Stories of Faith and Courage Inspire Women Leaders From Six Continents at Chabad Banquet

by Bruria Efune – chabad.org

“There is no handbook with instructions of what you are supposed to do if a war breaks out in [the Jewish community that you lead,]” said Miriam Moskovitz in a keynote address to 4,000 women emissaries from 100 countries at the annual banquet of the International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Women Emissaries (Kinus Hashluchot).

Moskovitz told the world’s largest gathering of Jewish women about how she moved to Kharkov, Ukraine, with her husband, Rabbi Moshe Moskovitz, in 1990 when it was still part of the Soviet Union. They were just newlyweds, barely in their 20s, when they were sent there by the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, to restore Judaism to a region where it had been brutally repressed for decades. For more than 30 years, she said, the couple and their children worked to rebuild a vibrant Jewish community, full of life and activity. Then, on Feb. 24, 2022, everything changed.

When the Moskovitz family was rudely awakened to the new reality of war, at 5 a.m. that fateful morning, said Moskovitz, they knew they had to jump into action. They quickly transformed the Chabad center at the city’s historic Choral Synagogue into a shelter, or as Moskovitz put it, “Noah’s Ark,” as it filled with men, women and children, and strollers, wheelchairs and pets. As missiles fell around them, the Moskovitz family was taking calls from people trapped in their homes, calling for food, medication and other necessities.

“It was felt as if our ship was shaking, and we were the captains navigating in a storm of missiles, rockets and bombs,” Moskovitz described. “But we were not alone. We knew we had the Rebbe’s blessings, and we felt a global virtual hug. People all over the world were praying for us, doing one more mitzvah, lighting Shabbat candles, saying tehillim for us in the war zone.”

Moskovitz described a light of Jewish resiliency that shines strong in her community through the darkness and tragedy of war. She spoke of mothers who brought their boys to have a brit milah in the midst of falling missiles and blackouts, and 55-year-old Alexander, who had only recently begun attending shul, but chose to have a brit of his own. The audience of women emissaries—each with her own stories of faith, determination and courage—listened attentively as Moskovitz described the Chanukah menorah-lighting deep in the subways-turned-shelters of Kharkov, bringing light literally down to the depths.

It’s not just in Kharkov, she emphasized. Far from it. Moskovitz highlighted the humanitarian work of Chabad throughout Ukraine, where 192 Chabad emissary families—across 32 of the country’s largest cities—have led relief efforts at home and abroad since the war began.

“Throughout Ukraine,” she said, “my sister shluchot are bravely leading their communities, and are also seeing daily more and more Jewish souls lighting up despite the darkness.”

Record Attendance for the Hakhel Year

This year, Jewish women are lighting up souls around the world as never before. There are currently 5,735 Chabad-Lubavitch women emissaries serving Jewish communities, and a record number of those women were in attendance at the Sunday-evening banquet concluding this year’s conference on Feb. 12 at the New Jersey Convention and Exposition Center in Edison, N.J.

The opening video at the gala stated “Uniting in Hakhel, under one mission, with one banner.” A video was then shown of the Rebbe saying that a Hakhel year such as this, is “a year to gather all the Jewish people together in the same place, at the same time, for the same purpose; to hear G‑d Almighty’s Torah, and to take upon themselves to fulfill it year-round.”

The event took place on the eve of the 22nd of Shevat, the anniversary of the passing of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka Schneerson, of righteous memory, wife of the Rebbe, and inspiration to Chabad emissaries worldwide. Countless Chabad women and girls, as well as institutions, bear her name and continue her legacy.

Psalms were recited for the strength and the emissaries and their communities around the world, as well as for the safety and peace of the Land of Israel.

Then a moment was taken to remember the women emissaries who had passed away over the last year, including Henya Federman co-director of Chabad of the U.S. Virgin Islands, who had been laid to rest only a few days earlier, at the start of the conference.

In 1958, Gittel Eidelman and her new husband, Rabbi Sholom Eidelman, were sent by the Rebbe to Casablanca, Morocco. On stage, Eidelman spoke about the renewed energy and strength she always received from attending Chassidic gatherings, called farbrengens—both those she’d experienced during her childhood in war-era Soviet Uzbekistan, and years later, on her visits to see the Rebbe in New York.

“There was no food,” she recalled of her Chassidic childhood in Samarkand. “We were happy if we had an onion.” But in place of food were heartfelt conversations between her father and his fellow Chassidim, inspiring and encouraging each other. Eidelman exhorted the emissaries to join in the power of the farbrengen, and lift their glass to say a l’chaim, and to bring blessings for all those in need of health, recovery and success.

‘It’s Up to You’

Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, chairman of the Kinus and vice chairman of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch—the educational arm of Chabad-Lubavitch—whose selfless care for the emissaries and their communities around the world is legendary, spoke about the Rebbe’s expectation that his followers make an effort of their own.

