What would it take to unite Jewish kids living in tiny Far East communities so isolated that their closest Jewish friends could be a three-hour flight away?

Rabbi Mordechai Avtzon and his wife, Goldie, Chabad emissaries to Hong Kong for more than 17 years, and directors of LIFE- Lubavitch In the Far East, the Chabad umbrella organization for Asian Jewish communities, pondered this question for years before finally coming up with the All Asia-Pacific Torah Cup Competition, a revolutionary initiative that begins this Sunday, March 2.

“The idea is to connect Jewish kids and make them feel part of something Jewish and bigger, while teaching them about Judasim—something many of them know very little about,” says Goldie Avtzon.

Truly an international effort, preparations for the competition have “crossed the Atlantic many times over,” says Goldie, who coordinated the event, working with the writer in New York, the graphic designer in Manila, Philippines, the cartoonist in New Jersey, and back to their home base in Hong Kong, where they are directing the project with Shluchim from other Asian countries.

Using the internet as the ideal medium for today’s hi-tech savvy kids, the competition is a series of four weeks worth of a kid-friendly Jewish education. Emailed to all participants who can then read it on-line, each week’s curriculum includes attractive graphics and test-yourself study games. Participants on each team—every country forms a team—will gather weekly at their local Chabad center to take a test on the previous week’s studies. Chabad Shluchim in Bangkok, Shanghai, Beijing, Singapore, Hong Kong, and several other cities are coordinating the weekly gatherings.

“The genius of it is that you don’t need to travel anywhere—you can take the test from your computer as well—and you don’t need to have any Jewish background to succeed in the competition,” Goldie Avtzon says. At the end of four weeks, the children with the highest scores will be linked via video-conferencing for a grand competition. The winner will be awarded a Torah Cup Trophy for their team.

Some 70 children have joined the Torah Cup competition, and anticipation is high for the grand kickoff event this Sunday. In Hong Kong, participants will gather at the Chabad House to receive a username and password, Torah Cup T-shirts and detailed instructions for the competition. Smaller gatherings will be take place simultaneously at Chabad centers in other cities.

“This is the first wide-spread unified effort for Jewish kids in the Far East,” Avtzon says. “Thanks to the latest advances in technology, it will hopefully be the first of many.”

“The house—if you could call it that, was prehistoric. Rough stone walls and floors, no heating and the most primitive plumbing,” laughs Tila Hecht, describing the hovel in the ancient city of Safed, which she and her husband called home.

Then young newlyweds brimming with idealism and ready to take on a sustained challenge, the Hechts are still at it, 25 years later. Today they live with their multi-lingual Israeli children in a pleasant home in Eilat, where Rabbi Hecht is the city’s chief rabbi, and Tila is principal of the day school. Mrs. Hecht will typically log a 12-hour day, while her husband is on call 24/7, their home open to a constant stream of community traffic.

It’s a lifestyle that leaves little time for the luxury of reflection, but last week, thirty of these 70’s pioneers, appointed by the Rebbe to pack up and “move to Israel,” took some time to reminisce. United by a bond that reaches beyond the scope of their shared rough beginnings and common achievements, the Shluchim gathered to celebrate 25 years in Israel.

1976 was only a few years after the Yom Kippur war, and the morale in Israel was still at an all time low. In a bold initiative characteristic of the Rebbe’s leadership, he appointed young, dynamic men and women bursting with possibility, to establish communities and become involved with people Israel-wide on a grass-roots level. Quoting Isaiah, the Rebbe charged the Shluchim to “Gather, one at a time, the children of Israel.”

The mission continued with another group arriving a year later, and a third and final group in ’78. Rabbi Menachem M. Gluckowsky, a native of Canada, was among this last group. “The Rebbe appointed us representatives of North American Jewry, to support Israel,” he says. Although Chabad has a long history in Israel, dating back to the first Lubavitcher Rebbe, this would be the first time that the Rebbe would send whole groups to settle permanently in Israel.

“We were so excited to have been selected by the Rebbe as Shluchim to Israel,” explains Rabbi Gluckowsky, then a rabbinical student, “that we came here not knowing what to expect, and oblivious to the hardships and the primitive living conditions that greeted us.” Having initially settled in Safed and Jerusalem, the new arrivals were soon directed to branch out to various cities across Israel, where many assumed important leadership positions as members of the Chief Rabbinate and directors and founders of Yeshivas. More impressive than their individual achievements, notes Rabbi Gluckowsky, today the chief rabbi of the city of Rechovot, is the effect of the Americans on their Israeli counterparts, “acting as a catalyst for new generations of Israeli shluchim to surface nationwide.”

The concept of a Chabad House, open round the clock for anyone to stop in for a cup of coffee, a chat with the rabbi, or a Shabbat dinner, was decidedly American, and for the most part, did not exist at the time in Israel. Today, the Chabad House is a ubiquitous fixture in every city in Israel. Speaking at the reunion was Rabbi Yossi Gerlitsky, who hosted the reunion at the local Chabad yeshiva and runs a Chabad House in central Tel Aviv. “Today, most observant people are leaving Tel Aviv, a predominantly secular city,” he noted. “But Chabad is recruiting young observant families to establish themselves here to enhance the educational and Jewish experience of life in Tel Aviv, for the city’s children and families,” he said, illustrating the impact of Chabad-Lubavitch on the character of a community.

The ties shared by these men and women are profound, and they stay in close contact, traveling the length of Israel to participate in each other’s personal milestones. Many of these Shluchim have married off some of their children by now, and a second generation, committed to the same goals is opening new Chabad Houses and enlarging on the activities and programs that began with their parents arrival in Israel.

At the reunion, Shluchim listened raptly to a recording of the Rebbe’s meeting with the group twenty-five years ago. The Rebbe’s voice, his words of guidance and encouragement confirmed his particular concern for these Shluchim, their personal well-being, and the success of their activities.

