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UK News

The latest news stories about Chabad Lubavitch from around the UK.

Lord Sacks Raises the Roof at Chabad Annual Conference

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Thousands of rabbinical scholars, Jewish community leaders, educators and counselors from around the world filled the landmark Brooklyn Cruise Terminal on Sunday night for the gala banquet of the 28th annual International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries.

Joining tens of thousands more who watched the proceedings online, the crowd of emissaries and their lay leaders, representing thousands of locations in communities large and small, gave British Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks a standing ovation as he ascended a rotating stage to address the gathering. Lord Sacks delivered a powerful and inspirational talk as he addressed the Conference.

The banquet concluded a weekend of educational workshops, programmes and lectures which were aimed at developing different approaches and igniting discussions and comparisons between emissaries and the communities that they represent.

Panorama.jpgLord Sacks spoke movingly about his own connection to Chabad which began when he met the Rebbe - Rabbi Menachem M Schneerson of righteous memory - over 40 years ago. He claimed to be humbled in the presence of the crowd and said that Chabad Shluchim are 'amongst the most important people in the Jewish world today'. He relayed the story of how he had planned to be an economist, a lawyer or an academic until the Rebbe advised him to become a Rabbi.  He said, ‘42 years ago one of the great Jewish leaders of all time took an unknown student from thousands of miles away and lit a light in his soul that has burnt from that day to this, and he did this not just for him, but for tens of thousands of others, and we are his Shluchim’.Rabbis with Chief.jpg 

The Rebbe’s inspiring words led Lord Sacks down a path of immense Jewish growth: After finishing university, he took leadership positions as both a rabbi training other rabbis and in academia. As Chief Rabbi, he said, he has made it a priority to do what the Rebbe would have wanted him to do: “to build schools, to improve Anglo Jewish education, to reach out to make not followers, but leaders.”

Towards the end of his speech he returned to the theme of light and specifically of Chanukah. He said, ‘When we go out to Jews who are less committed than we are, our light is not diminished; the result is that we create more light in Chief2.jpgthe world. Together let us light a flame in the hearts of other Jews, and together, let us light up the world’.

After the speech Lord Sacks joined the post-Banquet Farbrengen where he sang and danced with the Shluchim.

To view a recording of Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks’ address to the 28th annual International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries click here:

With thanks to Karen Schwartz for contributing to this article. 

London Students Celebrate Green Sabbath

Eco Shabbat2.jpgLast Friday night, 30 students from London’s Imperial College and other universities’ international study abroad programmes celebrated an eco-friendly Sabbath with Chabad-Lubavitch of South Kensington.

Caroline Glassberg-Powell, a computing student at Imperial College, served as co-host and chef with math student Sam Gonshaw, preparing a kosher menu that consisted of a three-course vegan meal using only nationally-sourced, organic fruit and vegetables and non-disposable tablecloths.

Caroline said, “I wanted to hold this evening to raise awareness about where our food comes from and to get people thinking about their responsibilities towards the environment,”

The meal came as part of the Chabad House’s series of themed Sabbath dinners that follow Friday night prayer services.Eco Shabbat.jpg

“We are excited about this surge of Jewish life on campus,” commented Chabad of South Kensington director Rabbi Mendy Loewenthal, noting that Jewish students are excited to take programming into their own hands.

For more information please visit Chabad of South Kensington's website:
http://www.chabadofsouthkensington.org/

 

Chief Rabbi to Address Chabad Shluchim Conference in New York

IMG_146.JPGOver fifty delegates from the UK will be at Chabad-Lubavitch’s International Conference of Shluchim to be held this coming weekend in Brooklyn, New York. The conference, considered by many to be the largest rabbinical gathering in the world, will draw Jewish leaders from over 75 countries.

During the conference, the delegates will join colleagues for lectures and workshops in order to enhance their outreach. 

The Chief Rabbi, Lord Jonathan Sacks will be the featured speaker at theKinus.jpg celebratory banquet on Sunday night. 4,500 guests are expected at the dinner, making it the largest sit-down dinner in New York City.

The conference, which has taken place every year since 1988 provides Chabad’s emissaries with opportunities to discuss vital issues affecting their communities, study together and provide mutual support. The number of Chabad emissaries has grown every year since the late Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Chabad’s leader, began the initiative in 1951. Chabad today is the largest Jewish educational organization in the world with centers in 47 of the United States and 77 countries around the world.

22.JPGAs the conference is global in scope, sessions will be held in English, Hebrew, Yiddish, Russian, French, Italian and Spanish. There will be sessions on youth, education, collegiates, and community development. Rabbis from the former Soviet Union will focus on the unique challenges of building Jewish life anew in a region where communism was dominant for many years.


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