The Jewish community of Chapman University had cause for celebration Sunday when the last of the 304,805 Hebrew letters were painstakingly inked onto a parchment scroll, marking the completion of the Chabad’s first Torah scroll.
Rabbi Henoch Rosenfeld is very specific when describing Chabad Young Professionals of Pittsburgh’s new home: It is not a house. “It’s a loft,” Rosenfeld said. “It’s the second floor of a building. We call it the CYP Loft.”
The Rohr Chabad House at Vanderbilt University has started the Aryeh Fund in memory of Zack “Aryeh” Freeling, a former student who ran a kosher food truck at the university and is remembered for his perseverance in working for his community despite personal hardship.
In some regards, Chabad seems like an anomaly in the Jewish world. Many non-Orthodox Jewish institutions are unsure about what the future holds for their physical spaces after a year and a half of largely digital engagement — and after decades of declining synagogue membership for Judaism’s largest American denominations. Chabad, meanwhile, appears to be confident about its capacity to attract large numbers of people to its centers.
Colel Chabad, Israel’s longest continuously-running charitable organization since 1788, was chosen to serve as the producing partner for an event for Bar and Bat Mitzvah children who have lost a parent to illness of tragedy. The 4000-person event took place at the Superland amusement park in Rishon Lezion, adapted for the day to serve as “Mitzvahland.”
On Sunday morning, family and friends of Duke’s Jewish community gathered from all around the country to celebrate the Fleishman House’s ribbon cutting ceremony.
Friday night, home-cooked dinners at Rabbi Shlomo Silverman’s Chabad house are attracting dozens of students each week.
The body of a Jewish Holocaust survivor who died in China before Rosh Hashanah will be flown to Israel for burial by Chabad emissaries and the international unit of ZAKA, an Israeli volunteer emergency response service.
Colel Chabad—the longest continuously operating charitable organization in Israel, established in 1788—is delivering boxes filled with everything from rice and beans to chicken and wine to more than 15,000 homes.
This week, Jews in Tomsk feel a circle has been completed, as the city opened a Jewish education center, the largest currently in Siberia.
Thousands of people took part in the Sixth Hungarian ‘Cholent Festival’ (“Sólet” in Hungarian) at the Újbuda outdoor theater in Budapest before the start of the High Holidays, organized by the Chabad Lubavitch organization Association of Hungarian Jewish Communities (EMIH).
Where there were once 150 synagogues in Budapest, there are now fewer than two dozen; however, efforts in the past decade to foster a resurgence in Jewish life have proven successful.