The reunion continued with round-table discussions in which Shluchim informally exchanged anecdotes and stories from personal experiences in their respective cities and towns, reviewing the turns their lives have taken since their first years together as pioneers.

There were hard times and there were good times. Through it all, the Shluchim carried a sense of mission—and privilege at having been selected by the Rebbe—living moment to moment with the Rebbe’s mandate and his blessings. This, they will tell you unanimously, is what sustained them and fortified them and continues to keep them going strong.

It’s amazing what can happen when Jewish organizations pull together for a common cause. Just ask Dr. Wallace Green, director of Educational services at the UJA-Federation of Bergen County and North Hudson, New Jersey.

Dr. Green recently became involved with an urgent fundraising appeal for a young woman from Buenos Aires desperately in need of funds for a complex urological and gynecological reconstructive surgical procedure to be performed this week in New York. Managing the appeal in the U.S., he says support has come from across the Jewish spectrum and across the world.

The young woman, Carolina—in her 20s today, was diagnosed with a complex urological disorder at the age of four. Her parents scraped together funds for two complicated and costly procedures that she underwent at age four and six. Now a student at Buenos Aires’ ORT school, Carolina learned little over a month ago that in order to sustain the results of her two previous surgeries, she would have to undergo yet another one. With Argentina’s economy a shambles, the news could not have come at a more difficult time. Still, her parents managed to gather $5,000 of the $25,000 needed for the surgery, selling off nearly all of their possessions, and then, in desperation, contacted Rabbi Tzvi Grunblatt, director of Chabad in Argentina, with an urgent call for help.

How to respond to such an enormous need with an already devastated economy and hundreds of requests for critical assistance pouring into Grunblatt’s office daily?
Grunblatt and Valeria Markiewicz, director of Social Programs at Chabad, decided to engage other resources toward this effort.

Rabbi Grunblatt contacted a long-time friend, Howard Cherish, President of the UJA-Federation of Bergen County and North Hudson. Prior to his current position, Cherish spent several years as director of the Argentina desk at the UJC. Frequent trips to Argentina gave him the opportunity to meet with Rabbi Grunblatt and the two formed a close friendship.

On his own, Grunblatt raised $5,000 for the procedure, and officials at the Joint Distribution Committee in Buenos Aires came through with an additional $2500. But the date for the surgery was fast approaching and the US embassy was denying Carolina a medical entry visa to the U.S. unless she could prove her ability to pay for the surgery.

Cherish and his assistant, Wallace Green, threw themselves to the task. “Individual fundraising appeals are not the norm here,” Green admits, “but this situation is very serious and a lot of people have been touched by it.”

The notion that Carolina’s surgery may be her only chance to bear children has moved to people to contribute generously to the campaign, he says. “An individual campaign touches people in a different way than a large scale appeal” and the response has been overwhelmingly generous.

Combined efforts of the Joint, Chabad of Argentina, and the UJA of Bergen County have so far brought in enough funds to guarantee the procedure and entry visas for Carolina and her parents. But the campaign–only one month old–is still very much alive in an effort to raise thousands more dollars still needed to fully cover the costs.

Grunblatt, who is coordinating the transfer of collected funds from Argentina and the U.S. to the family, and arranging for the family’s needs during their stay in the U.S., says he is hopeful the remainder of the money will be raised in time. “We have a good partnership going on here,” he says.

Wallace Green agrees. “This is a good example of community cooperation. “So often something that seems difficult to accomplish on our own can be so successful if we combine forces.”

Contributions to the Carolina Fund can be made in the US through the UJA Federation of Bergen County and North Hudson, 111 Kinderkamack Road, River Edge, NJ 07661. Credit card donations can be sent via email to wallyg@ujabergen.org.

Reported by R. Wineberg

Unfolding along the western rim of the Las Vegas Valley, Summerlin is a new, 22,500-acre master-planned community, with a quality-of-life to match its azure skies, and the majestic Spring Mountain Range and Red Rock Canyon Conservation hugging its perimeter.

“Eleven years ago I told Rabbi Harlig we’d need a Chabad center in Summerlin,” recalls Terry Knight, among the first of Summerlin’s residents. Harlig, Chabad’s first representative to Las Vegas, was doubtful about such a development so soon after his own arrival and said so. But Terry wasn’t easily dissuaded. “‘It will happen,’ I told the Rabbi.”

A native of Florida, Terry moved to Las Vegas just as Chabad was setting up base here, and was witness to the birth pangs of traditional Judaism in a city that glitters with gold. When her vision of Chabad in Summerlin was realized with the arrival of Rabbi Yisroel and Shterna Schanowitz a few years later, Terry rolled up her sleeves quickly becoming an active, devoted participant in the work of Chabad in Summerlin. And as new families settled in Summerlin, says Terry, “each became a ‘shliach,’” an emissary, helping to bring Jewish awareness to their friends and their neighbors.

Home to some 25,000 Jews, Summerlin is now the fastest growing Jewish community in Las Vegas, and by extension nationwide, and the Schanowitzs are matching that growth spurt with an expansion of their own. After eight years of services, classes, and functions in a rented storefront, the community is abuzz with excitement, anticipating the completion of a permanent community center for Jewish life. A 12,000 square foot building, the new Chabad House will include two sanctuaries, a large social hall, classrooms, a comprehensive Jewish library, and a Mikvah sponsored by the Knight family.

The idea took shape nearly two years ago, says Rabbi Schanowitz, and during their first fundraiser for the project, the community pulled together $300,000.00, which they put towards the purchase of a lot of land in a terrific location. Part of a shopping mall complex, the lot has the benefits of a commercial spot in a residential area, easily accessible to the community, without the strict zoning laws that pertain to the residential blocks, and sits on the border that divides Summerlin and its affluent neighbor, Desert Shores.

