Finding Meaning Closer to Home

WILMINGTON, DE — At sunrise, men drift into the Chabad Center of Delaware and welcome the day, like Abraham, with prayers of joy and gratitude.

And when the scrolls of scripture are brought from the ark, worshippers move forward to show affection for this gift, touching the Torah to their lips.

“The Torah is the soul of the Jewish people, not ‘Fiddler on the Roof,’ not lox and bagels,” says Rabbi Chuni Vogel, who faces Jerusalem as he leads the prayers. “The Torah is the tree of life for all those who cling to it.”

Previously, prayers would have been said in the rabbi’s home in Green Acres. Since Rosh Hashanah in September, services have moved across Silverside Road to a new synagogue, a project more than seven years in the making and costing close to $3 million.

The center marks new opportunites in worship and education. For Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, 135 Jewish people worshiped in the center. And following the Nov. 4 dedication, Chabad will launch new courses from the Jewish Learning Institute that will run through the next several months.

“This is a new chapter in Jewish communal life for us,” Vogel says. “In a sense you need your own worship place.

”Not everyone is comfortable trekking into the rabbi’s home in the morning tripping over kids’ toys. Services were in my home for a very temporary basis — 19 years.

“I feel good because it took the Jews 40 years to go from Egypt to Israel. It took me 19 years to cross Silverside Road.”

It’s a shul or worship space with large windows where the rabbi hopes people will look out to see God’s presence in nature and light.

“Light is used to describe wisdom and good feeling,” he says. “Our philosophy is the more you understand, the more you deepen your religious and social connections. Everything looks different when you add light.”

The rabbi and his wife, Oryah, are in Delaware to stay,

having pioneered the Chabad movement in the state. They are part of one of the fastest-growing approaches to Judaism, a new center opening every 10 days somewhere in the world. There are now 3,300 centers.

“Perhaps this growth is because we value each step in Judaism that people take,” Vogel says.

It’s an approach that people find encouraging, says David Margules, a friend of the rabbi and member of Chabad.

“Chabad is based on the premise that all Jewish people have a spark of holiness because of who they are,” Margules says. “Everybody has things they do that are positive and provide a spiritual connection to God.

”In Chabad, we say we love you for who you are and what you do — and would you consider doing a little more.“

It’s an approach that Margules finds personally appealing. Over the last 15 years, Judaism has assumed a more primary role in his life so that 2 1/2 years ago his family moved within an easy walk of the rabbi’s sabbath worship.

”There are other families, like ours, who’ve gradually increased their practice and some who’ve taken another step of moving close to the center,“ he says.

He credits the Vogels with modeling how religion can give people a sense of meaning, happiness and a feeling of connection to God.

”They are a warm, generous and committed family who sacrificed a great deal,“ Margules says.

Raised in an Orthodox family in London, Vogel was inspired by his father’s involvement in the Hasidic movement known as Chabad-Lubavitch. Vogel’s parents were also Holocaust survivors and felt a sense of urgency to help the Jewish people. And, following his late father’s lead, Vogel entered Chabad.

One of his earliest outreaches was on the University of Delaware campus. And 15 years ago, he recruited Rabbi Eliezer Sneiderman and his wife, Roni, to lead the Chabad Center for Jewish Life at the University of Delaware.

In 2000, Delaware Chabad bought just over an acre on Silverside Road for a sanctuary, social hall, library and kitchen.

With another 3/4-acre, the center was able to add parking and overcome zoning obstacles as well as most of the neighborhood complaints that the center would not fit into an upscale suburb.

”An Orthodox Jewish house of worship has to be close to neighbors who wish to observe the sabbath by walking to services,“ Vogel says.

And now that the center is open, it’s gratifying to go to the bank or supermarket, because he hears compliments, rather than complaints, he says.

It’s also satisfying for Vogel to see people come to the center and get more involved in the Jewish faith, the underlying hope of Chabad.

One of those drawn to worship at the center is Reuven Goodman of Highland Park, N.J., who works in Delaware.

His father and grandfather are Jewish. And, though Goodman wasn’t raised in the faith, it intrigued him enough to begin studies of Hebrew and the Torah.

Three years ago, he converted to the faith, with the help of Vogel and Rabbi Sanford Dresin of Adas Kodesch Traditional Synagogue.

”You become aware that there is a greater power in life and you feel a need to appreciate that power while building your understanding,“ Goodman says. ”As a Jew, you commit to a lifetime of learning.“

A recent convert is Jodi Cohen, who was raised as a Presbyterian.

And in the last 18 months, she moved near the Chabad Center with Benjamin, her husband, and their three children. The goal — be more prayerful and observant.

”It’s slowed me down, kept us more together on weekends and helped us grow closer,“ she says. ”I finally feel like our whole family is Jewish. I love it.”

Sholom Voel, 13, a son of the rabbi, prepares for morning prayers at the Chabad Center.

Shmuel Yosef prepares for morning payers at the Chabad Center by binding cords called tefilin to his body to control and direct emotions of the heart, strength of the arm, actions of the hand and thoughts of the mind.

Shmuel Yosef uses a ritual pointer, a yad, as he reads from his prayer book.