“Look up and count.” So begins the history of our people, as related in the Torah—with a tally. Before issuing the famous Covenant of the Parts, G-d tells the first Jew, Abraham:“Please look heavenward and count the stars. Can you count them?” (Genesis 15:5) Of course, there are too many stars to count, but that is […]
Chabad Emissary Shterna Wolff Named ‘Person of the Week’ in Germany
Director of Chabad of Hanover cited for work with her late husband, Rabbi Binyamin Wolff It was on a bright summer morning when Shterna Wolff, director of Chabad of Hanover, was approached by an influential German magazine about the possibility of being featured as its “Person of the Week.” At first, she thought it was […]
A Young Woman’s Journey From California College Student to Chabad Emissary
Sandra Paul seeks to share her profound life-changing experience with others Sandra Bram’s first encounter with Chabad was typical of many college students. On a breezy California afternoon in the fall of 2009, clad in jeans and a T-shirt, she first met Rabbi Chaim Shaul Brook on the campus of California State University of Northridge. […]
July Game Changers: Bassie Shemtov
The Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Tigers selected Bassie Shemtov to be the third Disability Pride Month Game Changers honoree for her dedication to ensuring that individuals with disabilities receive the support and friendship they deserve. Shemtov launched the first Friendship Circle in the country back in 1994, and created the Ferber Kaufman Lifetown facility […]
Mystic Mountain: Safed, City of Sages, Seekers, and Soul
After a year of restricted movement around the globe, wanderlust is stronger than ever. As the most vaccinated country in the world, Israel is at long last opening her doors this summer, welcoming tourists back to the Holy Land. For those seeking a spiritually enriching trip, there is no better place to visit than the […]
Why This Rabbi Performed a Wedding in Costume
A Chabad rabbi tells the story behind the pictures Record scratchFreeze frame Yup, that’s me. The Chabad rabbi dressed like Elvis reading a ketubah. If you know me, you know that I am most often seen in the uniform of a typical Chabad rabbi: button-down shirt, dress coat and a black hat. When I want […]
Ep. 7: The Rabbi Who Was One Of Country’s First ‘Dual Donors’
In Episode 7 of Lamplighters: Stories From Chabad Emissaries On The Jewish Frontier, Rabbi Efraim Simon of Teaneck, New Jersey and Long Islander and father of three Adam Levitz tell the story of how Simon’s liver donation saved Levitz’s life. Simon had once saved a father of 10 by donating his kidney to him, but […]
Seventh Children’s Sefer Torah Completed Forty Years After First
Thousands celebrate at the Kotel (Western Wall) JERUSALEM—His brow furrowed and eyes blazing with fierce determination, 9-year-old Chaim Katz—an artful dodger in yarmulke, peyot and tzitzit—slipped under the security cordon surrounding the steadily moving chuppah in the Western Wall Plaza. He squeezed by a gaggle of backward-walking cameramen, and surrounded by thousands of men, women […]
Remembering the Rebbe’s Father
Today marks the passing of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson The 20th of Av (corresponding this year to July 29) marks 77 years since the passing of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson (1878-1944), father of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak was a renowned scholar who served as the chief rabbi of Yekaterinoslav (now Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine) for […]
World’s Deepest Underground Synagogue Connects Material and Spiritual
New synagogue dedicated in central station of Tel Aviv-Jerusalem rail line For the more than 7,000 daily passengers who travel on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv heavy rail line, Yitzhak Navon Station is the gateway to Jerusalem. Located adjacent to the Central Bus Station and the largest convention center in the Middle East, Binyanei HaUma, the station […]