In addition to its wide array of programs including a Hebrew School that meets twice weekly, Mommy and Me sessions, adult education classes, and a monthly women’s get-together, Chabad is also addressing the needs of residents of Sun City, a nearby retirement community with a Jewish population of 4,000. The Schanowitzs have made a habit of visiting Sun City around the Jewish holidays with educational programs and lively functions that go a long way to inform and inspire. They also offer Yiddish lessons to retirees nostalgic for the “mama loshon” of yesteryear.

When Herb Jaffee left New Jersey with his wife Fran, for a retirement life in Sun City, they would fly to Los Angeles every now and then to stock up on kosher goods. But in the few years since they’ve come, the Jaffees have seen Las Vegas, and Summerlin itself, utterly transformed. Today, says Herb, “I can’t think of anything I can’t buy here.”

Inspired by the dramatic change in a city that only several years ago was very much a desert, physically and spiritually, Terry—now Feige— describes herself as someone who “lives, breathes, and works for Chabad.” Her children, she says, are perfect indication of all that Chabad has achieved in its short time here. Yirmi, her oldest, is now halfway around the globe, studying in a Chabad yeshiva down under to receive his rabbinical ordination, and another is preparing for a similar course as her two younger boys study at Chabad’s Desert Torah Academy, the only Jewish day school in Las Vegas.

It is an ironic turn of events that would lead Terry to leave Florida for Vegas to find Judaism. But in a deeply Jewish faith that informs her perspective, Terry says it is anything but coincidental.

Rabbi Tzvi Konikov, one of nine distinguished guests invited to address NASA’s memorial ceremony Friday morning, brought tears to the faces of many in his words of solace, remembrance and courage.

Rabbi Konikov shared the podium with Florida’s Governor Jeb Bush, NASA administrator Sean O’Keefe, and other dignitaries, cajoling the community, in the words of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, to “turn pain into action, and tragedy into growth.” The following is the text of Rabbi Konikov’s remarks:

Governor Jeb Bush, Honorable Senators, Congressmen Dave Weldon, Honorable Sean O’Keefe, members of the clergy, distinguished NASA professionals, my fellow Americans:

Today, is a day of mourning and remembering. We are all pained to the core by the tragedy of Shuttle Columbia.
Today, we mourn the loss of seven special people, seven heroic human beings, Rick Husband, William McCool, Michael Andersen, David Brown, Kaplana Chawla, Laura Clark and, my friend, Ilan Ramon. We pledge in the presence of almighty God that we will never forget you!

Today, we mourn as one family, just as these seven outstanding individuals who came from diverse backgrounds formed a team, united as one.

Last week I was honored to have been a friend of Ilan Ramon.

Today I am humbled to be part of his legacy.

As I think of my friend, Ilan, I recall the words of King David (in the book of Samuel), when told of the loss of his dear friend Jonathan, “I am pained and distressed over you my brother Ilan. You were so pleasant to me!”

At Chabad-Lubavitch, we daily live the motto of our Sages, “turn pain into action and tragedy into growth.” Every challenge, every obstacle, every set back, no matter how painful and difficult, must be channeled into greater activity, making the world a more G-dly and kinder place.

For while Columbia is gone, our holy mission continues…
Columbia is gone; yet the astronauts’ souls are with G-d, praying for the well being of their families and for all of us!

Columbia is gone; yet the astronauts’ legacy lives on. They wished to serve and they did. Now it is our turn to serve!

Columbia is gone; yet we anticipate that NASA will redouble its space exploration with all the benefits for mankind. For your work furthers medical research and the development of defensive weapons, thus healing and protecting all G-d’s children.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneersohn, would continuously remind us that our country, The United States of America, is a nation of deep faith and great kindness.

I would like to thank NASA for accepting with open arms an Israeli scientist, a child of Holocaust survivors.

I would like to thank NASA for accommodating, even encouraging, Ilan’s religious beliefs.

I would like to thank NASA for allowing Ilan to carry a Torah scroll, which miraculously survived the concentration camps!

In particular, I would like to thank NASA for allowing Ilan to make the Kiddush and keep his Shabbat.

Last year Ilan Ramon turned to me with a question:
How does one mark the Sabbath in Space – with every 90 minutes another sunset, every 10 Å“ hours is Sabbath and every 20 days is Rosh Hashana –
Jerusalem, we have a problem!

So I had my homework to do.

But Ilan taught us a powerful message:

No matter how fast we’re going, no matter how important our work, we must pause and think about why we’re here on this earth.

Today, let every one of us do one extra act of kindness in memory of Ilan, Rick, William, Michael, David, Kaplana and Laura. This will serve as a powerful expression of our unity and resolve.

This torch of unity will light up the darkness and usher in a new era, the long awaited era of which the bible speaks of, the era of redemption. An era of G-dliness and goodness, an era of peace/Shalom.

May G-d bless America.

In the wake of the shuttle Columbia’s tragic end, so many persistent, painful questions—the whys and wherefores surrounding events of February 1st—will remain unanswered long after NASA establishes the technical cause of the disaster. “This was not supposed to happen,” says Rabbi Tzvi Konikov, echoing the sentiments of everyone connected in one way or another to the mission. Rabbi Konikov is the Chabad-Lubavitch representative to the Space Coast, and will speak at NASA’s official memorial service Friday morning, on the runway of the Kennedy Space Center landing facility.

Faced with the unenviable task of fielding a deluge of calls from friends, Space Coast community members and journalists who covered the launch closely and suffer a stabbing sadness that begs relief, Konikov, who maintains contact with Ilan Ramon’s family in Texas, feels there is genuine solace to be found in that “Ilan accomplished his mission in life.” Speaking at a memorial program on Monday night, Rabbi Konikov pointed to the astronaut’s unabashed Jewish pride. “He achieved so much for so many with the mitzvot he proudly took with him into space.”

