Mobile, Alabama’s Jewish community marked a milestone recently, as the thousand-plus Jews who call the southern port town home welcomed the opening of the Mobile Mikvah — a newly-renovated, modern space that has enhanced Jewish life in the community in the three years since its opening.
The Mobile Mikvah is one of many across the world constructed with support from Keren HaChomesh — the Chomesh Fund — a fund established by the Lubavitcher Rebbe shortly after the funeral of his wife, Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka Schneerson. The fund’s name is an acronym for the Rebbetzin’s name, and in tribute to her life, the Rebbe earmarked the fund to support Jewish women and girls.
In the 37 years since its inception the fund has supported widows and orphans; brides in need of support for their weddings; Torah classes and institutions for Jewish women, and the construction and renovation of mikvahs.
The fund, which is administered by Machne Israel — the humanitarian branch of teh Chabad-Lubavitch movement — has placed emphasis on supporting the construction of mikvahs serving relatively remote Jewish communities who might not otherwise have had the wherewithal to build on their own.
“Being the only mikvah within a five-hour radius, the Mobile mikvah helps make sure that Jews who would never have dreamt of using the mikvah are now able to do so,” said Rabbi Yosef Goldwasser of Chabad of Mobile. “I would like to thank Keren Hachomesh for helping to make sure that there’s a mikvah in Mobile.”
The fund has brought mikvahs to America’s ports, and to its heartland. In Columbia, Missouri, a mikvah is under construction thanks to Keren Hachomesh. “The closest mikvah is two hours away from us, and it’s difficult to encourage women to join in doing this mitzvahwhen it’s that far away,” said Channy Lapine, of the Chabad Jewish Center of MU and Mid-Missouri. “So we’re very fortunate and grateful to be building — getting into the final stages here, about to pour the cement for the mikvah. Keren Hachomesh made this possible.”
Cluj-Napoca, a city in the Transylvania region of Romania, was once a thriving Jewish city. MOre than 70 years after the Holocaust, when its Jewish population was exterminated, the city’s Jewish community has begun to grow again. Rabbi Dovber and Fraidy Orgad, of the city’s Chabad center, recently completed construction of a mikvah — the first the city has seen in a long time. Their community no longer has to endure long treks to other cities for this cornerstone mitzvah.
Thirty-seven years later, the fund the Rebbe established continues to impact the lives of Jewish women around the world. As the Rebbetzin’s yahrtzeit is marked, many have the custom to donate to the fund in multiples of 470 — the numerical value of the Rebbetzin’s name — as the Rebbe often encouraged. To learn more about Keren Hachomesh and to partner in their work, visit KerenHachomesh.org.
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