An Erev Shabbos Visitor

By COLlive reporter
Photos by Jordan Cassway

Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel and Rishon LeZion Rabbi Shlomo Moshe Amar was greeted in Philadelphia by a delegation of Chabad Shluchim in the city and its outskirts.

In town for Shabbos, he came Friday morning with his entourage to the Lubavitch Center on Castor Avenue, headquarters of Chabad activities in the Delaware Vally.

“I noticed in my travels the reflection and inspiration each and every Shliach gets from the Rebbe,” he told 24 directors of local Chabad centers. “That is what is expected from a Shliach, and that is what I see.”

Rabbi Avrohom Shemtov, Head Shliach of Philadelphia and Chairman of the umbrella group Agudas Chassidei Chabad International, told the Chief Rabbi that “the Rebbe’s vision of ‘uforatzta’ – spreading Jewish light around the world – is not merely a vision, but a reality.”

Rabbi Shemtov shared that as a child, in 1943, he learned Aleph Beis by Rabbi Shlomo Matusof OBM in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. 30 years later, Matusof was sent to Morocco by the Rebbe and opened a vast network of Jewish schools. Among its students was Rabbi Amar.

The Chief Rabbi was clearly delighted. “Rabi Shlomo was a symbol of a Shliach,” he said, before raising a L’Chaim and blessing the rabbis with success in their holy work.

He was presented with a book reviewing the Siyum HaRambam learning cycle introduced by the Rebbe and followed by thousands around the world.

On his way out from the meeting, Rabbi Amar stopped at The Gan, a Chabad preschool run by Mrs. Nechama Caplan, and wished the children a “Shabbat Shalom.”