Ilan Ramon was raised in a secular Israeli environment and yet he insisted on identifying Jewishly in his public role as an astronaut. “He saw it as a tremendous privilege and responsibility, and he wanted to live up to that and do his people and his heritage proud,” explained Rabbi Konikov in an interview with Lubavitch.com. Months before the launch, Ramon requested that NASA provide him with a kosher diet while on his mission, and then he consulted with Rabbi Konikov about observing Shabbat in outer space. Later the precious Torah scroll he took to space would make news, and three weeks before the launch, Ramon requested that Konikov arrange for him to take a dollar bill from the Lubavitcher Rebbe on his mission.

“So many journalists have called me to ask why Ramon took this dollar bill with him,” says Konikov. “It seems to me that Ramon wanted to hold on to the Rebbe’s idea of a mitzvah—in this case the mitzvah of tzedaka—as a source of light that would dispel the darkness of our world. Ilan made the point that no matter where one is, even in outer space, traveling faster than the speed of sound, one must pause to consider their purpose and mission in life. Ramon did this in a very literal way, and in doing so he served as a truly illuminating example to millions, especially to Jewish children who see him as a Jewish hero.”

Indeed, Ramon’s final acts of Jewish assertion leave a legacy that is fast generating a very concrete expression of Jewish unity. Almost immediately after the disaster, friends of the Konikov family and Chabad of the Space Coast decided to pool their resources to donate a new Torah scroll in memory of Ramon. Konikov informed Rona Ramon, the astronaut’s wife, of the gift which will be “presented to the Ramon family in time for Tal Ramon’s bar-mitzvah, in April,” says Konikov.

“The new Torah will ensure that Ramon will live forever in our lives,” said Rabbi Konikov.

At the invitation of Roy Bridges, director of the Kennedy Space Center, Rabbi Konikov will speak of hope, support and strength to a community of 600,000 that is vitally connected to the Space Center. “This community’s entire economy is based around the Space Center,” says Konikov, “so we need to find a way to mourn and grieve, while pushing ahead at the same time.”

For the families of the astronauts and members of the space program, the demoralizing blow of Columbia’s shocking end, after a presumably glorious launch and 16 days of productive research, will take a long time in healing. Unified by a spectacular pride on the morning of the launch, the community now finds unity in a deeply shared sense of loss. Ultimately, says Konikov, the courageous example of the astronauts will serve as an inspiration and a source of strength for the community to move ahead.

In a message to the Ramon family, the people who initiated the Ilan Ramon Torah Fund wrote: “We were broken all the way through our hearts and souls. Ilan Ramon, husband, father, astronaut, Israeli hero and symbolic of each of us as Jews of our home, the land of Israel, died as the space shuttle Columbia disappeared . . .

”It couldn’t be hopeless or meaningless. Ilan Ramon chose to go to space as a Jew of the nation of Israel. He carried with him a Torah scroll, the life of the Jewish people. He meant life to all of us, and his memory will forever give us life. We want his family to know and feel that he has become a part us, our personal as well as the Jewish people’s history.

”We are writing a Torah in the memory of Ilan Ramon to be dedicated and given to the Ramon family in Israel so he will live forever in our lives. One day, with G-d’s help, someone will take that Torah scroll to space.”

When Jack Mezrahi was growing up in Barranquilla, Colombia, a small city one hour from the capital, most Jewish people he knew were on their way out. “Barranquilla is a small city, and little by little, families were leaving in search of better business opportunities or a larger community—in Bogota, or Miami.” From over 800 families, he says, only about 160 remain in the city today.

But Jewish families weren’t the only ones leaving. Alberto Manopla, a Barranquilla native, says that the city’s two synagogues—Ashkenazic and Sephardic—had Rabbis who would “come for a year or two and then leave,” to be replaced by other Rabbis serving equally limited terms. A thriving community since about 1948, when many survivors and immigrants from Egypt and Syria established themselves in Barranquilla, the city was slowly losing its Jewish presence. “There was no continuity here,” Manopla says, “the community was warm and close knit, but there didn’t seem to be much of a future.”

So thirteen years ago, a group of families in Barranquilla contacted Rabbi Yehoshua Rosenfeld in Bogota, who was directing Chabad activities there since 1981, for
assistance in recruiting a Chabad rabbi for Barranquilla. “There were Rabbis in both synagogues at the time. I think people were looking at Bogota and seeing the Jewish energy and influence that Chabad had brought to the city, and thinking that may do a lot for Barranquilla.”

As it turned out, a renewed Jewish energy wasn’t the only thing a Chabad presence would do for Barranquilla. Because thirteen years after their arrival in 1990, Rabbi Yossi and Chanie Liberow are still there, and the Jewish presence in Barranquilla has more or less stabilized, Jack Mezrahi says. “People are staying here now,” he observes. “There’s a sense of permanence to Jewish life here that we never had before.”

That, says Alberto Manopla, a long-time resident of Barranquilla, is Chabad’s greatest contribution to the city. “Aside for all the work they do with the youth and the elderly, Chabad has been the only entirely stable Jewish presence in Barranquilla. That on its own has done a tremendous amount for the city.”

This March, Chabad of Barranquilla completes a four-story building to accommodate their full range of community programs and services. The building will house a large social hall, library, youth center, classrooms, kitchens, offices, gift shop and 12 assisted living units for the city’s Jewish elderly.

