was to have a young male teacher he could relate to, who wouldn’t stifle his questions.”

Bringing Matthew for lessons gave Fine Foer an opportunity to get to know the entire Light family. “Hindy and I would talk about the parsha, about what was going on in our lives,” she said. Now, a year after the bar mitzvah, Fine Foer, an artist, still stops by to play with the Lights’ children and hang out. Rabbi Light’s teachings inspired her latest work “Entertaining the Sacred,” which will be included in Maryland State Arts Council’s 40th Anniversary show.

Article continued (Lubavitch.com)