High Holiday Services in Suburban Orlando Follow Expansion of Jewish Programs

As Jewish men, women and children head to synagogue this weekend for the holiday of Rosh Hashanah, hundreds of Chabad-Lubavitch centers around the world will be welcoming people from all walks of life during the High Holidays. For one center in the greater Orlando, Fla., area, the open-doors, seat-for-everyone approach is even preceding the opening of a permanent location.

According to residents and Rabbi Yanky and Chanshy Majesky, directors of the new Chabad-Lubavitch of North Orlando, scores of people from the communities of Lake Mary, Heathrow, Sanford and Longwood are expected to attend New Year’s services Friday night through Sunday at the Courtyard Marriott Hotel in Lake Mary.

As with this weekend’s programs – which will include children’s services and kosher food – the Majeskys haven’t let the fact that they’re still looking for a home limit their outreach to an estimated 2,500 family-strong Jewish community.

More than a year before the Chabad House’s late-summer establishment, the Majeskys travelled the area getting to know locals. Last Sukkot, they went door to door to offer Jewish residents the opportunity to bless the lulav and etrog. On Purim, they handed out traditional gift-baskets of food, and for Passover, they hosted community Seders.

For many, the Jewish rituals were familiar, while for others, they were completely new.

When Lake Mary resident Leslie Pallone found a Purim gift-basket at her front door, she thought of her childhood.

“The aroma brought back so many lovely memories,” said Pallone, who moved from New York in the 1980s.

Janice Klass of Sanford likewise said that she was happy her son experienced his first Passover Seder earlier this year.

Chanshy Majesky said that each week before Shabbat, the couple – now with a new baby daughter in tow – delivers freshly-baked challah to 20 new families.

“People very much relate to Shabbat,” she said. “When we give out challah, it touches them.”

Pallone said that the personal touch and the Majeskys’ charisma might just bring her to Rosh Hashanah services.

“Part of me is yearning to come,” she said.

One local realtor characterized her corner of Orlando as lacking in Jewish infrastructure.

“There is nowhere [else] to go close by for any of the holidays,” she said. “I think [the Chabad House] is fabulous. There are an awful lot of young couples here with children.”

For Majesky, moving to North Orlando is a natural step in a process begun 25 years ago when her parents, Rabbi Sholom and Devorah Leah Dubov, opened Chabad of Orlando in the suburb of Maitland.

Back then, the Dubovs started out much the same way as their daughter and son-in-law. Their first effort was a Hospital Visitation Program that saw the couple provide encouragement and a spiritual boost to Jewish patients.

“My wife and I would take carnations with a card wishing the patients a speedy recovery,” said Sholom Dubov. “In many cases, there was no one else that cared for them, so we were there.”

Today, the program, since renamed the Jewish Visiting Circle, includes a staff of 24 volunteers who serve area hospitals, senior centers and homebound patients.

Article continued at Chabad.org – Transformative Experiences