From the UN in New York to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, from Bolivia in South America to Kiev in Ukraine, and from Eretz Yisroel to the embassy in Washington, Israeli ambassadors share their personal impressions of the shlichus revolution.
DANNY DANON
AMBASSADOR TO THE UN
My first encounter with Chabad was in my childhood. I remember myself as a little boy going with my parents to hakafot shniyot in Kfar Chabad. Until today, I remember the Chassidim dancing and jumping with joy. I remember the guests who came from Holon and Bat Yam and Rishon L’Tziyon and from all over the center of the country, religious, secular, traditional, with children on their shoulders holding flags. Am Yisroel at its best and it was amazing, seeing the acceptance, the love they showered on us without asking for anything in return and without judgment. It was an unforgettable event.
Of course, afterward I met people from Chabad at many junctures in my life. When I was in the Knesset, every year I was happy to see the delegation from Chabad who came before the Jewish holidays. Despite the caring for all Jews all over the world, they did not forget us even in the Knesset in Yerushalayim. Encounters with Chabad are always heartwarming. When a shliach of the Rebbe comes into the office, it immediately brings in a different atmosphere that is felt by the entire staff. I see the Rebbe’s shluchim as special people who act on behalf of the Jewish people far more than many institutions of the State. You give your souls day and night for every Jew.
As an Israeli citizen, as an ambassador to the UN, and as someone who represents Eretz Yisroel abroad, I consider it very important to collaborate with the shluchim around the world. I can unequivocally state that in many countries, Chabad Houses operate just like an agency of Eretz Yisroel and even beyond that. They will open their hearts and their homes and help every Israeli and Jew in need.
I have had the privilege, while serving as chairman of the Aliya, Absorption and Diaspora Committee in the Knesset, to plan and arrange the first Kinus of Chabad shluchim held in the Knesset. I was amazed by the uncompromising devotion of the shluchim. The power with which the shluchim are able to enlist all Jews, with no regard for their opinions and political positions, around one idea which is: Am Yisroel Chai, moves me every time.
I wish that we unite as a nation and continue to strengthen the bond which is so vital between all Jews in the world and the Rebbe’s legacy.
DANNY AYALON
FORMER AMBASSADOR TO THE UN AND WASHINGTON
I first met Chabad Chassidim when I was a member of an Israeli delegation in the years 1993-1997. Unfortunately, I did not get to meet the Rebbe, but throughout my years of public service I got to meet his Chassidim and shluchim. I was captivated from the first moment I met them, mainly for the following reasons:
1-To me, the Chabad movement, aside from chochma-bina-daas, is “love your fellow as yourself.” Openness and unity among the Jewish people. One of the important things that I learned in Chabad is that achdus-unity is important, not achdus-uniformity. Ashkenazim and Sephardim, secular and religious, Chassidim and regular Jews – they don’t all have to believe, look alike, or do the same things. Before Hashem, all are equal. From their point of view, all of the Jewish people are branches of the same tree. That speaks to me personally. I come from a family where my father is Sephardi and my mother is Ashkenazi. Unfortunately, there are people who don’t relate to things this way and are involved in disputes and divisiveness and it is quite sad.
2-Chabad is global and helps Jews all over the world. Wherever I’ve traveled, whether in my official jobs as Deputy Foreign Minister and as ambassador in Washington, and personal trips, I’ve always met Chabad shluchim. In Tallinn, Estonia, in Oslo, Norway and even in Puerto Rico in the Caribbean. This is unprecedented in the Jewish world.
One year, I even had the privilege of attending the Kinus HaShluchim. The feeling was extraordinary. A feeling of tremendous upliftedness. The amazing thing is the transformation of the spiritual power of the Jewish people into a physical reality. Thousands of people who accomplish spiritual things expressed in a physical and tangible form. Abstract concepts like love for the land, love for the people and the Torah become a tangible reality when you are among the shluchim.
Thank G-d, I have also had a personal miracle with the Rebbe and perhaps I will use this opportunity to share it with your readers. Before the last elections, I went to my friend, R’ Konikov, in Washington. I davened and had the Shabbos meals with him and his family (I am always amazed by his young children who sing the Shabbos z’miros so sweetly). On Sunday we arranged that I would write to the Rebbe about my future course in life. It was a few days before the meeting of the steering committee of Yisroel Beiteinu. The stress was enormous since nobody knew who would get in.
Chassidim sitting next to me joked, before I wrote, saying, “Don’t worry, now that you’re asking the Rebbe, your place on the list is assured.” I smiled and sat down to write. I did not show them what I wrote.
