Erica Lederman - Chabad.edu
Brooklyn, NY — On Sunday, March 25 a group of students from the University of Pennsylvania visited Crown Heights, Brooklyn as part of the Rohr JLI Jewish Essentials course now being offered on several campuses. The field trip consisted of several components, including visits to a matzah bakery, the headquarters of the OK Kosher Laboratories and discussions with prominent Chasidic rabbis.

JLI Students Take Lesson Outside of the Classroom

Erica Lederman – Chabad.edu

Brooklyn, NY — On Sunday, March 25 a group of students from the University of Pennsylvania visited Crown Heights, Brooklyn as part of the Rohr JLI Jewish Essentials course now being offered on several campuses. The field trip consisted of several components, including visits to a matzah bakery, the headquarters of the OK Kosher Laboratories and discussions with prominent Chasidic rabbis.

One of the first stops upon arriving in Crown Heights was the synagogue and attached offices located at 770 Eastern Parkway, the address of the world headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. Rabbi Levi Haskelevich, program director of the Lubavitch House at Penn, addressed the group of students with an explanation of the history and importance of the building. He pointed out that the building houses not just a synagogue; that, because it served as the offices of the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson, of righteous memory, and his successor, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of righteous memory, the location is especially holy to the community.

The synagogue has two levels: the lower level for the men and the upper level for the women. Rabbi Levi spoke of some difficulties regarding lack of space on high holidays and special occasions, at which times ambulances are kept on hand in case of medical emergencies due to overcrowding. Overall, the atmosphere on Sunday in the synagogue was surprisingly casual. Beside their tefillin the men had cans of Coca-Cola and in between prayers there was English conversation among friends.

Another stop during the Crown Heights trip was to the home of artist Michoel Muchnik, a man who was not raised in an Orthodox home but who discovered the Rebbe’s teachings and illustrates Chasidic values through his art. He explained to the students how his style of artwork developed along with his spiritual identity, starting with crude black and white sketches, transforming into colorful, childlike scenes and finally evolving into his current style of three-dimensional portraits reflecting Chasidic stories and metaphors. Further information about Mr. Muchnik and his work can be found at http://www.MuchnikArts.com.

The students were generously welcomed into the home of Rabbi Moshe and Sarah Feiglin for lunch and enjoyed sandwiches with Rabbi Yossi Jacobson and Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky. Rabbi Jacobson addressed the students about leadership responsibilities in terms of the Jewish faith, illustrating his points with biblical examples and witty anecdotes. For example, he expressed the importance of doing charitable deeds by recalling that Moses would have not have survived through infancy if it hadn’t been for the single act of Batya rescuing him from the river. In short, if it hadn’t been for the gentile woman’s kindness, Moses may never have grown to become the great religious leader we know him as now. The lesson to be taken is to do good deeds every day, at every chance, because it can never be known which good deed will spark an evolutionary event.

Rabbi Kotlarsky, who is the chairman of the board of directors of the Chabad-Lubavitch educational program, spoke about the progress of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement throughout the world and marveled at the upcoming Passover Seders that will be taking place in Africa and other seemingly remote areas.

After lunch, the group visited the women’s mikvah and spoke with guide Mrs. Rosenfeld about the mitzvah of mikvah and Jewish dating and marriage practices. She spoke briefly about how the mikvah has been an integral part of the Jewish marriage and how important it is to the Jewish faith. Being one of the most private mitzvot, the mikvah is often one of the first transitions a female convert will partake in before participating in more public mitzvot such as kashrut or Shabbat. The spiritual cleansing of submersion gives a female Jew a sense of closeness with G-d that few other practices can deliver. Mrs. Rosenfeld’s passion and affection for the mikvah practice was clear in her energy and excitement during the discussion.

Following the visit to the mikvah, the group briefly stopped at a matzah bakery, which was in full production mode a week before Pesach. Small, hot, and crowded, the bakery was not quite what most of the students expected. Two men were seen rapidly mixing flour and water, which was then divided and rolled flat by women lined up along a wooden table. The round matzahs were then folded over a long wooden stick and put into a brick oven. The urgency of matzah baking is evident in the quick movements and commotion created by every person in the process. If a matzah sits for more than 18 minutes uncooked, it is no longer kosher and needs to be thrown out.

The final visit was to the OK Kosher Laboratories, where the students were addressed by Rabbi Chaim Fogelman about the importance of keeping kosher and the specific difficulties the lab faces when determining whether a product is kosher or not. For example, every ingredient and preservative must be examined and approved before the final product can have a kosher symbol put on it. One un-kosher item will make the entire product un-kosher and factory standards must be checked often to make sure kosher practices are still observed. The Rabbi also warned that some companies put kosher symbols on their products without being approved beforehand, sometimes because they do not know what the symbol means or because they do not want to go through the lengthy process of having their products approved. There are no laws preventing this from happening and in order to be completely sure a food item is acceptable, a kosher-observing person should check the official list of products available on the laboratory’s website.

The field day in Crown Heights gave the University of Pennsylvania students insight into the daily lives of Chasidic Jews living in a community that embraces the Chasidic lifestyle. Each visit and each discussion held a unique lesson that could only be learned by observation.

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