Although toddlers are a minority in Rechavia, day care spots are hard to come by. Come September, Chabad's new representatives in Rechavia will ease the crunch by opening a creative day care program.

Few young parents can afford to make this upscale, historic neighborhood their home, but those that do scramble for day care options.

 “A lot of young families have asked us to open a program,” said Mrs. Shoshi Goldberg, co-director of Chabad's six-month-old post in Rechavia. She holds a BA in special education and taught in Toronto.

 Five of the twelve places in the new program are already filled. The program will offer drama, young chef lessons, and creative expression at its core in a Jewish setting.

 Classes will be held in the Goldbergs' garden apartment on Arlozorov Street.

The street is named for a Zionist leader murdered on a Tel Aviv beach during the British mandate. Eleven houses down the block, a Bauhaus building from the thirties exudes cubic cool, though its lines have been modified (some say marred) by Bank Leumi's remodeling. Rechavia, a posh area adjacent to the Jerusalem's Old City, is pricey, affordable to rich foreigners hungry for a holy property close to decent sushi, college roommates who tolerate splitting the rent five ways, and Israel's elite: supreme court justices, prime ministers, the well-heeled intelligentsia.

 Attired per his personal custom in a smartly knotted tie, Rabbi Yisroel Goldberg acknowledges that extant synagogues have already covered a lot of the need in the neighborhood. He's been invited to speak at the Great Synagogue and Yershurun synagogue. Internationally known Jewish philanthropic and educational organizations have magisterial headquarters blocks away. And a nearby Chabad center frequented by Chasidic families.

 “We have to think out of the box,” said Rabbi Goldberg.

 On Purim Rabbi Goldberg read the megillah seven times in one day at eateries along Rechavia's restaurant row on Azza street. Owners of Sushi Rechavia, Sigmond, Ben Azza L'Berlin, and four others were hesitant to host a religious event, but gave the go ahead when they realized the advertising potential. Purim day, crowds from 50 to 150 at each restaurant listened to Rabbi Goldberg's speed-megillah reading, a technique he polished in his yeshiva days in France.  

 Community board director David Bernstein appreciates Rabbi Goldberg's off-beat approach. “What was lacking in this neighborhood were community gatherings that are not associated with a shul. I am not a religious person. I do not go to shul. He makes events where people can meet and rejoice” on the holidays regardless of synagogue affiliation.

The Goldbergs and their five children, ages seven and under, moved to Israel last summer. Mrs. Goldberg was born and raised in Israel. She used her mother tongue while serving as a Chabad representative alongside her husband in upstate New York. 

 “In New York, I spoke Hebrew with the Israelis. In Rechavia, I have to practice my English.” One of Chabad of Rechavia's ongoing programs is Mrs. Goldberg's Hebrew language ulpan class for the neighborhood's many English speakers.

 Before moving to Israel, the Goldbergs organized programs for a Chabad center in upstate New York. The New York community was in close proximity to a religiously observant enclave. The misunderstandings between the two communities are the same whether on the east coast or in the middle east, says Goldberg as he considers the road ahead.

 “What we've found is if you treat people with respect, they respond in kind.”