Roving Rabbis Travel Through Area in Search of Unaffiliated Jews

SPOKANE, WA — An hour before the newspaper interview, Rabbi Mendy Singer and Rabbi Mendel Dalfin e-mail the protocol for shaking hands: They do not shake the hand of any woman, even if the woman doing the interview is old enough to be their mother.

They meet for the interview at a Starbucks on Spokane’s South Hill. They have been in town for two weeks as part of the Chabad Rabbinical Visitation Program, a program designed to introduce “unaffiliated” Jews with the history and rituals of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, a branch of Hasidic Judaism.

Passover Seders with Chabad in Mumbai

There will be seders in Mumbai this Passover.

Chabad-Lubavitch rabbinical students arriving from New York in the days before the holiday, hit the ground running. The city’s streets are hot and stuffy and crowded. People are friendly but trust is tricky. For security reasons, publicity for the seders is by word of mouth only.

Picture of the Day! – Bochurim Leaving for Pesach Shlichus!

As Pesach draws nearer and the streets are abuzz with an entire community preparing for the holiday, 570 Bochurim are leaving the comfort of their homes and families for the Seder nights to fly all over the world and conduct Sedorim for Jews who otherwise wouldn’t be celebrating Pesach at all.

This group left earlier in the afternoon and are all heading to Ukraine to conduct the Sedorim across the country.

Merkos Shlichus Pesach 5769 registration NOW OPEN!

The Merkos Shlichus office is pleased to announce that registration is in full gear for Pesach Merkos Shlichus 5769. Bochrim that are interested in Merkos Shlichus can sign up at MerkosShlichus.com

Registration will close on the 16th of Adar, March 12th so please make sure to sign up on time.

Mazal Tov! – New Engagement!

We would like to wish Mazal Tov to Yehoshua Schreibman (Highland Park, NJ) and Rivka Shaffer (Baltimore, MD) on their engagement.

Email your Simcha or Mazal Tov to MazalTov@CrownHeights.info !!

Rabbis Hold Outreach in Antigua

ST JOHNS, Antigua — Two Rabbis; Yosef Chaim Laima Barber and Moshe Katz are visiting Antigua and Barbuda under an annual Jewish outreach programme.

The programme falls under the umbrella of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, which is geared at bringing Jews closer to their heritage.

Pen pals

PHOENIX, AZ — Two rabbinical students visited Arizona prisons during the week of July 8-15 as part of The Aleph Institute’s National Summer Visitation Program.

Levi Eisenberg, 22, from Brooklyn, N.Y., and Shalom Goldberg, also 22, from Toronto, met in Arizona on July 6. They rented a car and drove to various prisons around the state, visiting Jewish inmates. After their week in Arizona, they traveled to New Mexico, Utah and Colorado.

Rabbis visit Guam’s Jewish community

The Guam Jewish community is receiving a visit from two rabbis.

Rabbi David Loksen and Rabbi Shmulie Hecht, of the Brooklyn, New York-based Chabad Lubavitch Jewish Community Enrichment Program, are currently volunteers with Chabad Hawaii, which sponsored their visit to the island.

A day in Riverside

As we pulled up to the address on our list we were greeted by a man.

“Hello, Rabbis in Riverside geveld” the man said.

“Hi My name is Chaim and this is Mendy” I said.

“I am Shmuel, Shmuel Kahn” he said with a smile.

Of Three Visits and One Very Old Kippa – Ireland

Eric is a proud Jew who was raised in South Africa. After living in Israel for eight years, he moved to Ireland where he works as an anesthesiologist. A few years back, he bought a pair of Tefillin from the roving rabbis which he has been putting on every weekday since. Of course, he was excited to meet with us, despite the fact that he had other company scheduled for that evening.

Merkos Shlichus in Riverside

RIVERSIDE, CA [CHI] — Going door to door can get old fast. A list of Riverside residents with Jewish sounding names is probably not the most ideal way to find a Jew in need. It does work though. After putting a route together on the computer we went to visit the Bergs, Khans, Steins and the likes hoping to find someone Jewish and at home. Our knocking paid off this afternoon. We came to a house and knocked on the door. This is where the pitch is. “Hi, my name is…… and we are….. and …… would you like to do a Mitzvah?!!” Hesitantly Mr. Loeb opens the door and asks “what kind of Mitzvah can I do?” “Well, Tefillin is a great choice, it’s quick, easy, and I can guide you through it.” “Tefillin, wow I haven’t seen those since I was Bar-Mitzvahed 45 years ago in Anaheim.” So we helped him with the Tefillin and Brochos, but the Shema was a breeze as he remembered his father saying it, it brought tears to his eyes. “I’ll never forget these words as long as I live,” he said.

Traveling Rabbis Aim to Raise Jewish Awareness

BELLINGHAM, WA [CHI] — Yosef Silverstien and Shalom Ceitlin knock on doors, and have their doors knocked on.

Sometimes the men have been given the name and address of the occupant by another contact. Other times, they said, they’re there because they found the address while searching a phone book for “Jewish names.” While yet other times someone is in need, and gives them a call.

Roving Rabbis: Old People – Bahia, Brazil

She spoke neither English nor Hebrew, I spoke neither Hungarian nor Portuguese—and yet we laughed and cried together. Agatha survived Auschwitz as a young teen and then in the tumultuous years that followed wandered through Europe bereft of a family or youth. She was not of a religious family or community and wed a Hungarian Catholic. She respected his bunny rabbits and swimming sessions and he respected her religion, knowing that his children would be full fledged members of the Jewish people. They even entertained thoughts of moving to Israel but were scared of the impending War of Independence. They were looking for somewhere safe and quiet, and there is nowhere quieter than Sta Cruz Cambrario, Bahia.

New York rabbis begin Jewish mission in north

BELFAST, Northern Ireland — Two young rabbis have flown into Belfast to help revitalise the north’s Jewish community. Rabbis Pinny Raitman and Baruch Davidson have travelled from New York on a mission to bring the north’s unaffiliated Jews back to the community.