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Nelson Mandela

Chabad Kitchen Marks Nelson Mandela’s Birthday

South African leader Nelson Mandela

A kosher community kitchen in Sydney celebrated Nelson Mandela’s 94th birthday by preparing hundreds of meals for the needy.

Our Big Kitchen, an initiative of Brooklyn-born Rabbi Dovid Slavin and his wife, Laya, hosted more than 100 volunteers Wednesday night, including a government senator, the local mayor and representatives of both major political parties.

“Mandela’s life very much reflects what we do every day in Our Big Kitchen,” said Slavin, who is also a chaplain to the New South Wales Ambulance Services and sits on the ethics committee of the Cancer Institute of New South Wales. “We also want to empower people, and food has that ability.”

Slavin, a Chabad rabbi who came to Sydney in 1992, said two former South Africans now living here approached him with the idea after the Nelson Mandela Foundation urged the public to spend 67 minutes — one minute for every year of Mandela’s public service — working for the community. Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist who was jailed for 27 years but later became the president of South Africa.

“It was an amazing event; we prepared 720 or so packages of food in 67 minutes,” Slavin said, adding that they will be distributed to numerous charities and agencies.

Opened in 2007 beneath Chabad headquarters in Sydney, the cook-for-a-cause kitchen, which is also registered as halal, is an idea that Slavin said he would like to see franchised around the world.

Among the visitors to the industrial-sized kitchen have been Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Governor-General Quentin Bryce, Muslim and Jewish children, former criminals, policemen and Aboriginal youth, as well as countless other Jewish and non-Jewish groups.

“When Abraham started Judaism, he began with a kitchen,” Slavin said. “He had a tent and four doors; anybody could come in. It’s the same here.”

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24 Comments

  • Frank

    Maybe instead of making food for poor people, they should pay the teachers.

  • what?

    ronald ragean called nelson mandella a terrorist!! why are we celebrating this horrible person!? if the gipper said it we know to abide by it, he was the best!!

  • Tehilim

    So, we start Kapital 95 now? I think I was a year ahead this whole year : ( .

  • Proud

    it’s incredible to see what amazing work the Rebbe’s shluchim are doing, even in far off sydney, australia

  • Shmuel

    Why aren’t there more facilities like this one around the world, we could do with alot more of these

  • ANTI SEMITE

    WHATS THE IDEA TO HONOR AN ANTI SEMITE AND A HATER OF ISRAEL??
    SHAMEFUL

  • Shameful

    Shameful for Chabad to honor a man that equates Israel with Apartheid and has sided with anti-semites too many times.

  • Enough!

    Nelson Mandela is a truly righteous person. He changed both South Africa and the world . Instead of criticizing him, try emulate him and his good deeds. A true mensch !The Rebbe would not be proud of the racism and hate , please stop!

  • David Hompes

    Dovid Slavin needs to have his head examined for honoring a rabbit Jew hater.

  • What a shtus

    The’ll do anything for publicity. Even celebrate the birthday of an outspoken anti israel campaigner like Mandela.
    What are they thinking in that BIG kitchen???

  • 420

    And what will they do next year on April 20? Bratwurst and beer in memory of Der Fuhrer YMS? They are already halal-certified.

    Some so-called shluchim will do ANYTHING for publicity and more importantly, for public funding and funding from other unkosher sources.

  • N. Mandela

    Mandela is well known PLO sympathizer and Israel hater. Any Jewish organization that supports him is typical of the “self-hating” breed. One that does is simply hypercritical and is “bowing” down to the “left”-ish anti_Israel lobby. Its an embarrassment for Chabad!

  • Melbourner

    You guys don’t understand – this is Sydney and everything is OK as long as it gets publicity. Very sad.

  • I-m a Jew and I don-t support this guy!

    Nelson Mandela may have done and accomplished alot of good. That doesn’t make us racists for despising him for his Anti Israel/Anti Jew aspect of this man. We are Jewish after all!

  • 420

    racism and hate
    —
    That sums up Mandela to a T, and you are the only one who mentioned racism. If a moisad in the US did something regarding the 7 Mitzvos or even fed poor inner city kids for MLK day, no one would say a word.

    This is one step above the NK kooks who davened outside the hospital when Arafat YMS was sick. Both the kooks and this so-called shaliach did what they did for the same reasons – attention and gelt.

  • abe montreal

    to#13
    sorry to burst YOUR bubble about this antisemite
    Adolf H YSVZ
    also “changed” Germany and the entire world
    don’t be naive amalek is amalek . there is no good in them

  • Milhouse

    #13 A “truly righteous person” who engaged in a terrorist bomb-setting campaign together with the Soviet-controlled Communisty Party?! That kind of “truly righteous person”?

    And is South Africa a better place now than it was when he was in in prison? Unfortunately it isn’t.

  • South African shlucha

    Please everyone don’t fight about Mandela, if you are upset that’s o.k but rather then wasting you’r time getting upset rather go do some learning.

  • African

    Are any of you African? Do you think Mandela lives caring about Israel? Mandela is African and everything he represents is for Africa, Israel has nothing to do with him. I am African. Thus said, his “terrorists” acts here in Africa helped liberate his people frokm the barbaric boers. Your comments, unfortunately, sure how ignorant you are…but we all know how the Jews loved to enslave Africans, and how bitter you were after we fought and won independance.

    Peace.