opinion
Chabad is NOT reopening!
Yes, you read correctly. Despite the fact that the state of Ohio has already begun the next phase of its reopening plans, we at the Chabad Jewish Center will not be reopening. Ever.
Here's why – because we never closed.
We are a community that extends far beyond the physical four walls of our center. Ever since we were forced to stop conducting services and classes in person, we seized the opportunity to expand our impact and engagement far beyond our center's walls.
Jewish education is eternal! If Stalin and Antiochus couldn't stop us, a virus certainly won't. We never closed our Hebrew School or stopped teaching our almost 50 students. We created an online Hebrew School with breakout rooms for each class. Next Sunday we will have our Virtual End of Year Celebration – online.
And not only did we never stop teaching classes, we increased the amount of available learning opportunities daily; many days with multiple classes. The number of students increased dramatically, participants not only from Greater Cincinnati, but even as far as Los Angeles, Israel and Australia.
Most importantly, we NEVER EVER closed our hearts or love for each of you – our community members. Closing our doors opened our hearts more than ever. In addition to shopping, providing emergency funding and more, in the last eight weeks I have spent literally thousands of hours on the phone talking, counseling and just connecting with so many of you.
As we approach the holiday, Shavuout, when the Jewish people received the 10 commandments from God at Mount Sinai 3,332 years ago, we note:
The Torah wasn't given in a grandiose or luxurious setting. Hashem's world includes tropical vistas, beaches with glorious sunsets, splendid fragrant gardens. But He chose to give it in a barren desert.
While the ideal is to congregate together in comfortable sanctuaries, even better yet in the holy and magnificent Temple in Jerusalem, Judaism isn't dependent on any externals.
It's about internalizing Torah values through study, prayer and acts of kindness; all of which can be done anywhere at any time. Torah is forever and wherever. A barren desert shows us: it's what we bring, what we create, how we show up and engage.
Of course, it is ideal for the Torah to be practiced in the Temple in Jerusalem, and we pray every day for its immediate rebuilding and to be restored to its former glory. But until that day, the Torah can be accessed anywhere and anytime; in Babylon or Rome, in ghettos or concentration camps, in any century or country.
Even quarantined at home during a pandemic. The Torah has no borders and needs no frills. Our beliefs, our mitzvot and our connection to G-d is our toolkit for survival.
The heart of our community is you and the Torah.
So we will not be reopening – because our hearts never closed, and our community never grew apart. The opposite has happened. This quarantine has taught us to keep these treasures more close to our hearts than ever before.
Happy Shavuot and Shabbat Shalom.
Rabbi Yisroel Mangel is executive director of Chabad Jewish Center in Blue Ash.
"Opinion" - Google News
May 31, 2020 at 06:38PM
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Opinion: By closing our doors, we've opened our hearts - The Cincinnati Enquirer
"Opinion" - Google News
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