For Chabad Girl Scouts Troop, No Cookies But Plenty Of Fun

The girls of Troop 3131 marching in the Crown Heights Lag B’Omer parade.

The Rebbe’s Relief Effort

Rochi Zarchi, a Chabad emissary in Puerto Rico.

by Sharon Udasin
Staff Writer

Given the range of duties undertaken by a female Chabad emissary — from teaching Hebrew school to hosting communal holiday meals — leaving her community behind for even a few days is a difficult task. But for two emissaries who joined 4,000 of their sisters here for a convention last week, leaving their homes in the sunny Caribbean was particularly challenging.

When the Jan. 12 earthquake shattered Haiti, Rochi Zarchi of Puerto Rico and Michal Pelman of the Dominican Republic —along with their husbands Shimon and Mendel — immediately sprung into action to assist with the disaster relief effort. Day after day, Zarchi and Pelman prepared kosher food bundles and supply packages to ship to victims and rescue workers in Haiti.

“We’re not on site, especially because every island is its own island. [Haiti] is not a bridge away or a boat ride away,” Zarchi said. “But we did coordinate many different forms of support and food for everyone, as well as kosher provisions for the Jewish relief and Israel division. Seeing what’s been going on there, it’s unbelievable what a disaster can do.”

The Chabad Haiti Relief Fund, under the joint auspices of Chabad Lubavitch of the Dominican Republic and of Puerto Rico, received grants from both the American Joint Distribution Committee and the Jewish Coalition Disaster Relief that paid for convoys of food, water and medical supplies shipped to Haiti. Zarchi said that she and her husband prepared their contributions and sent them over to the Pelmans in the Dominican Republic, who in turn took care of getting everything to the final destination in Haiti.

Despite the islands’ relatively close proximity, San Juan, Puerto Rico, is still more than 400 miles away from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, with an ocean and the Dominican Republic in between.

“It’s frustrating because, of course, you’re limited,” Zarchi said. “But we’re putting in a substantial amount of effort, and my kids feel so proud because their parents are involved. They see all the different Haiti relief funds, and they feel like they’re spearheading an effort.”  Continue reading…

Soles With Soul

Well heeled: Designer couture and vintage shoes on display for auction at a benefit for TheJewishWoman.org. Sharon Udasin

by Sharon Udasin
Staff Writer

Sandwiched between the sparkly Christmas windows of Bergdorf Goodman and the high-end Under Armour sportswear store, 75 or so modestly, yet trendily, clad women sipped organic kosher wines, enjoyed cheese hors d’oeuvres and tested their luck with various Christian Louboutin wedges, Gucci boots and Marc Jacobs slingbacks.

Their elaborate headbands perfectly placed on impeccably styled sheitels, the women had gathered at Chabad of the Plaza District for a couture and vintage shoe auction, where proceeds would benefit TheJewishWoman.org, a new Jewish women’s educational offshoot of Chabad.org, the Orthodox outreach organization’s Web site. Spearheading the event was Shterni Seligson, 28, who has established a group called Rebeccah, which raises money for Jewish women’s causes in memory of Rivkah Holtzberg, the Chabad emissary killed in the terror attacks that gripped Mumbai, India, a year ago.

“I was brainstorming on how to get women involved,” Seligson said. “Every woman loves a great pair of shoes.”

“I got fabulous response,” she continued, crediting social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter for her sizeable turnout.

Not a professional businesswoman herself, Seligson is actually working part-time for Chabad.org while studying for her master’s degree in medical assistantship and volunteering at Mount Sinai Hospital. Yet by reaching out to friends, friends of friends and even perfect strangers, Seligson ended up collecting 60 pairs of like-new designer shoe donations, with brands ranging from Prada to Salvatore Ferragamo to Kate Spade.  Continue reading…

Lubavitch Laptops

Rabbi Avi Shlomo talks with a local Jew on the Greek island of Rhodes.

by Sharon Udasin

They may be in Thessaloniki or in the foothills of the Himalayas, but emissaries-to-be in the Rebbe’s Army — as befits the high tech-savvy Chabad movement — are online all the while.

This summer in Chabad’s long-running “Roving Rabbis” program, in which rabbis-in-training are dispatched to far-flung locales to help out local emissaries, they are also assigned to blog about their experiences of the movement’s flagship site, chabad.org.

The posts tell riveting stories of survival during the Holocaust and simple ones of Jews living life far off the beaten path.

This year, in the program’s 64th summer of operation, 400 rabbis and students visited 34 countries worldwide, as well as regions of America. Their goals? Cater to the specific needs of local Jewish communities, no matter how small or how secular.

“The impact these visits have had upon the lives of hundreds of thousands worldwide are legend,” said Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, chairman of the International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries. “The yeshiva students are full of youthful vigor and enthusiasm, a deeply ingrained sense of mission and lots of love for fellow man.”

Walking through the ancient streets of Ioannina, a city in northwest Greece, Rabbi Laima Barber, 24, suddenly felt the piercing stare of an elderly woman, who began pointing at him and yelling desperately, “Israel, Israel?”  Continue reading…