Southern Ukraine city draws active fighting and heavy bombardment As the war in Ukraine focuses on the strategically located city of Nikolayev (Mykolaiv), those remaining in the beleaguered city are facing an increasingly dire humanitarian crisis. Rabbi Shalom Gottlieb, the city’s rabbi since 1996 and director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Nikolayev, is orchestrating relief efforts from […]

The Mega Farbrengen 5782 This 28th of Nissan marks thirty-one years since the Rebbe’s urgent call to action, “Tut altz vos ir kent tzu arupbrengen moshiach taikef umiyad mamosh.” To give each Chabad chossid a practical way to implement the Rebbe’s call to action, the Moshiach Office at Merkos 302 is presenting the second annual […]

A Chabad couple puts their gift for leadership, friendship, and partnership to work, enriching the Jewish community of Las Cruces, NM. Marty Poel is not a fan of organized religion. As for his late wife, Elissa, the traditional mechitzah separating men and women in the shul was anathema to her feminist convictions. So in 2009, […]

Kentucky center was a regional hub for acts of kindness Members of the Jewish community of Louisville, Ky., are still in shock as they mourn the loss of their synagogue and community center, which was destroyed in a devastating fire on Saturday afternoon, April 23, even as they immediately begin a plan to rebuild it. […]

Passover is perhaps the most well-known of Jewish holidays, and, historically, the Seder has been the most celebrated of Jewish holiday traditions. In large Jewish communities, Seder provisions are easily accessible, and many begin preparations long before the holiday. But for lone travelers and those who live far from centers of Jewish life, making the […]

Eighty years after evading Nazis, Vanda Semyonovna Obiedkova died in war As she lay dying in a Mariupol basement, freezing and pleading for water, Holocaust survivor Vanda Semyonovna Obiedkova wanted to know only one thing: “Why is this happening?” Ill and emaciated during the last two weeks of her life, the 91-year-old could not even […]

We stood at the baggage carousel in Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and waited for our boxes to slide down the ramp. We waited and waited, and waited some more. People came and people went. Boxes and suitcases came and went, but not ours. We tried not to panic. How will […]

This Pesach, Chabad centers across Europe are hosting the largest seders in their history. Most years, the world’s largest Pesach seders have been hosted in southeast Asia, in Kathmandu or Thailand. But this year, as thousands of Ukrainian refugees find a Jewish home at Chabad centers around Europe, the world’s largest seder may yet be […]