Saturday, December 27, 2008
Chabad aims to bring holiday to the masses
With a towering menorah secured to the roof of his minivan, Rabbi Mendy is on a mission to share the joy and message of Hanukkah.
For each day of the eight-day Jewish celebration known as the Festival of Lights, he has visited different locations – senior homes, a naval base – and tomorrow, he is headed for the mall.
The Chanukah @ the Mall Fun for All event, hosted by Chabad of Poway, will be presented at the Westfield North County Shopping Centre in Escondido. Everyone is invited.
“High holidays are held in the synagogue, but this is the one holiday that we are out there,” said Rabbi Mendy Rubenfeld, the youth director at Chabad of Poway. “It's universal and that's why we are at the mall. Our message is for everyone, and our candle-lighting ceremony will be all the greater if non-Jews come. It's a mitzvah for the world.”
Chabad of Poway is a North County synagogue that represents Chabad-Lubavitch, a branch within Orthodox Judaism's Hasidic movement. “Chabad” is an acronym for the Hebrew words for wisdom, understanding and knowledge, and “Lubavitch” is an iteration of Lyubavichi, the Russian town that served as the movement's headquarters for more than a century. Today, headquarters are based in Brooklyn, where Rubenfeld was born.
The Chabad-Lubavitch movement reaches out to nonpracticing Jews and encourages them to do mitzvahs, or good deeds and acts of kindness.
The world became familiar with the Chabad-Lubavitch movement recently when Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivka, Chabad emissaries in Mumbai, India were killed last month during a terrorist attack.
“The menorah-lighting will be dedicated to (the Holtzbergs) and done in their memory,” Rubenfeld said.
“We are carrying their torch. But we don't want to bring sadness to anyone. It will be a dedication to their ideals.”
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2008/dec/26/1mc26chabad214110-chabad-aims-bring-holiday-masses/?zIndex=27889
For each day of the eight-day Jewish celebration known as the Festival of Lights, he has visited different locations – senior homes, a naval base – and tomorrow, he is headed for the mall.
The Chanukah @ the Mall Fun for All event, hosted by Chabad of Poway, will be presented at the Westfield North County Shopping Centre in Escondido. Everyone is invited.
“High holidays are held in the synagogue, but this is the one holiday that we are out there,” said Rabbi Mendy Rubenfeld, the youth director at Chabad of Poway. “It's universal and that's why we are at the mall. Our message is for everyone, and our candle-lighting ceremony will be all the greater if non-Jews come. It's a mitzvah for the world.”
Chabad of Poway is a North County synagogue that represents Chabad-Lubavitch, a branch within Orthodox Judaism's Hasidic movement. “Chabad” is an acronym for the Hebrew words for wisdom, understanding and knowledge, and “Lubavitch” is an iteration of Lyubavichi, the Russian town that served as the movement's headquarters for more than a century. Today, headquarters are based in Brooklyn, where Rubenfeld was born.
The Chabad-Lubavitch movement reaches out to nonpracticing Jews and encourages them to do mitzvahs, or good deeds and acts of kindness.
The world became familiar with the Chabad-Lubavitch movement recently when Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivka, Chabad emissaries in Mumbai, India were killed last month during a terrorist attack.
“The menorah-lighting will be dedicated to (the Holtzbergs) and done in their memory,” Rubenfeld said.
“We are carrying their torch. But we don't want to bring sadness to anyone. It will be a dedication to their ideals.”
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2008/dec/26/1mc26chabad214110-chabad-aims-bring-holiday-masses/?zIndex=27889
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