Robert Kraft “Picks His Team” at Chestnut Hill Chabad Gala

by Leibel Kahan – Lubavitch.com

Nearly 500 people filled Boston’s JFK Presidential Library on May 14 to mark the 25th anniversary of Chabad of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. While the occasion celebrated a quarter-century of growth and impact, the evening’s keynote address was less a reflection on the past than a vision for what lies ahead.

Robert Kraft — the owner of the New England Patriots, founder of the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, and a Brookline native who raised his family just minutes from where attendees gathered — was the evening’s featured speaker.

Though he has celebrated six Super Bowl championships, Kraft suggested that the recognition he received that night belonged in a similar category. Accepting the L’Dor V’Dor Award — “from generation to generation” — he reflected on what makes institutions last. “I’ve been part of many teams in my life,” he said. “And the most enduring institutions are built not through fanfare, but through consistency — through people who believe they’re part of something larger than themselves. Chabad, to me, is one of those teams.”

It took some convincing to get him there. Dan Kraft, Robert’s son and president of Kraft Group-International, said it wasn’t easy persuading his father to accept. “He said, ‘I don’t want to call attention to myself,’” Dan said. “It wasn’t false modesty — it was real.” Eventually he came to see that the recognition was larger than himself: an affirmation of community and of Jewish pride.

That commitment has extended far beyond the gala stage. Through the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism and what is now the Blue Square Alliance Against Hate, Kraft has invested roughly $200 million in efforts to combat antisemitism and strengthen Jewish identity. Speaking from the podium, he recalled how the Charlottesville and Tree of Life shooting had reminded him of Germany in the 1930s, and compelled him to act. The philosophy behind that work, he suggested, is captured by a line from Rabbi Jonathan Sacks — “Hitler sought out every Jew in hate. We must seek out every Jew in love.”

The connection between Kraft and the Chestnut Hill Chabad is not ceremonial. When they met, said Dan, “there was an instant connection” — not just for the services in the synagogue, but for what the Uminer family does for the community beyond that. Rabbi Mendy Uminer officiated the wedding of one of Kraft’s granddaughters and performed the brit milah of his first great-grandson. Every Shabbat that Kraft is in Boston, someone from his household picks up Grunie Uminer‘s freshly baked challah.

The relationship built slowly, over years — the same way the community did. The Uminers arrived 25 years ago in their early twenties. For most of that time, the community met wherever they could — schools, tents, parks, restaurants. “People did not come for beautiful buildings,” Rabbi Uminer said. “They came because they found a place they could call home.” Today Chabad’s summer camp draws roughly 350 children — nearly half from public schools — and crowds of 600 fill High Holiday services.

The gala also honored Tracey and David Frankel with the Visionary Award and Inessa and Victor Rifkin with the Community Builder Award. “People say you’re Jewish if your mother is Jewish,” Rifkin said. “I say you’ll know you’re Jewish if your grandchildren are Jewish.”

The evening doubled as a fundraiser for the new $25 million, 23,000-square-foot Center for Jewish Life, already under construction — and set to open by the High Holidays of 2027. Nearly $3 million came in throughout the night. “They’ve always been there for us,” Dan said. “It’s great that they’re going to have a building that represents the actual breadth of what they and this community stand for.”

Before he left the podium, Kraft put it simply. “The Rebbe believed no Jew should ever feel alone,” he said. “Tonight, in this room, you are proving that vision true.”

For Dan, watching from the crowd, the evening landed differently than most honors his father receives. “He gets recognized for a lot of things — the Patriots, the business,” he said. “It was nice to see him recognized for something inside of him that not a lot of people get to see. The Judaism, the spirituality — that’s core to who he is.”