A few days later the committee’s decisions were publicized and I was not in. This created a media storm around me, and my association with the party came to an end. At this time, I met with my friends the Chabadnikim who were around me when I wrote to the Rebbe. I saw that they felt uncomfortable because they had said I’d be on the party’s list. I decided to tell them what I wrote to the Rebbe that day.
All I asked for, beyond health and long life for my family and all Am Yisroel, was one specific thing: that the Rebbe place me where he thinks I can be most helpful to the Jewish people.
When I was informed that I hadn’t made it on the list, I accepted it calmly because I understood that that is not where I needed to be.
Today, after leaving the government, I started an organization “The Truth about Israel,” which helps explain the Israeli perspective to the world. Boruch Hashem, we are very successful, both in our influence and from a financial perspective. For me, this is a personal miracle and is precisely the guidance that I got from the Rebbe.
My friends, go on and succeed and continue to strengthen the Jewish people wherever they are and encourage the Jewish people.
MATAN VILNAI
AMBASSADOR TO CHINA
I remember my first encounter with the Rebbe’s shluchim in China, when I arrived in Beijing. An intense encounter in which you see the many activities, the buildings, the developing community, youngsters who feel at home, all that made a tremendous impression on me.
Since then, there are three events that I haven’t missed the past three years. Every year I am invited to light Chabad’s menorah in Beijing. Every year, on Chanuka, we gather along with the shliach, R’ Shimon Freundlich, and in the cold I light the menorah. I always tell my friends that only a Chabadnik can get a group of secular Jews like us to stand out in the freezing cold and light a Menorah, in China no less.
One of the amazing things that thrills me every time is the fact that most of the shluchim I meet are young. For example, here in Beijing, the shliach is exceptional. Despite his young age, and to me [ed. Vilnai is 71] he is a kid, he is gifted with unusual leadership skills. He runs a Chabad House handily and makes everyone feel that this is their home.
Whenever I go to the Chabad House it’s an unusual experience. Young men and women, far from religious observance, come here and have a house in the true sense of the word. All this along with outreach to businessmen and Jews passing through Beijing. Few settle here, but those who do find a magnificent community here.
Throughout the year at the Israeli embassy we work closely with the Chabad House. The rabbi attends every event we have, on happy occasions and also on days of commemoration and mourning. All these activities have created a wonderful relationship between us. It can be with big things and sometimes even with the smallest things. For example, when I need to make a list of all the Israelis in Beijing, the first place to turn to, of course, is the Chabad House. They always have the most accurate lists, better than what the embassy has.
Last Yom Kippur, I prayed at the Chabad House. While everyone stood and prayed, the rabbi’s son went over to him and began to nudge him, pulling on his tallis. The rabbi did not ignore him. He picked him up and gave him attention while he continued praying. Why do I tell this to you? The natural way he did that, the feeling of family, the calm, the joy of life which envelops them along with the involvement in the Chabad House, is astonishing.
It moved me very much.
To conclude, I will tell you a secret. I recently discovered that I am a direct descendant of the Baal HaTanya, the first Chabad Rebbe. We have a siddur that we got from him that has been passed down in our family. The last woman in the family who gave it to us died already and we did not get to hear from her the chain of transmission, but we were given this heirloom to preserve. So I am a Chabadnik, a closet Chabadnik.
I wish that you continue to do your holy work, joyfully and fearlessly.
MRS. BELAYNESH ZEVADIA
AMBASSADOR TO ETHIOPIA
I became acquainted with the Chabad movement and their leader, the Rebbe, years ago when I was a representative of the Foreign Ministry in Houston, Texas. We were in very close contact with the shluchim there. We were part of the community and felt like family. We did the bris mila of my two sons at the Chabad House. So when I heard that Chabad was planning on including Ethiopia in the Rebbe’s shlichus empire by sending a couple to Addis Ababa, I was the first to support the idea. I pushed and helped to make it happen sooner.
Addis Ababa is not a large place but many Israelis visit as well as Jews from all over the world. The absence of shluchim was really felt; people would ask about a shul or about Shabbos meals and there was nowhere to send them. There was no central place in the country to handle Jewish matters.
Consequently, the work of the shluchim, Eliyahu and Devora Leah Chaviv, had an immediate impact. What they are doing here is incredible. They work with businessmen and tourists. Many Israelis come here to work and they know to go to the Chabad House. Every Erev Shabbos the shluchim come to us, to the embassy, and to all the places where Israelis are, and give out challa for Shabbos. R’ Eliyahu is also a shochet and since we keep kosher, it is only thanks to him that we can enjoy a meat meal as we do back home, in Eretz Yisroel. Aside from that, every Shabbos meal at the Chabad House is an extraordinary experience. We have a terrific relationship and we are happy to be part of the Chabad House family.
