Chabad Center Opens in Jackson Hole, Wyoming

(lubavitch.com) It’s easy to get lost in Wyoming, the ninth largest state. Especially if you are only one of 430 Jews out of an estimated total population of 509,294.  

Rabbi Zalman and Raizy Mendelsohn, who arrived here Thursday with their newborn daughter, are determined to seek them out. The Mendelsohns have opened the first Chabad-Lubavitch center in Jackson Hole, giving the Cowboy State’s Jews the benefit of full time Chabad representatives. 

Since their appointment to this position by Merkos L'inyonei Chinuch, announced at the last International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Shluchim, the Mendelsohns have become acquainted with members of the local Jewish community and some of their most pressing needs. 

Rabbi Mendelsohn toured Wyoming during his summer stints as a rabbinical student, and appreciates the challenge that comes with reaching out to so small number of people dispersed over so vast an area. Wyoming's peaks and valleys span 97,914 square miles. 

At least five million tourists visit Wyoming’s national parks and monuments every year, with some three million a year visiting Yellowstone National Park.

The new Chabad center in Jackson Hole was sponsored by a grant from the Rohr Family Foundation.