Photos: Itzik Belenitzki – CYP
On Sunday morning, buses lined up along Kingston Avenue as more than 1,000 young Jewish professionals prepared to leave Crown Heights for the final chapter of the CYP Encounter Shabbaton: a visit to the Rebbe’s Ohel.
To accommodate the largest Encounter in history, organizers moved this year’s pre-Ohel program to the Queensborough Performing Arts Center in Bayside.
“Seven years ago, we had 50 people at this event,” said Rabbi Nissi Lepkivker, director of CYP Encounters at Merkos 302. “Today we filled a theater with a thousand. That growth tells you something about what young Jews are searching for.”
The program, titled “Connection Unbound” and emceed by Stephanie Blitshtein, a young professional from Dallas, TX, was designed to prepare participants for a meaningful experience at the Ohel. World-renowned singer Shulem Lemmer led stirring Chabad niggunim, adding soul to the uplifting experience. Rabbi Yitzchok Schochet spoke about the power of prayer, the significance of standing before the Rebbe’s resting place, and the concept of a Rebbe as a “Nassi”, a leader whose connection to his community transcends time.
Then came the personal stories. Tech founder and philanthropist Teddy Raskin sat down on stage with Rabbi Beryl Frankel, director of CYP International at Merkos 302, sharing his journey of connection with the Rebbe. When his company was on the verge of bankruptcy, his shliach, Rabbi Mendy Plotkin of Intown Chabad Dallas, encouraged him to write to the Rebbe. Shortly after, an investor came through and turned everything around. Other young professionals followed, describing how the Rebbe’s teachings had shaped their careers, relationships, and sense of purpose.
Before boarding buses to the Ohel, participants, representing the 325 communities in the world’s largest young Jewish professionals network, wrote panim, personal letters requesting blessings and recording the commitments they were taking upon themselves.
For Evan Gravitt, a young professional from Whitefish, Montana, the moment at the Ohel was unlike anything he had experienced.
“I walked in, read my note, said the Shema, tore it up, and threw it,” he recalled. “And there was a moment where all time stopped. I felt heard. I felt seen. It was very emotional.”
Evan described the Jewish community in Montana as small, “we know each other like a family,” and said he plans to bring the weekend’s inspiration back with him.
“I’m going to keep pressing,” he said. “I see young Jews everywhere I go, friends of mine, and I invite them to Shabbat, to candlelightings. They don’t always come. But I’m going to keep encouraging them. I want them to feel welcome. I want them to feel like they’re part of something.”
He paused. “Until I found Chabad, I never felt comfortable and accepted. And as an adult, it means so much to have a community thousands of miles away from home.”
Following the Ohel visit, participants gathered for lunch. But the programming wasn’t over. Tables were set up throughout the area, each offering a different practical mitzvah: Shabbat candle kits, the opportunity to write a letter in a communal Sefer Torah, and more, encouraging young professionals to take on an additional commitment to bring back home.
“I’ve always known I was a Jew, but I never had a full understanding of what that meant,” said Mendel, a young professional from Springfield, New Jersey. Attending his first Shabbaton opened a new chapter: “I only started going to Chabad last year. It’s elevated me spiritually, given me deeper insight into myself and the people I was born into.”
Until coming to the Ohel, he hadn’t realized his name was the same as the Rebbe’s, or how meaningful that connection would be.
“While you stand in line at the Ohel, you think about everything, what you wrote, what’s going to happen, what happens if your prayers get answered,” he said. “And then once you’re standing there, everything within you starts to come out. You start saying things you weren’t even thinking about before.”
For Jonathan Perlman, a product manager at Capital One in DC, the weekend marked a turning point. Perlman, the grandson of a Holocaust survivor, took his Jewish identity for granted.
But after October 7th, Perlman’s commitment deepened. He started wrapping tefillin more regularly and launched a kosher coffee brand that donates to Jewish causes. “I really want to make an impact on our community and be visibly proud of being a Jew,” he said.
Coming into the weekend, Perlman was excited to experience his first real Shabbos, visit the Ohel, and learn how to apply Jewish pride and connection to his business and life. He left with more. Following the Ohel visit, Perlman committed to putting on tefillin every day and was gifted his own pair at the closing event.
“What we witnessed this weekend is a testament to where young Jews are at,” said Rabbi Mendy Kotlarsky, Chairman of Chabad Young Professionals, who sees the incredible growth of CYP as both a milestone and a mandate. “It’s also a call to expand even more. There are young Jewish professionals in cities around the world who need this, who are searching for meaning, for community, for connection. The incredible resolutions of this weekend serve as a springboard to inspire them as well.”
As participants boarded the buses headed to airports and back to Montana, Estonia, Panama, and everywhere in between, the energy was one of resolve to bring the impact home.
Go Stephanie!!!
Yaashar koach to the organizers of this very special event. No one does it like Chabad!