The Chabad.org Blog: July 2008

Hebrew School Directory

Imagine a Hebrew School where kids don't want to miss a day. They come in with a smile and leave humming a Hebrew song. Walking through the halls, you can hear the sounds of lively discussion, of singing, laughter and prayer. Imagine a child who feels the warmth and spirit of Judaism. Imagine the pride of his or her parents.

Welcome to Chabad Hebrew Schools!

Click here, for a directory of Chabad Hebrew Schools around the world. You can also search for after-school programs, pre-schools, Bat Mitzvah Clubs and more.

The Festival of Liberation

12-13 Tammuz (today and tomorrow) is the anniversary of the liberation of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, from Soviet prisons in 1927. He was incarcerated for the "crime" of creating an underground network of Jewish schools, mikvahs, and other Jewish institutions. Click here to read a personal account of his arrest, imprisonment and subsequent liberation.

Roving Rabbis

Chabad.org, in conjunction with Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch's Merkos Shlichus division, has launched a Merkos Shlichus "Roving Rabbis" site.

The site (www.RovingRabbis.com) features a world map listing the locations where rabbis of Chabad's Rabbinical Student Visitation Program, will be traveling over the summer. Upon clicking on any of the tags on the map, visitors to the site can tip off the roving rabbis of Jews that they should meet in the regions they are visiting.

The site will include blog updates and notes on the activities, interactions and interesting happenings from the roving rabbis who are currently around world visiting small Jewish communities.

Click here to visit the Roving Rabbis site.

Jewish Recovery - New Blog

Chabad.org has launched a new blog which will be a place for Jewish recovering addicts to meet, communicate and support each other in their recovery.

The blog will feature posts by Rabbi Ben A. and Rabbi Yisrael Pinson. The blog will eventually graduate to a full fledged mini site, with sections on Judaism and recovery, voices of recovery where Jewish recovering addicts will share their experience, strength and hope, resources and links, and a place to connect with a local Jewish recovery community.

Rabbi Yisrael Pinson is the Director of the Daniel B. Sobel Friendship House in West Bloomfield, MI. Since joining the Friendship House in May, 2002 he has helped create a local Jewish recovery community where recovering addicts are helped through support, guidance, friendship and community. Rabbi Yisrael facilitates Jewish recovery meetings, where recovering addicts from all 12-step programs meet and share regularly. He also teaches classes on Judaism & recovery.

Rabbi Ben A. is the most famous anonymous Rabbi. Under his AA pen name, Ben A. draws from his personal experience in recovery to incorporate unique Chassidic philosophy into the practice of the 12 steps.

Click here to read the new blog.

3 Tammuz

The year was 1950. The prognosticators weren't painting a rosy picture. One third of our nation had gone up in the smoke of the Nazi crematoria; the European shtetl, the longtime bastion of religious Jewry, was irreparably destroyed; and the traffic between religious and secular life traveled down a one-way street. We were clearly a nation in decline.

In Brooklyn, N.Y., a just-installed chassidic Rebbe dared to disagree. To him, it seems, our nation was a multi-branched candelabra. Indeed, many of the wicks had been extinguished, many more were sputtering—but the candles all remained perfect and beautiful. The Rebbe envisioned the day when the candles would be brilliantly ablaze, illuminating and warming a cold and dark world.

One at a time, the Rebbe inspired souls, kindled wicks. The flickering candles regained strength, their flames grew steadier, their light brighter. And they, in turn, lit up others.

This was the Rebbe's life, to which he devoted every moment of his day and night. Today, countless thousands carry on his work. Here at Chabad.org we feel that every time we ignite a soul, the Rebbe's life continues. What an awesome responsibility. What a special responsibility.