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Thousands of Children "Grow" Goodness for Tu BiSh'vat

“We are each responsible for the atmosphere around us,” said Mrs. Altie Wolvovsky to the group of twenty 5- to 11-year-olds gathered around her. A lively discussion about the environment and their impact on it ensued.

Ashira Weiss | News | Sunday, January 20, 2019

Belgian Rabbis Resolute Despite Kosher Slaughter Ban

For many of Belgium’s 30,000 Jews, 2019 brings with it some uncomfortable restrictions. A law proposed in June 2017, now implemented after a unanimous vote, has outlawed ritual Kosher slaughter in their country.

Ashira Weiss | News | Friday, January 18, 2019

Art and Design Meet in Chabad of Korea’s New Mikvah

Designed by the emissaries, the mikvah is uniquely Korean. Its roof is reminiscent of the curved, tiled designs that feature prominently in royal Korean architecture, and the waved aluminium panels on the left side of the building are a nod to the modern, high-tech vibe currently sweeping the country. The mikvah pool features intricate mosaic tiles placed along the walls that were artfully formed in the shape of a single droplet of water, encouraging one to contemplate the sanctity and rebirth associated with the waters of the mikvah.

Frayda Kaplan | News | Thursday, January 17, 2019

A Testament to the Rebbe's Exhaustive and Far-Reaching Scholarship

For most readers, the fascinating meanderings and careful reconciliations of apparently contradictory details will obscure the big insight that brackets the Rebbe’s writing: the “theory of everything”—the profound unity that pervades all of Torah thought. Block carefully prunes the Rebbe’s winding tendrils of thought to help the reader see the recurring themes in the Rebbe’s writings.

Dr. Chana Silberstein | News | Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Vanderbilt: An American Campus Where Jewish Students Feel Safe and Welcome

When the Chabad rabbi walks the streets of Nashville, he’ll often be greeted by strangers. “Bless you, rabbi!” or “Bless Israel, we pray for you,” they’ll say. The friendly reception towards Shlomo Rothstein, Chabad emissary at Vanderbilt University, and his wife Nechama, also prevails on campus, where the college community values the presence of Chabad. In this regard, Vanderbilt stands in sharp contrast to many other universities where anti-Israel demonstrations, anti-Semitic vandalism, and a general disdain for religious beliefs and practice make life difficult for Jewish students.

Tzipora Reitman | News | Monday, January 14, 2019

Building Communities: An Answer to The Loneliness Epidemic

How does a young couple begin to build a community? That question has been on my mind since my daughter and son-in-law became Chabad emissaries to an expansive rural town on the East Coast. For all its landmass, the town has a small population and is home to fewer than a thousand Jews. I couldn’t imagine how my daughter and her husband would go about creating a community there. Perhaps they should reconsider, I said, and look for a place where there is a greater need.

Baila Olidort | News | Friday, January 11, 2019

New In Adult Education: Crime And Consequence

Crime, punishment and justice from a distinctly Jewish perspective will be the topic of a new course launched by the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute (JLI). With criminal justice reform now center-stage in the United States, the course, a six-part series that will be offered beginning in February, at more than 400 locations worldwide, is well timed.

Staff Writer | News | Thursday, January 10, 2019

In the Suburbs of Sao Paulo: A Jewish Community Opens a Synagogue

This ritzy S. Paulo suburb is home to one thousand Jewish families. Since 2005, Rabbi Eliyahu and Rivky Rosenfeld have been holding services, running a Hebrew school, and teaching classes in a small rented home here. The people were interested; the leaders passionate. But their success quickly became their greatest obstacle: there simply wasn’t enough room.

Dvora Lakein | News | Wednesday, January 9, 2019

Blog: But First Come For Shabbat

Learning about the People of the Book from the lived life: I can’t remember my first day of Hebrew school. My bar mitzvah portion is a blur. But I’ll never forget the day a rabbi told me to stop reading so many Jewish books.

Scott Hirsch | News | Tuesday, January 8, 2019

Partnering With Chabad On The Next Frontier

Chabad shluchim typically finance this work by fundraising inside the communities they serve. The practice fosters dynamic partnerships between local residents and shluchim who work together to build vibrant communities. But when three hundred Jews are scattered across a wide terrain as in some locations, they generally don’t have the resources to build the infrastructure that a Jewish community requires.

Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky | News | Monday, January 7, 2019

Not Your Parents' Hebrew School

For generations of American Jews, Hebrew School has meant long, boring Sunday afternoons of tedious classroom lectures and Hebrew instruction. “If you are a working parent, you have to enroll your child in an after-school program,” says Rabbi Moishe Kievman, of Highland Lakes, Florida. As parents are already searching for premium after-school care for their children, they are only too happy to have it include a substantive Jewish education.

Rena Udkoff | News | Sunday, January 6, 2019

Jewish Revival in the Birthplace of Hip-Hop

When Rabbi Choli and Chana Mushka (Alevsky) Mishulovin first drove through the neighborhoods of South Bronx, they weren’t sure about setting up a Chabad center among the graffitied buildings. In the 1960’s, South Bronx had been a thriving, middle-class neighborhood where close to half of the population was Jewish. As crime rose, Jews began leaving. Twelve years ago, the last surviving shul closed its doors. Choli says it’s hard to know how many of today’s South Bronx residents are Jewish.

