As a prelude to a unity Shabbos in England – Shabbos UK, Lubavitch of Scotland ran a five day tour of Scotland which included their second annual Shabbaton held at the Mercure Hotel in Ayr Scotland.
Over 40 people from Glasgow, London, Manchester and the US joined for 25 hours of the holy Shabbos for all to experience beginning with candle lighting led by Sora Jacobs.
“It was a fantastic feeling for Shabbos to be celebrated once again in Ayr which at one time had a vibrant Jewish community of over two hundred people,” said Rabbi Chaim Jacobs, Director of Lubavitch of Scotland, who organized the event with his wife Sora.
This year’s event was further enhanced with the attendance of ‘Rabbi in residence’ ex-Glaswegian Rabbi Alan Plancey who inspired the guests with his wisdom, stories and words of inspiration.
After Shabbos the guests enjoyed a terrific musical Havdalah recited by Sholom Jacobs, who flew in especially for Shabbos from New York, and a two hour concert by keyboard player Benny Weiss of Manchester with Sholom Jacobs singing and inspiring the guests who were singing, clapping and dancing throughout the evening.
During the five day trip people visited Callander, Pitlochry, Edinburgh Castle and Palace of Holyrood House, Burns Cottage, Culzean Castle, Stirling Castle, and Doune Castle.
On Thursday evening a piper was in attendance for a Scottish themed dinner and throughout the tour the guests enjoyed the first class food from L’Chaim’s Kosher Restaurant.
The entire event was organized by Rabbi Chaim Jacobs and his wife Sora who paid special attention to every detail of the food and their comfort so that all the guests enjoyed fabulous food and had a great time throughout the trip.
Everyone went home inspired by the tremendous friendship and achdus which prevailed throughout the trip, and all realized how easy it is to keep Shabbos properly and to create a real Shabbos atmosphere in their own homes.
What wonderful kiruv work. May HaSh-em give you the strength to carry on for many more years.
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Chumi & Dovid: Lookin’ good:-)
Kol Hakavod. May you go from strength to strength with your
amazing initiativess in strengthening your Shlichus strengthrning
Yiddishkeit