Replacing a variety of rented facilities used over the years, Manopla says the center will do more than bring together communities of both synagogues under one roof for a celebration of Jewish life. “People look at this building, and it’s pretty clear that Jewish life is here to stay,” he says

The dedication festivities are planned for March 9th, but Alberto Manopla says the project itself is six or seven years in the making. “When Chabad arrived here, many people, though eager for a stronger Jewish presence in town, were wary of the idea of a new synagogue taking members away from the existing ones,” he says. “We wanted to make it clear to the community that Chabad is not a synagogue, and we’re not taking members from anyone. We’re only enhancing the Jewish infrastructure already in place in the community.” It took several years, but Manopla says the community is “100% united behind Chabad’s endeavors” by now, and eagerly looking forward to the completion of the building.

In thirteen years of work with the community, the Liberows have brought “hope, optimism, and a sense of purpose to Jewish life in Barranquilla,” says Rabbi Yehoshua Rosenfeld. “In building a home for the community, Chabad makes it abundantly clear that they are here to stay.”

Sylvia Rothblum came to New York from Munich last week “not knowing what to expect,” she admits. Vice President of Warner Brothers in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, Rothblum attends Torah classes with Mrs. Chanie Diskind, Chabad-Lubavitch representative in Munich, and convinced two of her friends to travel to New York with her to the Guest Program of the Annual International Shluchos Conference that concluded this week.

The Guest Program, which runs concurrently to the women’s convention but keeps to its own schedule entirely, was born of a desire to “give people the bigger picture,” says Molly Resnick, coordinator of the Guest program together with Mrs. Rivka Kotlarsky and a committee of local women. “Women involved with Chabad in their respective cities get a much clearer perspective on the work of Chabad after participating in a weekend like this,” she observes. Since the Chabad representative of their city is usually preoccupied with her own convention, the Guest Program was created to “show the guests the scope and depth of Chabad’s work worldwide.”

The Guest Program gives visitors a glimpse into the “inside story” behind the phenomenon of Chabad-Lubavitch women in leadership positions around the globe. “It also provides them with a fascinating introduction—or for returning visitors, an in-depth look—at Jewish and Chasidic thought,” she says. The weekend’s schedule is packed tight with lectures and workshops on a wide range of topics, from Feminism to Maimonides and everything in between, presented by accomplished lecturers in their respective disciplines.

“I think the combination of so many elements is what makes the program so special,” Sylvia Rothblum says. “You have brilliant speakers, a very well-run program, a really diverse and interesting group of women, all of which make for an incredibly inspiring weekend.”

Rachel Alfandari, Rothblum’s friend from Munich, says she was especially inspired by the power of the women she met over the weekend. “You come with your prejudices about Orthodox women being second class and all that,” she says, “and it’s just amazing to meet women who are accomplishing so much, who are so talented and productive. I have a whole new perspective.”

She also points to the sophistication of the program’s intellectual content. “That amazed me,” she says. “There was nothing superficial here.”

Rachel Chitrik, a Crown Heights resident, hosted one of the sessions in her home. “I think the women loved every minute,” she says. “There was such a broad and interesting range of people who attended, and the program was really tailored to their interests.”

The Guest Program joined the main conference for the Gala Banquet on Sunday night.
“There was so much joy in that room,” Alfandari says. “The energy of the Shluchos and their children is an incredible inspiration for us.”

Sylvia Rothblum sums it up: “When you live in Munich and meet just one Chabad family, you have an idea what Chabad is about but you don’t exactly know where it’s coming from. Seeing 1500 women on their home turf gives you a far wider perspective on all that’s being done across the world. It’s very moving and very inspiring,” she says.

The Shuttle Columbia launched successfully this morning January 16, to the lively singing, of “Oseh Shalom.” Hundreds of proud Israelis swelled with joy, having arrived from Israel to witness firsthand the launch of the Shuttle, which carries the first Israeli Astronaut, Col. Ilan Ramon.

On hand to serve the Israeli guests is Rabbi Tzvi Konikov, Chabad-Lubavitch representative to the Space Coast, who has arranged for the only simultaneous translation in Hebrew of the live countdown coverage of the Shuttle Columbia launch. Radio stations WMIE 91.5 FM and WFJP AM 1510 broadcast the direct feed from Mission Control, Johnson Space Center and was also made available to radio stations
throughout Israel. Coverage began 9 a.m. Thursday and lasted 45 minutes after the launch.

Col. Ramon, who consulted with Rabbi Konikov months ago (see lubavitch.com archives http://www.lubavitch.com/article.asp?ID=17)about how to mark Shabbat in space, had asked Rabbi Konikov for a dollar bill from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, which he carried with him on his mission. The dollar bill represents the mitzvah of tzedaka, charity-giving, which the Rebbe promoted by distributing dollars to all those who came to seek his blessing.

The dollar bill was meant to be given to charity, but most people cherish the particular bill that was held by the Rebbe, preferring to give another one or more, in its place to charity. The Rebbe campaigned fervently to promote the habit of daily charity giving. During his lifetime, the Rebbe stood for hours every Sunday, receiving people who came to seek his blessing and his counsel. His blessing always came with a dollar bill that be given to charity.

“Whenever someone told the Rebbe that they were traveling, the Rebbe blessed them with a safe, successful trip, and gave them a dollar to give to charity when they arrive at their destination,” observed Rabbi Konikov.

A mission to space fits the bill, and Rabbi Konikov is delighted that Col. Ramon, who appreciates his unique responsibility as a Jewish astronaut and the role model he serves for Jewish people, will be taking this mitzvah into space. “His mission is an inspiration,” he says. “He is in our hearts, and we pray for a smooth launch and successful mission.”

Back in the geosphere, Chabad has been arranging for kosher lunches for many of the Israeli guests, and will be hosting all those who want to celebrate Shabbat, at the Chabad Jewish Community Center in Satellite Beach.

“That’s what we are here for, ” said Rabbi Zvi Konikov. “Chabad has 3,000 centers worldwide. It’s like a home away from home for those traveling.”

