Friday, / March 29, 2024
Posts by: Baila Olidort
270 Results
A Time to Heal
When the doors of Chabad Houses closed, and shluchim adopted social-distancing guidelines, we wondered how this edition of the magazine would take shape. More importantly,…
A NOVEL RECOVERY
We humans have a primordial need to know. When something happens that upends our reality, we feel great urgency to unravel the enigma. We need…
To Be The Rebbe’s Emissary
In a 2014 interview with me, Rabbi Grunblatt shared his ideas about serving as the Rebbe’s emissary, and the attitudes and rigors that inform him,…
Changing the Jewish Narrative
For many, Belgrade's Jewish community is defined by the tragedy of the Holocaust. But as a new movement devoted to changing the narrative grows, the…
Mystery Donor
As Chabad events gained popularity, the Kaminetzkys’ rented apartment began to shrink. It was time to move forward. But with a weak economy and a…
Do We Need Anti-Semitism To Keep Us Jewish?
Swados asked the Rebbe whether it was his opinion, then, “that the tragedy was not a unique visitation upon the Jewish people, and that it…
LifeTown: Reimagining Society, Redefining Inclusion
Set on five sprawling acres and surrounded by New Jersey’s hills and parks, LifeTown offers children and adults with special needs the opportunity to work,…
Heirs to the Rebbe’s Legacy
To anyone familiar with the Rebbe’s teachings, the principles of positive psychology that are so popular today echo the Torah-based ideals that the Rebbe advanced:…
In Conversation with Nobel Prize Winner Elie Wiesel
Elie Wiesel, one of the most passionate Jewish voices of our time, enjoyed an enduring correspondence and personal relationship with the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Mr. Wiesel,…
Your Place Is Here: An Emissary Reflects With Candor
On the day of the mikvah inauguration, Reizy Zaklas took a break from all the hoopla to reflect as we sat in her kitchen. I…
The Lamplighters of Zagreb
"For the first time in Croatia, we have the experience of a Jewish community that is practicing all the traditions. And this has changed everything.…
Emerging From the Shadows, Zagreb’s Jews Celebrate a New Mikvah
“It’s been a festival here all month leading up to the opening,” Raizy Zaklas, Chabad’s representative to Zagreb, Croatia told me Wednesday morning. She and…
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…
Amos Oz And The Rabbi of Rivne
Four years ago, Amos Oz began an unlikely friendship with the Chabad representative to Rivne, Ukraine. Oz’s mother, Fania Mussman, was from the-then Polish city…
Russian Chief Rabbi Alarmed by Treatment of Chabad Representatives
In an urgent letter to Sweden’s government officials, Russia’s Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar expressed “grave concern” for the wellbeing of its Sweden’s Chabad emissaries, Rabbi…
Simple Shtieble, Soaring Sanctuary, Yom Kippur Is Calling
There is a “synagogue crisis” at large, and Chabad is not unaffected. Chabad rabbis and rebbetzins do draw crowds to their community events. Shabbat dinners…
Auschwitz, The Polin Museum, The Chabad Tent
When was the last time Jews sparred over Talmudic arguments in Polish? Thousands of visitors encountered this scene in April, awed to discover that "faith…
The House That Miriam and Meir Built
The countercultural movement of the sixties and seventies was the segue to a period of great spiritual ferment. Inspired by the zeitgeist, young Jewish rebels…
Everything Is Illuminated
In this feature, Lubavitch International looks at the unique gifts a Chabad representative brings to her community. Rochel Groner, director of the Friendship Circle and…
Chabad To Open in Iceland
But there’s been a growing interest among a diverse group of local Jews, particularly young families, to cultivate a Jewish community in Reykjavik. And a…
Vienna’s Jewish Renaissance
The revival is arresting. Fritz Bittman, one of few remaining Jews born in the shadows of the Holocaust, offers a rarefied perspective. He considers the…
Oh, Barcelona!
In a country where religion is often met with skepticism, and where being a tiny minority makes Jewish life “not easy,” this is remarkable, observes…
It Happened At The Dinner Table
It’s the only state in the U.S. where support for Israel is as official as its state-issued motor-vehicle license plates. In 2014, when entrenched hostility…
The Kitchen Table and Other Sacred Spaces
As I spoke to the people who collaborated with their Chabad representatives on this project, I understood: they are not visitors and this was not…
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