A Shelter of Surprises Changed Everything

Los Angeles, CA — When I first arrived at the homeless shelter, I was scared. I didn’t know what to expect, and I had to admit to myself that I had never really been out of my element. But I was open to the new experience — and completely unaware of how the day would turn out.

Birthright Group Celebrates 6 Bar Mitzvas

Tel Aviv, Israel — Six members of a “Birthright” traveling group decided that since they had never yet celebrated their Bar Mitzvas, it would be appropriate to do this while they were still in Israel. They got in contact with Chabad of Tel Aviv, who forwarded them to its Yeshiva, “Chazon Eliyahu”.

JLI to Expand to 50 New Cities Next Year

Brooklyn, New York — Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky of Merkoz L’Inyanei Chinuch has recently announced 50 new Shluchim affiliates to join the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute for the coming semester in the fall of 5768. JLI’s central office projects that the new locations will bring the average number of students participating in the program to over 11,000. The expansion represents a 25% growth from the current 200 affiliates, the biggest leap in JLI’s nine year history.

The new affiliates are located throughout the United States and Canada as well as in Australia, Turkey, Panama and Uruguay. Plans are also underway to establish pilot JLI programs in Israel and Russia during the course of next year. The pilot program entails translating materials to Ivrit and Russian and modifying the series to best serve the respective communities. Subsequently, the program will be expanded to include the many Shluchim serving these two large populations.

From Orphan Child to Beaming Bride, A Jewish Wedding in Vilnius

Vilnius, Lithuania — While conflict and tension plague the country’s Jewish leadership, a divided community came together for a chuppah in Vilnius—a rare event in a country with high-intermarriage rates and one Chabad family working tirelessly to rebuild Jewish life one soul at a time.