Coming from San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas and dozens of cities in between, 150 shluchim gathered last weekend for the 35th annual West Coast Chabad Shluchim convention at the Ontario Marriott. Appropriately themed Unity, the convention focused on the collective strength achieved through a unified, cohesive body of shluchim, working together towards the same goal of reaching every last Jew, and creating vibrant communities throughout the West Coast.

Greeting the convention by phone from Lubavitch World Headquarters in New York was Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky. The convention also featured prominent leaders and scholars who addressed a gamut of issues of interest to the Shluchim.

A much-anticipated event for Shluchim of the Wild West, as it gives them the opportunity to socialize, exchange ideas, and compare notes, the convention also introduced major plans on the horizon. Prominent on the agenda, said Rabbi B. Shlomo Cunin, director of West Coast Chabad since its founding in 1965, is CAFA, or Chabad Action For America, a program that will link Chabad programs in California and Nevada to the new White House faith-based initiatives. CAFA will identify Chabad’s social service and outreach programs that might be eligible for the funding provided by the initiative so that “programs that were previously overlooked because of their religious affiliations will now benefit from government funding, creating the possibility for further growth and establishing a paradigm for other Chabad centers across the nation,” says Rabbi Chaim Cunin, spokesperson for Chabad of the West Coast.

In a gesture of solidarity with their fellow Jews in Israel, Chabad announced that it will work with the Israeli Consulate and the Israeli Ministry of Tourism to send Chabad rabbis to Israel, to offer much-needed encouragement and support. The first group is scheduled to travel to Israel at the end of February. The initiative, Chabad is hopeful, will in turn encourage members of the rabbis’ respective communities to do likewise, generating goodwill and support for Israsel during these difficult times.

To date, there are 180 Chabad-Lubavitch couples serving communities along the West coast in more than 100 centers, 25 day schools, and 30 summer camps. Topping off the conference announcements, Rabbi Cunin publicized plans to dramatically expand Chabad’s services in California by establishing an additional 20 Chabad centers here during the upcoming year, bringing the total number of centers serving California and Nevada’s Jews to 200.

A flyer appears in a Russian city inviting the Jewish community to celebrate Shabbat. Illustrated with Jewish symbols, it offers dinner and inspiration at no charge and draws a sizeable crowd of local Jews. Smiling Kippah and tallit-clad men welcome them warmly and in conversation, quote Jewish scriptures, speak of Moshiach and aliya to Israel, and insert frequent references to their own Jewish backgrounds.
The organization, called “Shomer Israel” or “Emmanu-el” or the like, will invite the Jews back the next week, or for the next holiday, and after a few weeks, they will have built something of a community.

And then the Jewish rhetoric begins to change. Because, despite all the appearances, these organizations are not Jewish at all. In fact, they are the newest, most aggressive attempts in an age-old campaign: the battle for Jewish souls.

“Self described ‘Messianic Jews’ are essentially evangelical Christian missionaries in Jewish disguise,” explains Dr. Alexander Lakshin, director of the MAGEN League, the only counter-missionary organization in the Former Soviet Union. “Their aim, well camouflaged at first by a blitz of Jewish words, symbols, songs and traditions, is simple: to convert as many people as they can to Christianity.”

And this is not, he says, a small grassroots movement. In the Former Soviet Union alone, approximately 20 well-organized and generously funded Messianic groups operate well over 200 congregations in cities from Moscow to St. Petersburg. A 1998 survey conducted by K. Kjar-Hansen and B.F. Skjott indicates that over 40% of their membership is Jewish.

“Russian Jewry is Messianic Judaism’s number one target,” says Rabbi Berel Lazar, chief rabbi of the Russia and the force behind the founding of Magen. “Simply because they’re easy prey.” Often in desperate financial straits, Russian Jews often find the lure of financial assistance too tempting to overcome. “These groups have all the funds needed to lure people in,” he says. “All too often, a person will only realize the true nature of the organization after they are already financially dependent on them, and by then, it’s too late to simply break away.”

Deprived of a Jewish education over four generations of communism, a Jew accosted by missionaries has no grandparent able to explain the pitfalls in the logic of messianic Judaism, says Dr. Lakshin. In fact, the elderly are as easy to convince as anyone else. “Missionaries convince people by distorting the facts of Judaism, and all too many Russian Jews simply don’t know better,” he explains. And widespread interest in Judaism after the fall of communism gave missionaries the perfect opportunity to pitch their purely Christian message as Jewish, and deceive thousands.

By the year 2000, nearly ten years after the fall of communism, Messianic activity, operating freely despite a mission statement that clearly constitutes fraud, had reached outrageous proportions in the Former Soviet Union, Lazar says. “In Russia, over 50% of Jewish communities were reporting missionary activity. In Ukraine, the number was closer to 80%.” And in the Moldova region, a full 100% of Jewish communities were being targeted in carefully planned Messianic campaigns, he says.

Ideally, the antidote to missionary activity is simply Jewish education, observes Rabbi Lazar. But that’s only a preventative measure. “Missionary activity in the FSU had reached a level where Jewish education was just not enough to stop it. We needed a serious, well-coordinated counter-offensive.”

Alexander Lakshin and Rabbi Lazar had crossed paths some 15 years before Rabbi Lazar contacted him in the summer of 2000. On a visit to the Soviet Union with a group of Yeshiva students from New York, Rabbi Lazar recalls meeting Alexander Lakshin, then a well-known Soviet Jewish activist, in a clandestine Yeshiva in St. Petersburg, known at the time as Leningrad, where Lakshin was studying. Fifteen years later, Lakshin was living in Brooklyn with his family when he got a call from Berel Lazar, now Russia’s Chief Rabbi. Rabbi Lazar wanted to discuss the creation of a counter-missionary force to be known as MAGEN, and offered him the position of director.

Lakshin was no stranger to the work, having been involved in various counter-missionary objectives in the US, and, more importantly, says Lazar, “he was no stranger to the landscape and mentality of Russian Jewry,” making him the ideal man for the job.