The shlichus enterprise that the Rebbe established is no less than a revolution, a Jewish, positive revolution that disseminates light and helps Israelis and Jews everywhere. We can see this in developed countries like the US and in Europe where Chabad communities flourish. But the locations where their contribution is felt more deeply are those smaller places like Addis Ababa. Although there is no big Jewish community here, and maybe because of that, the help that Eliyahu and his wife provide is even more significant.
I often think of the young couple who left behind a large family, friends, and a comfortable life in Eretz Yisroel, and went on their own to Africa. I cannot help but be amazed by the Rebbe’s vision and spirit that motivates so many young families to live under conditions like these just in order to be there when someone they never met needs them.
ROBERTO NELKENBAUM
HONORARY CONSUL, BOLIVIA
I am very familiar with the Chabad House in Bolivia. R’ Itzik and Chaya Kupchik are the central engine that pulls together all of Jewish-Israeli life here in Bolivia. The truth is that to R’ Kupchik, shlichus is in his genes since his family are also shluchim of the Lubavitcher Rebbe in all sorts of places in the world. His parents are shluchim in India and his brothers are in India too and in other places.
We are fortunate in that we have two Chabad Houses here in Bolivia. One is in Rora Nabaka, which is in the mountains in the jungle area. The Chabad House is not open there all year, just during the tourist season. Throughout this time, many tourists come, including many Israelis. The Chabad House provides them with a warm home and helps them in every which way, whether by getting them out of trouble or by providing a nice meal after a long hike.
And of course we have the Chabad House in La Paz, where R’ Kupchik and his family are. Their help is tremendous. Among other things, since Bolivia does not have an official embassy, just a small office of a consulate which I run, we are not always equipped to help with everything. And so, we are helped tremendously by the shluchim when there is a crisis. And even when there isn’t, they are always there with a big heart and an open door.
In addition, they are a tremendous help to us, the local Jewish community. We are a very small Jewish community of only 120 families and R’ Kupchik is our support. He prays with us, helps us with minyanim, and every Erev Shabbos he comes with delicious challos and gives them out to all the Jews here.
There are no words to describe the spiritual revolution that the Lubavitcher Rebbe is accomplishing through his shluchim. I have visited Chabad Houses in Buenos Aires, Costa Rica and other places around the world, and I am always astounded and speechless when I see the dedication of the shluchim.
I wish all the shluchim and especially my friend, R’ Kupchik and his wife, for whom I am sure it is not easy because it’s really not simple living in a place like this, much success and may you continue to do only good for the Jewish people and may you merit to bring Moshiach soon.
ELIAV BELOTSERKOVSKY
AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE
There is no need to introduce the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s revolution in the world. There is hardly an official Israeli representative in the world who doesn’t have a connection of some kind with the shluchim. There are also shluchim in places where there is no embassy yet, and even in countries that do not have diplomatic ties with Israel.
In my opinion, here in the former Soviet Union, the impact of the shluchim on Jewish life is the greatest, both because of the number of shluchim and the resources invested here by the Chabad movement, and because of the vital need of the communities for the services they receive from the shluchim.
In the Ukraine, the entire subject of shluchim is very important from our perspective at the embassy. The shluchim are the ones who are in nearly every corner of the Ukraine, working with Jewish communities, rebuilding them, developing ties between the government and the communities. In addition, the shluchim are very connected to Eretz Yisroel and to our work as ambassadors of Israel. This is why they are indispensable and we consider them important partners.
For example, we know that the minute something happens, like someone was hurt in Eretz Yisroel and the parents are in the Ukraine, or the opposite, when someone comes for a visit and needs help in dealing with the government, local organizations or anything else, with all this we are helped by the people in Chabad and we get an immediate response. Of course we also try to help the shluchim in any way we can, whether with consulate matters and if our intervention is needed with a local office or a central office. We always work with the shluchim in full cooperation.
On a personal level, we have a great chemistry and friendship and even excellent social ties. I am on good terms with all the shluchim in the area. I recently attended the wedding of the daughter of R’ Stambler. It was such a special simcha and we all felt like one big family.
What amazes me every time in my encounters and conversations with shluchim is the sense of mission, their readiness to travel and help whoever needs it; it’s just fantastic. We at the embassy know that we always have whom to rely on and this is so important.