Rabbi Celebrates in Unorthodox Way

LONGMONT, CO — A rabbi who raps.

Now listen kids, we’re here to say,

We’re rappin’ about a very special holiday,

A rabbi who places candles in a menorah fashioned from bowling pins.

Purim is fun and sukkot is neat,

A rabbi who asks Longmont’s mayor and a state senator to light six of eight bowling pin candles in celebration of the holiday.

But the joy of Hanukkah can’t be beat.

Yakov Borenstein, rabbi at the Chabad Jewish Center of Longmont, may seem to some to be pretty unorthodox for an Orthodox Jew.

But the rabbi says he’s just trying to make the faith as appealing, interesting and accessible as possible, without diluting its core message.

“We’re having a fun time and turning it into something holy,” Borenstein offered Sunday afternoon, gathering with 150 Jews at Centennial Lanes in Longmont to celebrate the sixth night of Hanukkah.

State Senator Brandon Shaffer, D-Longmont, thought celebrating the Jewish holiday with several strings of bowling wasn’t a bad idea at all.

“For me, it’s an opportunity to celebrate my kids,” said Shaffer, who is Jewish. “So they were delighted when they heard the menorah lighting would happen at the bowling alley.”

Borenstein, who came to Longmont from New York City just over a year ago, is providing a meeting place and community for Jews in and around Longmont who haven’t had a place close by to celebrate their religion.

He said the center continues to work out of rented space around Longmont, but talk of building a synagogue is in the air.

“It’s very unique,” Raziel Wilhite said of the Chabad Jewish Center.

Wilhite, who was shooting a 67 on his seventh round, said gathering at Centennial Lanes for some kosher food and Jewish music was an original and spirited way to observe Hanukkah.

“This is a chance to be around my people and celebrate the holiday,” he said.

Stacie Blatnick, a 2-year Longmont resident who came to the Hanukkah Bowl with her husband and children, said her awareness of the city’s Jewish community has grown since the rabbi came to town.

“He’s really into helping in any way he can,” she said of Borenstein.

As to why the rabbi decided to hold his annual menorah lighting in a place that normally serves up pitchers of beer to those knocking down pins during Thunder Alley Midnight Madness, he simply shrugged.

“I’m a major bowler,” Borenstein smiled.