Funded by a large initial grant from the Rohr Family Foundation and the umbrella of the Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS, the MAGEN LEAGUE was incorporated in the early months of 2001, and Lakshin and his family moved back to Moscow to run it.

MAGEN’s agenda, according to its website, is to “monitor missionary activity targeting Jews, operate educational programs for professional and lay leadership of Jewish communities and organizations, and publish informational materials explaining the anti-Jewish nature of so-called “Messianic Judaism.” A one-man operation at the outset, MAGEN now has chapters in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev, and Kishinev, Lakshin says. Plans call for the opening of additional chapters in Kazakhstan, Latvia, and Belarus.

Essentially, says Lakshin, MAGEN is a resource center, and as the single counter force against mass missionary activity in the former Soviet Union, “gradual growth is not an option; Magen’s activity needs to be as rapid and widespread as the force we are fighting.”

Backed by the entire spectrum of the Jewish establishment in the former Soviet Union and the local governments in its fight against fraud, Rabbi Lazar claims that despite its scope, MAGEN’s focus is as much on the individual as the community. “Jews here are being taken for a ride,” he says. “If we can stop even one Jew from being deceived, MAGEN will have achieved its purpose.”

Mark Powers is the director of MAGEN’s recently opened US chapter. Involved in counter missionary activity in America for close to 25 years as director of a local chapter of Jews for Judaism, America’s primary anti-missionary organization, he claims emphatically that Messianic Judaism is “not a Russian problem.” “All forms of missionary activity, including Messianic Judaism, are alive and flourishing in America and Europe, indeed across the world,” he warns.

Though the cults of the sixties and seventies are thought to be long gone, Powers claims they have in fact proliferated in the last several decades, albeit quietly. “Missionary and cult activity has gotten smarter, more secretive, and far more dangerous,” he says. “To think that it is not a force at work in today’s society is to delude one’s self.”

Magen’s range of activities in the US will include public lectures for synagogues, schools, and youth groups, particularly on campus, and a large effort directed at counseling individuals and families involved in missionary activity.

Plans are in the works for a MAGEN office in Europe, as well. “In the battle for Jewish souls, we are dealing with a force too large, powerful and wealthy, to grow slowly,” Powers says. “We need to direct all our efforts at slowing them down and eventually eliminating them completely.”

It appears they have already begun making inroads. “Since 1990,” wrote Charisma, a magazine of the Russian Messianic movement, in a July 2001 issue, “Messianic activity went freely and unrestrained in Russia and Ukraine. Now it is facing a fierce and well-organized resistance.”

An upscale suburban peninsula situated on the North Shore of Long Island, Port Washington is home to a Jewish community that, by the early 90’s, was fast becoming a commanding presence in the area, totaling some 40% of the general population. With easy access to the amenities of Jewish living available in the neighboring observant communities and no shortage of Jewish friends, few people here were looking for more.

Now, shortly over a decade into its founding, Chabad of Port Washington is in the midst of a major building project. A recent dedication ceremony marked the completion of the second phase and the unveiling of its third and final phase. Directed at celebrating the generosity of some of its staunchest supporters, the event, themed “A Time for Thanks,” drew close to 200 supporters strong.

That’s not to say that things went smoothly from the start, or that the Chabad couple fit right in. Quite the contrary: when Rabbi Shalom and Sara Paltiel initially arrived here, Port Washington’s residents were cordial and friendly to their new neighbors, but somewhat confounded, and Rabbi Paltiel recalls being asked by a well-intentioned fellow if, perhaps, he was lost.

Like many of its kind, Port Washington’s Chabad was initially launched from the Paltiel family room, which played host to everything from services to holiday programs and youth activities. It wasn’t long before attendance swelled, compelling the center to be moved into it own rented facilities where, at Doctor Martin Bronstein’s initiative, the Chabad Preschool was born, with a class of six.

As activities expanded and word of the center spread, the school experienced phenomenal growth matched only by its staff’s dedication. By ’97 things were running in high gear, and the center seemed once again to be bursting at the seams. This time it was community member Henry Schwartz who came to the rescue, suggesting that the preschool expand into a full-fledged Hebrew Day School. With Rabbi Paltiel’s go-ahead Henry set out looking for new, roomier facilities and soon hit on a 22,000 square foot piece of property, right on the waterfront, setting an enormous building campaign in motion.

The first phase of the project, completed in ’98, included a 150-seat sanctuary, a large social hall, seven classrooms, an office suite and a teachers’ lounge. The Center began drawing a daily minyan—a first for Port Washington—and about 100 for Shabbat services, with holidays often attracting as many as 500 people at a time. As education gained priority in community life, a Hebrew School was founded and over one hundred children are currently enrolled. An exciting teen club and popular Gan Israel Day Camp were soon added to the array of youth programs available to the community children, directed by Rabbi Mendy Lewis.

With the second phase just completed, the Chabad center now houses an additional six classrooms, computer and science laboratories, a gym, indoor and outdoor basketball courts, and an outdoor swimming pool, making Chabad Academy a truly top-notch, state of the art school, with Rabbi Nato Glogauer as its principal.

But it’s more than the government accreditation and the inviting facilities that makes parents proud to have their children go to school here, says Jamie Fabbi, whose son Dillan attends the Hebrew Academy. “My son loves it,” she says. “The teachers are extremely dedicated and absolutely love the students, and the kids are just mesmerized by everything the school has to offer.” And as the school expands at a terrific pace from year to year, the third phase of the building project, scheduled to begin next year, will include facilities for a high school, with a full-size gym, a comprehensive school library, and additional classrooms.

“When I was introduced to Rabbi Paltiel fifteen years ago, I never imagined how things would unfold here,” says Mr. Bert Brodsky, an entrepreneur instrumental in purchasing the land and very much involved in the building project. Brodsky, who frequents the center, says coming here gives him the opportunity to “reconnect to my roots.”

