BELGRADE, Serbia — When he first heard about Serbia from his study partner, Rabbi Yehoshua Kaminetzky conjured up images of the war-torn Balkan republic most people remember from news reports: bombed-out buildings and economic stagnation.
Serbia Welcomes First-Ever Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries
BELGRADE, Serbia — When he first heard about Serbia from his study partner, Rabbi Yehoshua Kaminetzky conjured up images of the war-torn Balkan republic most people remember from news reports: bombed-out buildings and economic stagnation.
But Kaminetzky, 24, is the first to admit that the Serbia of the past is not the Serbia of the present, let alone the future. What he and his wife Miri, 23, see is a country full of potential, and a Jewish community on the brink of rapid expansion.
The Kaminetzkys, the new directors of Chabad-Lubavitch of Serbia, are the country’s first full-time emissaries. After arriving last week, they jumped head first into promoting Jewish activities, all while awaiting a container full of possessions and furniture from their native Israel to clear customs.
“Thank G-d, we’re managing with a handful of outfits and some frozen food,” says Miri Kaminetzky, a new mother of an infant boy. “This past Shabbat, we used kosher wine from the Duty Free for Kiddush.”