Kotlarsky shared a story about Rabbi Shneur Zalman Gorelik, the rabbi of Kfar Chabad, Israel. Once, as the venerable rabbi exited his taxi upon arriving on a visit to Chabad headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, N.Y,, the Rebbe saw him and commented: “The rav of Kfar Chabad has arrived!”

Humbly, Rav Gorelik remarked: “Kfar Chabad should have a more suitable rav.”

The Rebbe smiled and said: “This depends on you.”

“We are empowered by the Rebbe,” Kotlarsky exclaimed, “and granted the strength, the blessings and the resources, to achieve our mission. It is up to us to apply and materialize these blessings as we march the final march to Redemption.”

Kotlarsky reminded the audience that the Rebbe had told the Chassidim that he had done all he could to bring the Redemption, and now it was up to them to finish the job. “There is one thing the Rebbe needs us for—and that is to interact with each and every Jew in the world—barring none! We need to bring the Rebbe 120 million mitzvahs!”

Sivan Rahav-Meir Shares Her Inspiration

Sivan Rahav-Meir, one of the most well known media personalities in Israel, shared the inspiration she receives from the Rebbe and his emissaries around the world. Rahav-Meir, who had already been involved in journalism from her childhood, became Torah-observant on her own as a teen.

“When I discovered the worldview of Chabad,” said Rahav-Meir. “The conflict, in a way, disappeared. I realized there were not two separate worlds, in which I was a journalist in the studio and a religious woman at home. I discovered that my work, and basically every work, contains elements of shlichut. I could, and should express my personal Jewish values on the air as well.”

Rahav-Meir shared stories about the dedication of the women emissaries and their daughters around the world, and then the story that touched her most—one that did not have a dramatic ending or a punchline.

“A few weeks ago, I interviewed Rebbetzin Chani Moskovitz in [Jerusalem],” she said. Rahav-Meir related how Chani had hosted a Passover Seder seven years ago in Ukraine, and one of her guests brought a gift of wafers, which were chametz, and thus forbidden during the eight-day holiday. Chani had no follow-up to the story, and that touched Rahav-Meir.

“Most stories don’t have a punchline or an immediate result. You give because you believe in the immediate power of every mitzvah of every Jew!” she said.

Rahav-Meir called for a round of applause for things that the world may see as failures—such as students who attend Hebrew school but then disappear when they reach high school, backpackers who come only for a meal and no more than that, or an event planned for 50 but with only seven in attendance. These, she said, are the real headlines, which may not be celebrated below, but in heaven they make headlines, she said, because they show the true goal of every emissary, which is simply to do what is right each and every day.

“Only you know how many millions of such deeds with no punchline are in this room tonight,” she exclaimed. “These deeds are what will bring us to the true ultimate punchline: final and complete Redemption.”

Connection and Renewal

The true strength of women emissaries often comes in the individual connection, human to human. Two women, Nikki (Naomi) Hunter, a member of the Jewish community in Akron, Ohio, and Debbie Bensaid, the Chabad emissary to the Ivory Coast in central Africa, shared stories of connection and renewal in their communities.

Hunter told how she was scrolling through social media during Covid lockdowns, when she came across a video of Rabbi Yudi Dukes coming home from the hospital. Her curiosity led her to follow Sarah Dukes on social media, and ultimately, to contact her.

“I told her that I was Jewish, but didn’t grow up practicing,” said Hunter. “I wanted to get my daughter into maybe a Sunday school or something, but I really didn’t know where to start.”

Dukes connected Hunter with Kaila Sassonkin, co-director of Chabad of Akron & Canton, who invited her daughter into her Sunday Hebrew school. It was an “immediate click,” and soon, Nikki was sitting alongside her daughter, too, learning about Judaism from the very beginning.

“We started learning about Rabbi Akiva,” said Nikki, recalling that Rabbi Akiva didn’t start learning Torah until he was in his 40s. “It’s never too late to learn. I was like, OK, I don’t feel silly learning with the children.”

Debbie Bensaid grew up in the Congo, where her parents were emissaries, and after her marriage, she and her husband, Yerah, set out to direct Chabad of the Ivory Coast. “Baruch Hashem [Thank G‑d], after many challenges, we have now minyanim, we have weekly classes, we have women’s events, we have Talmud Torah for the children, and we have everything that a Jewish community would need.”

Two years after arriving in Ivory Coast, Bensaid remembered an incident years earlier, when her father had helped a woman in Ivory Coast give her mother a Jewish burial. Bensaid tracked down the woman, one Mrs. Diakite, and invited her to join Chabad activities. Delighted, Diakite brought along her daughters, and their children as well.

“I couldn’t transmit Judaism to my children,” Diakite told Bensaid. “But now that you’re here, I can transmit it to my grandchildren.”

A closing tradition of the banquet is the annual roll call of all the locales around the world where Chabad emissaries serve, a literal lesson in world geography from A to Z. Seven women emissaries, from six continents, each read aloud, starting beyond the map with Chabad of cyberspace, and then proceeded to name countries from Angola through Zambia and all 50 states, followed by joyous dancing and the continued connection of thousands of Jewish women leaders from around the world.