With thirty-eight people currently employed at the Chabad center, and the building project nearing completion, the Paltiels are hoping to devote more of their time and resources to other aspects of community life. A Mikvah building is currently in progress at the center, and the community is looking forward to greater focus on adult education through weekly classes, Shabbatons, and evening lectures.

Notwithstanding all the dramatic, big developments on the communal level, the Paltiels have managed to retain a personal touch that keeps people coming back. As Sheryl Pinner, who avoided any traditional Jewish involvement until recently says, “the light was inside of me, but Rabbi Paltiel was the one to ignite it.” And if koshering her entire kitchen is any indication, Port Washington’s Jewish community has come a long way from the days when an orthodox rabbi was a peculiarity here.

“As a native of Budapest and a survivor of the Holocaust, the rejuvenation of the Hungarian Jewish community and other Jewish communities throughout Central Europe following the decimation the Jewish community suffered under Nazi Germany, is one of the most deeply gratifying developments I can imagine.”

These sentiments, expressed by Congressman Tom Lantos of California, were shared by many in the audience, eyewitnesses to the first Orthodox rabbinical ordination to take place in this central European country since the pre-war era, when Hungary was a thriving center of Jewish learning.

The event, laden with historic significance, drew the attention of major political figures in Hungary and the U.S. Sixty years after its near-annihilation, Hungarian Jewry is finally on the rebound, and the ordination this week, of Rabbi Shlomo Koves, a native of Budapest, gave evidence of an impressive revival here. Hundreds converged at the Shas Chevra Lubavitch Synagogue, the oldest synagogue in Budapest, where the former Israeli Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eilyahu led the ceremony in conjunction with Rabbi Yehuda Yeruslavsky, Director of Beis Din Rabonei Chabad in Israel and Budapest’s Chabad Rabbi Baruch Oberlander, as Hungarian President Dr. Ferenc Madl, and Budapest’s Mayor Gabor Demzky, looked on.

Rabbi Oberlander, himself the son of Hungarian Holocaust survivors, noted that the event marked a turning point for Hungary’s Jewish population of 100,000. “The tide is finally turning,” says Rabbi Oberlander, “and a new generation of Jews is expressing interest in traditional, authentic Judaism,” he says, referring to the newly ordained rabbi.

Born into a family that had been assimilated for generations, except for a long line of distinguished rabbis on his maternal grandmother’s side, Koves’s interest in Judaism was self-motivated, and led him to undergo a circumcision procedure in a local hospital at age 12. But without spiritual guidance, Koves didn’t know what the next step should be. After he met up with Chabad several months later, Shlomo became a regular at Chabad, and was soon affectionately dubbed “the Oberlander’s eldest son.” After studying at Chabad’s yeshiva here, Koves continued his studies in Pittsburgh, New York, Paris, and most recently Israel where he was ordained as a mohel and sofer (scribe).

Founded in 1989, Lubavitch of Hungary came onto the scene at a time when traditional Judaism was reserved for the elderly as their children and grandchildren, haunted by the shadow of the Holocaust and communism, shied away from Jewish association. In the years since, the Oberlanders have succeeded to draw the young generation’s interest in Jewish education and communal life. Today, some 60 children are enrolled in the local Or Avner schools; with growing interest in the Pesti Jesiva, a center for advanced Judaic studies, and an open Jewish University scheduled to commence this February, Jewish education is once again on the rise in Hungary. Chabad’s synagogue attracts a daily minyan and some 19,000 families receive a periodical and monthly journal, both published at the Lubavitch publishing house in Hungary.

A gala dinner following the ceremony at the Budapest Marriot Hotel, celebrated 13 years of Chabad in Hungary. Hungary’s Minister of Education, Dr. Balint Maygar, addressed the guests, and spoke with pride of this event, alluding to his own Jewish identity and of his mother as a holocaust survivor. But it was the President’s brevity at the ceremony that spoke to the magnitude of the event: “I feel that I cannot add anything to this special event. I would feel honored just being able to take part in it.” And so he did, for more than an hour and a half, a keen observer to the triumph of Judaism and the Jewish spirit.

Most of Rabbi Mendel Mintz’s congregants at Chabad of Aspen are in town now. Which is a nice thing, especially since it’s so unusual. In a town like Aspen, where 50% of the homes are unoccupied for most of the year, population can swell from 5,000 to 30,000 in the space of a week. Peak season—December and January in the winter and several months in the summer—draws residents (who typically own houses in a variety of locations around the world) to their Colorado homes. Approximately 20% of homeowners in the Aspen Valley—a breathtakingly beautiful 40 mile stretch flanked by Aspen and Vail with several towns between—are Jewish, making for an unusually high Jewish demographic in the area during busy seasons, and an otherwise small core community in Aspen. The Mintzs, who moved out here three years ago, plan major Chabad events to coincide with peak seasons, and are busy the rest of the year addressing the needs of a transient Jewish population.

The only rabbi in this part of the state, Rabbi Mintz generates a good deal of enthusiasm among Jewish homeowners and tourists for the Jewish programs and events Chabad offers. The Rabbi, his wife Liba, and their two children live in the town of Aspen, where they operate Chabad activities from their home and rent the nearby St. Regis Hotel for larger activities. Every event draws a significant percentage of Jewish tourists, probably somewhere around 30%, says Liba Mintz, but although they come in and out, homeowners in Aspen make up much of the community around Chabad events and have been a “source of enthusiastic support since our arrival,” she says.

“People here have invested in their homes and are happy to invest in their community too,” Rabbi Mintz explains. With synagogue services, a Hebrew school, holiday programs, and a wide range of lectures and classes that go on throughout the year, Jewish visitors and residents can enjoy the best of both worlds.