What am I thankful for? Well, what can I say... Every year, the conference drives home one more vignette that I bring back to the daily grind. This year, I felt like the family of Chabad Shluchim (Chabad emissaries) is really and truly one big family. I am not sure how to pinpoint exactly where and when - but, it definitely resonated with me this year even more than previous conferences I have attended. The closing banquet was especially heartfelt, notably the Speaker of the Knesset Yuli Edelstein and Rabbi Nissan Dovid Dubov. If you missed it live, you can still watch the replay. It is well worth your time!
EPIC SELFIE ALERT - At the annual group Where's Waldo "family picture" I wrote about last week, my brother Rabbi Yossi Lazaroff from Chabad at Texas A&M, myself and a few other Chabad Rabbis, made a playful epic #kinusselfie, the largest selfie in the world. (Someone showed up with a camera drone too! :) It made waves around the world. Maybe Guiness World Records will take notice and make a category for that! But, thankfully World Record Academy does! :)
- CNET - Holy photo! There are 2,000 rabbis in that selfie
- World Record Academy - Largest Religious Selfie: Orthodox rabbis set world record despite Guinness missing category
- New York Magazine - How Many Rabbis Does It Take to Make the World’s Largest Selfie?
- Huffington Post - More Than 2,000 Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbis Gather For Epic Group Selfie
- Brooklyn Daily Eagle - At conference of hasidic emissaries, social media leads the way
- Chabad.org News - Thousands of Rabbis in Group SelfieThousands of Rabbis in Group Selfie
- The Jewish Week - Chabad Takes Aim At Ellen DeGeneres' Oscar Pic
- European Jewish Press - 5,200 Chabad emissaries meet in New York for their annual conference
- i24News - Selfie aware rabbis
- JPUpdates - #KinusSelfie Rocks Chabad’s Kinus Hashluchim Conference
- YNet - Chabad rabbis take 'world's largest selfie'
- Shalom Life - 2,000 Rabbis Gather in Brooklyn for "World's Largest Selfie"
- Mako - הסלפי הכי גדול בעולם
- Yediot Achronot - סלפי קבוצתי: 2,000 רבני חב"ד
- PC DailyMaily - כינוס הסלפי הגדול
- Kipa - שיא גינס? 2000 שלוחי חב"ד הצטלמו בסלפי ענק
But, the most meaningful part of the conference was visiting the Ohel, as I described to the QueensChronicle:
"Rabbi Chaim Lazaroff, who came from Houston, said there naturally is a large spiritual context to the conference. But Lazaroff said it is much more, with a vast social component and topics ranging from teaching of religious doctrine to world events. “There are workshops, networking, education,” he said. Lazaroff also spoke of his desire to visit Schneerson’s grave during the visit. The rebbe, who sought to spread the Jewish faith and education initiatives to all corners of the world, is the reason he is a native of Texas." read the rest of the article here.
Hope you are all enjoying your Thanksgiving weekend, and I look forward to seeing you in Shul!
Shabbos Parshas Vayeitzei
Friday, November 28
Services at 6:30 pm
Candle Lighting at 5:04 pm
Shabbos, November 29
Chassidus at 9:00 am
Services at 10 am
Followed by Shabbos Kiddush in honor of Dan Melnik's birthday
Mincha at 5:05 pm
Maariv, Havdalla & Shabbos Ends at 6:00 pm
Living Torah
Have a good Shabbos!
Rabbi Chaim & Chanie