Rabbi Sholom Ber and Devorah Leah Dubov, Chabad of Orlando, FloridaShliach Oseh ShliachBy: Chaya ChazanThe state of Florida boasts close to 300 shluchim, 12 of them in Orlando alone. We were the twelfth shluchim to the state and the first in central Florida. We were also the first couple to benefit from the Rebbe’s campaign of “Shliach oseh shliach.”We’d been approached by a Floridian shliach, who invited us to spend a day to see if Orlando would be the right fit for us. After our initial visit, we wrote to the Rebbe, asking for a bracha and appr
Rabbi Zalman and Raizy Mendelsohn, Chabad of Wyoming Cracking the Tough NutsBy: Chaya ChazanWyoming has been on Merkos bochurim’s visiting list since 1956. I was sent there myself as a bochur. Perusing notes from bochurim who’d been there before me, one comment caught my eye: Jackson Hole is a tough nut to crack. I knew right away I’d be spending lots of quality time there. I spent a week in the town, determined to “crack the nut.” I met a lot of friendly people and felt I was making real progress.The community in Casper invited me and my
Rabbi Mendel and Rochel Druk, Chabad of Cancun, MexicoTourism and TefillinCancun is known as one of the most popular tourist destinations in Mexico. Its international airport receives upwards of 25 million visitors each year. You may be surprised to learn that Cancun only just celebrated its 50th birthday; before being founded in 1970, it was nothing more than an uninhabited little island.So, when Rabbi Kotlarsky, of Merkos, informed us that residents of Cancun had requested programming and services from Chabad, we weren’t familiar with its geographica
Rabbi Shmuli and Esther Malka Schlanger, Chabad of Bakersfield, CAThe Shlichus That Chose UsBakersfield was founded by Thomas Baker, who famously allowed anyone traveling through California to let their animals graze in his fields. Our city’s foundation is chessed and hachnosas orchim.We’d never even heard about Bakersfield until two weeks before we were asked to move here. We were driven and motivated; Tenacity got us our shlichus.That tenacity came in handy as we rushed to raise seed money to start our shlichus. It was exhausting, knocking on door
Rabbi Levi and Sara Cunin, Chabad of Malibu, CAShlichus on a Different FrequencyI was a young man when the Lubavitch world was rocked by the Rebbe’s passing on Gimmel Tammuz, 1994. I was in California after returning from Russia, where I spent a half year helping my father in Moscow. It was a very emotional time, and we were all confused about what came next.My father had been the head shliach of California since 1965, and was zoche to have many interactions and personal correspondence with the Rebbe. In an emotional moment on the Friday after Gimmel T
Rabbi Yonah Dov and Sarah Korn, Chabad House Bowery, New York, NYBring Joy to Yidden - Every Day!Our path to shlichus was one-of-a-kind. We didn’t grow up in shlichus-minded homes, and we had no connections. All we knew of Yiddishkeit were our own experiences becoming frum through the Chabad rabbis in our respective hometowns.At that stage in my life, I was lucky to receive clear answers every time I opened the Igros Kodesh. So when I was faced with a new dilemma, I didn’t hesitate to write another letter, asking for guidance.My father and I had made
Rabbi Zalman and Nechama Tiechtel, Chabad at KU and Northeast Kansas, Lawrence, KS Keeping Judaism Alive in the Heart of America Lawrence, Kansas is located at the epicenter of the USA and is the home of the University of Kansas with Jewish students hailing from all across the country Both of us grew up with a Shlichus mindset and knew that was what we wanted to do. When we met the Shliach of Kansas City, he mentioned that Kansas University had a growing Jewish population where there was much potential for impactful growth It sounded promising, but b
Rabbi Yossi and Tzalcha Amar, Chabad of Seine and Marne, FranceThe Power of Learning TorahSeine and Marne is an area 50 kilometers out of Paris, and is roughly 100 times the size of the metropolis. There are over 400 small towns and villages sprawled over the whole area, with a couple of Jewish families in each. When we first arrived, we knew no one, and there were no Jewish organizations to contact for information either.Over the past twenty years, we’ve, baruch Hashem, built a strong community, complete with a shul and a gorgeous mikvah. Since our ar
Rabbi Chanoch and Mimi Kaplan, Chabad of Franklin Lakes, NJOur Own Little Corner of New JerseyWe started 23 years ago with nothing but a pipe dream and the determination to enhance the Yiddishkeit of Jews in Franklin Lakes and neighboring towns. Although we’re just a thirty-minute-drive away from numerous large and active frum communities, Franklin Lakes was an isolated, quiet corner of Bergen County with no authentic Yiddishkeit, the perfect place for Jewish people to blend into anonymity. Geographically, it was close, yet spiritually, it felt as dist
You Never Know When Or Where You’ll Meet Another JewWe made the “mistake” of first visiting Stockholm on a beautiful summer day. The weather was glorious, the scenery picturesque, and the people, friendly and cheerful. We were taken with stunning Stockholm and quickly made the decision to make it our new home.We started our shlichus a few months later in a city that was almost unrecognizable. The cold winter weather mangled the landscape, throwing a dark, gloomy cast over the city, and sent everyone scurrying for the cozy hibernation of their homes
