Grand Saturday celebration
The most ambitious Shabbaton in the USA and Canada, “Am Israel Chai,” brought together more than 1,200 participants! The Shabbaton director is the famous and very talented Rabbi Benzion Laskin. Shabbaton is organized by the international organization "HAMA", headed by Rabbis Hillel Salzman, Moshiach Hudaytov and Benyomin Molokhovsky, together with the Lubavitcher Youth Organization, headed by Rabbi Kasriel Castel.
Shabbaton is held with the support of the World Zionist Organization. It is always an amazingly organized celebration of Jewish solidarity!
The 15th international Russian-Jewish Shabbaton has just ended, but many are already looking forward to the next grand Shabbat celebration. More than 70 lectures, 4 concerts by the most famous performers in the music world took place, and a lot of young people also came. Also at the celebration was the famous matchmaker Aliza Ben Shalom, because it is no secret that many find their soul mate at Shabbaton.
Many come to listen to lectures on the Torah, Kabbalah, raising children, family relationships, Israel and the current situation in the world, and, of course, everyone is looking forward to the opportunity to personally communicate with famous lecturers, rabbis or to participate in the already traditional and popular discussion table “ Puzzle the Rabbi.” In a word, the lecturers were special, because listening to Manis Friedman, the chief rabbi of the Rabbinical Court of Sydney Yoram Ulman and many others is worth a lot.
The director of Shabbaton, the famous and very talented Rabbi Benzion Laskin, has been holding the largest Shabbaton in the USA and Canada for Russian-speaking Jews and not only for the 15th time... And this event, unique in scale and significance, has become the favorite meeting place for thousands of Jews from the most different states of America and Canada.
Shabbaton guest, Israeli Army Special Forces Major Yair Ansbacher, who liberated Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak on October 7, said that the unity of our people is the answer to all our enemies. And although the war continues these days, we must remember that in unity is our strength!
On Shabbaton, we cried, remembering the fallen soldiers and civilians, prayed and read psalms, took upon ourselves to fulfill the commandments in the name of saving the hostages and for the sake of the victory of Israel. But still, the main thing we should do today is not to cry, but to rejoice together. Nobel laureate writer Elie Wiesel describes in his memoirs his first meeting with the Lubavitcher Rebbe. The key question of the conversation was Auschwitz: “How can you believe in G-d after Auschwitz?” “What do you expect from me?” - asked the Rebbe. And after a few hours, an epiphany came: “I want you to teach me to cry.” “Crying is not enough,” the Rebbe replied. “I’ll teach you to sing.”
As Rebbe Lev Katzin noted in one of his articles: “This was the purpose of our Shabbaton this year: how to turn our lament into a joyful song, and our pain into the power of our unity.”
It is worth noting that Benzion Laskin’s lectures to the music of Zlata Razdolina, a singer, composer and female leader, are awaited in different countries, and this became possible thanks to the Internet. During the war in Ukraine, they managed to organize assistance to those in need: elderly and sick people received food and medicine.
Marina Lagunova
Photo by Alex Gorokhov
