I want to share with you some of what our network was able to pull off this week to facilitate the observance of Passover for our fellow Jews. We got a Facebook message from Texas asking us to deliver Matzah to a Jewish acquaintance in New Orleans.
We got a phone call from a Rabbi in Massachusetts asking us to place a young man from his community who doing Peace Corp work in New Orleans at a Seder.
We got a WhatsApp message from an Australian Chabad Rabbi, who was seated on a plane to the US near a young Jewish attorney whose destination was New Orleans. Could we place him for the Seder?
Got a family chat message from a cousin in Northern California about a member of his community who had a daughter living in NOLA. Could we get some Matzah to her?
We learned about the daughter of a woman in our community living in New York that had not received any Matzah. Within 24 hours she was visited by a Rabbi with Matzah and an invite to a Seder. He also found another Jew who worked at her place of employment and left him with the same.
My son was asked by a Rabbi who oversees Chabad’s activities in Cuba, to travel there to conduct the Passover Sedarim with a friend. Less than 24 hours later, they landed in Havana.
This is of course, in addition to the 1,000 boxes of Matzah that Chabad distributed in the greater New Orleans area, and the dozens of people that will be attending each of the Chabad Seders all over town. (If you still need a place reach out to Rabbi Nemes – [email protected].)
The same scene repeated itself all over the world. Wherever Chabad is found, this powerful network orchestrates the facilitation of Jewish needs for locals and visitors. Utilizing swift methods of communication and friendships between Rabbis, people can be helped in real ways in a very short time. Just today, Jake Tapper of CNN had a Chabad Rabbi in Kyiv lay Tefillin with him just before Passover and then they did a quick Seder together.
The Sherlockians among you may recall Holmes describing his nemesis, Professor Moriarty, as a spider who sits at the center of his web of crime. He never moves from his place, but he oversees every quiver in the London crime world through his carefully crafted network of evil.
On the side of positivity, we have the Rebbe, whose 120th birthday was celebrated this week around thew world. You may not know this about the Rebbe, but from 1947 until 1994 the Rebbe hardly left a 3 square block area in Brooklyn. Apart from regular visits to the Ohel (tomb) of his predecessor in Queens, three visits in the 1950s and 60s to the Chabad summer camp in upstate New York, and a rare medical appointment, the Rebbe did not get around much. His Synagogue/Office/library, home, Mikvah and the apartment of his mother (until her passing in 1964) pretty much sums up the extent of the Rebbe’s circle.
Yet, the Rebbe was intimately familiar with thousands of locales around the world. He knew the inner workings of every community where a Chabad Shliach was present, and even where there was just occasional visitation. Utilizing the network that was developed by his inspiration and urging, the Rebbe continues to positively impact the lives of Jews in every nook and cranny of the world.
As the late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks phrased it, “Just as Hitler sought to hunt down every Jew in hate, the Rebbe sought to hunt down every Jew in love.”
It is a privilege to a part of this network of love.
Wishing each and every one of you, a joyous and meaningful Pesach. May we all experience true liberation and freedom from all that keeps us down!
Rabbi Mendel Rivkin