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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

The dying man’s request: “Rabbi, bury me with my people” Jules Claven lived for decades in close proximity to bears, moose, caribou and sheep in the Alaskan town of Soldotna (pop. 4,000), but nowhere near a Jewish community. In his 80th year and terminally ill, he called the Alaska Jewish Campus, which is listed on […]

Brooklyn native remembered as a good friend and adventurous blogger More than a month after the collapse of the Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Fla., Estelle Hedaya, 58, has been identified as the 98th and final victim of the tragedy. Hedaya worked in the jewelry industry in New York for more than 25 years before […]

A servant of G-d on a lifelong search for truth It was late one Purim afternoon when Rabbi Mendel Aronow made his appearance at a farbrengen gathering in Toronto’s Chabad-Lubavitch yeshivah. Joining the students’ Purim festivities—the yeshivah was located just across the street from his home—he told them that later in the evening, he would […]

After last year’s inaugural pilot session, CKids Gan Israel doubled this year in size and duration. CKids Gan Israel’s promo video opens with a shot of young Aiden Batkilin devouring a rainbow snowcone and dressed in the camp’s effervescent blue tie-dye shirt. “If I would describe the camp in one word, I would describe it […]