Shterna Karp | News | Thursday, January 3, 2019

Amos Oz And The Rabbi of Rivne

Four years ago, Amos Oz began an unlikely friendship with the Chabad representative to Rivne (Rovno), Ukraine.

Baila Olidort | News | Wednesday, January 2, 2019

Chabad of Short Hills Opens New Space

After decades of running activities out of two small family homes, Chabad of Short Hills, New Jersey opened a state-of-the-art 28,000-square-foot center on a nostalgic landmark on the city’s main street.

Mussi Sharfstein | News | Friday, December 28, 2018

Jewish Leader in the Bronx Inducted into Local Jewish Hall of Fame

This November, the Bronx Jewish Historical Initiative, in conjunction with the Bronx Borough President’s office, inducted its Hall of Fame class of 2018. One of in the six Jewish notables inducted was Rabbi Levi Shemtov who directs Chabad of the Bronx with his wife, Sarah, for the past twenty-seven years.

Mussi Sharfstein | News | Friday, December 28, 2018

Teens and Toys, Bringing Smiles to Montreal Hospitals

For children who are unwell during a holiday, the pain of a hospital stay can impede on the joy of the season. Rabbi Naftoli and Nechama Perlstein, directors of the Chabad Chai Center in Montreal, Canada, have worked to bring back the joy for more than twenty years. Through the Chai Center’s Toys for a Smile program, thousands of gifts are donated to hospitalized children for Chanukah.

Shterna Karp | News | Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Old Books Find New Home

In a casual conversation with the inmate librarian at the Grafton Correctional Institute in Ohio, Rabbi Shlomo Elkan learned that the library was in dire need of books. The prison volunteer chaplain and director of Chabad at Oberlin college realized that he could help. He and his wife, Devorah, began the People of the Book initiative, advertising all over campus that Chabad was asking students and faculty members to donate books they didn’t need anymore.

Mussi Sharfstein | News | Sunday, December 23, 2018

500 Honor 40 Years of Chabad School on the French Riviera

Over 500 people gathered in the iconic Negresco Hotel this past November to celebrate forty years of the Chabad Kerem Menachem school, directed by Sara Pinson, in the French Riviera.

Mussi Sharfstein | News | Thursday, December 20, 2018

New Chabad Center for America's Fastest Changing City

With an eye on the upward trending growth of the local population, Chabad House of Asheville recently celebrated the opening of a new, permanent center. “As people move in, we want them to know where to find us,” says Rabbi Shaya Susskind.

Ashira Weiss | News | Wednesday, December 19, 2018

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Joins Chabad in Packing Staples for the Needy

Every day, dozens of local and visiting volunteers head to the Colel Chabad warehouse in Jerusalem to pack food staples to be distributed to thousands of needy families all over Israel. This month, the division of Colel Chabad known as Pantry Packers was joined by U.S. Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, his wife, Tammy, and the embassy staff.

Mussi Sharfstein | News | Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Today in Jewish History: Asarah (10) B’Tevet

On the 10th of Tevet in the Hebrew year 3336 (425 BCE), the army of Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar surrounded Jerusalem’s stone walls and laid siege on the city. This was the beginning of the end of the first Beit Hamikdash; on the 17th of Tammuz, 3338, the city walls were breached, and three weeks later, on 9 Av of that year, the Temple was destroyed and the Jews were sent into exile.

Staff Writer | News | Monday, December 17, 2018

Tackling the Text in Braille, JLI Teaches Torah to the Blind

Not one to shy away from a challenge, Rabbi Rivkin called up the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute (JLI), the course creators, known for their cutting-edge content and inclusive environment, and asked if they had any textbooks in Braille. They did. Already ten years earlier, Rabbi Mendel Bluming of Chabad of Potomac, Maryland, had helped arrange a partnership between JLI and the Jewish Braille Institute (JBI) to translate the standard JLI textbooks into Braille.

Mussi Sharfstein | News | Monday, December 17, 2018

Latkes and Lights at the Oregon Zoo

Rachel is a program manager at the Union for Reform Judaism. She works to build inclusivity daily and is responsible for bringing diversity and equity to the Portland area. “It’s important for our children to have their faith and culture represented in public events,” she says, noting that the breakfast was part of Zoolights, a program that runs from November to January, outside of the zoo’s regular opening times, and allows members and visitors to view its more than 1.5 million speciality lights.

Ashira Weiss | News | Friday, December 14, 2018

Today in Chabad History: 5 Tevet

On the 5th of Tevet (Hei Teves) in 1987, the extensive library of the sixth Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson, was declared as belonging to Agudas Chasidei Chabad Lubavitch. The U.S. Federal court issued this ruling after a lengthy, highly-publicized trial. The anniversary of this event is marked annually, by purchasing new sefarim (Jewish books) and studying them.

Staff Writer | News | Thursday, December 13, 2018

Chabad House Bowery Goes Apping

A new app was launched by Chabad House Bowery, providing students and young professionals in the Bowery area of Manhattan (including students at NYU) with easier access to Chabad’s programming. A one-stop-shop, the app displays a full schedule of upcoming events, and allows users to order kosher food.

Mussi Sharfstein | News | Wednesday, December 12, 2018

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