Chief of Staff Joins the Dance

By COLlive reporter
Photos by Ron Sachs & Baruch Ezagui

Several hundred people – including senior Obama Administration officials, diplomats, Chabad-Lubavitch rabbis and supporters – gathered in Washington, DC last week to honor the legacy of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, just days before his 18th yahrzeit.

Following a Congressional Leadership Breakfast in the US Capitol and a special lecture at the National Archives of the United States, participants in the international Living Legacy Conference proceeded to the Andrew B. Mellon Auditorium for a diplomatic luncheon and returned later for a gala banquet.

“Never have I seen such longing as I witness about the Rebbe of Lubavitch,” commented Israel’s Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger and how Jews from all backgrounds came to 770 Eastern Parkway to receive a blessing and dollar for charity from the Rebbe.

One of those who cherishes the dollar he received from the Rebbe is Jeremy Bash, Chief of Staff at the Department of Defense. In he remarks, he shared how his inspiration early in life was nurtured through his relationship with Rabbi Hirshi Zarchi while studying at Harvard.

Offering some insight on how the ‘dollars’ procedure would work was Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, Secretary of the Rebbe and Chairman of Merkos L’inyonei Chinuch and Machne Israel, the educational and social service networks, respectively, of the international Chabad-Lubavitch movement.

“To define and describe the life of the Rebbe is an impossible task”, noted Krinsky, who shared how for decades he watched the Rebbe, “a man who could scale the loftiest spiritual heights, but never lost sight of the needs of an individual.”

This was evident in the attention paid to every single person who would come by the Rebbe at “dollars.” The Rebbe would give newly minted dollars, he said. “Every week, we purchased 5,000 to 10,000 newly minted bills. Millions of people walked by and received them (over the years).”

Democrat and Republican Agree

The elegant events celebrating the enduring legacy of the Rebbe and the impactful educational and humanitarian work of Chabad-Lubavitch, have become a tradition in Washington for decades now, bridging political differences and rivalries in a focus on the universal appeal of the Rebbe’s message.

At the luncheon, Israel’s Ambassador to the US, Michael Oren, just returning from a meeting with President Barack Obama, had a chance to address his country’s concerns in front of diplomats representing Arab countries – some of which don’t even have diplomatic relations with Israel.

And at the banquet, Bruce Reed, Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to Vice President Joe Biden, found himself in apparent agreement with a Republican Governor (and U.S. Senate contender) Linda Lingle of Hawaii.

“Thank you for all you do,” Reed said, mentioning Chabad’s selfless work during hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, the tsunami in Japan and the “legendary work in education.”

He even alluded to the meaning of the name Lubavitch after the village in Russia (“brotherly love – the cornerstone of your ethos”) and mentioned how Biden took a keen interest during the 2008 terror attack on Chabad in Mumbai.

Referencing the oft-repeated approach of the Rebbe to constantly grow and expand in goodness, Reed told guests: “I hope you leave this conference uplifted, but not satisfied. A lot of organizations talk. You practice.”

Similar sentiments were shared by Lingle, the first Republican, first female and first Jew to be elected Governor of Hawaii, carried a similar tone in her remarks.

“It is a blessing for my life to be in contact with Chabad and an understanding rabbi,” she said about meeting Hawaii Shliach Rabbi Itchel Krasnjansky, noting that she grew up in a home affiliated with a Reform temple St. Louis, MO.

“Rabbi Itchel gave me a real gift by coming to my home every Wednesday morning and teaching a lesson from Torah that is very much related to what I needed to face in my work,” Lingle said. “It really made a difference for me during my 8 years in office. Your passionate exhortation to never give up speak to me as well.”

Her personable speech was concluded by saying “thank you for your life’s work for the Jewish people. Aloha!”

Regards from the World

At the luncheon, Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, Vice Chairman of Merkos L’inyonei Chinuch, brought regards from his latest travels visiting various centers of Chabad-Lubavitch around the world.

He paused to analyze the meaning of the conference’s title “Living Legacy” as an ongoing task that is very much in the hands of the public. “What would the Rebbe want from me at this special time?” he implored the participants and their colleagues to ask themselves. “How do I respond to this significant time?”

Speaking about the receiving end of Chabad’s work was Senator Joe Lieberman who sanctified G-d’s name so many times with his adherence to an observant Jewish lifestyle while serving as U.S. Senator, Chair of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and unforgettably as the first Jewish candidate for Vice President in history.

“The Rebbe’s Living Legacy is you,” he told the Shluchim and mentioned how his 4 year-old granddaughter attends the Chabad Early Childhood Center on New York’s West Side. “She asks me about the Beis Hamikdash! Could you believe that?”

Not planning to run for another term, Lieberman said “I’m retiring” and immediately added “Only from the Senate. Because once your part of Chabad, you cannot retire.”

He went on to speak about the Rebbe’s impact on America and the world and thanked Shluchim “for greeting me around the world – with challah, gefilte fish and as one of your reminded me, even Matzah.”

A standing ovation followed Lieberman as he exited the podium. Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel echoed Senator Lieberman’s sentiments, even going so far as to say, “I agree with everything he said about the Rebbe. In a way, he speaks for me as well.”

Inspired Students

The meals were chaired by Rabbi Levi Shemtov, Executive Vice President of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad), who organized and hosted the Conference.

After a break back at the grand Omni Shoreham Hotel and Resort, where shluchim and supporters had a chance to interact and network, everyone returned to the Andrew Mellon Auditorium for the gala banquet.

One of the most important components of the Living Legacy Conference is the Mayberg Fellows, 50 student leaders selected from campuses around the country, who had a chance over the course of the Conference to meet and interact with Rav Adin Steinsaltz (Even Yisrael), Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, Mr. Howard Kohr, Executive Director of AIPAC as well as Nobel Laureate Mr. Elie Wiesel.

They even had the opportunity to Skype in with Mr. Louis Mayberg, who together with his wife Manette are staunch supporters of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad) and sponsor of the student participants.

At the dinner, businessman Shaya Boymelgreen was invited to open the meal with the Hamotzi blessing on bread and at dinner, Mr. Avraham Banda, proprietor of the upscale Pomegranate Food Market in Brooklyn, was given a similar honor at the luncheon earlier in the day.

Bircas Hamazon was led at the international luncheon by the Shliach to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Rabbi Bentzion Butman and at the banquet by Rabbi Sholom Duchman, Director of Colel Chabad.

Real Highlight

A highlight of the evening was certainly the crowd erupting in a chassidic dance around the hall with “Chazak” and “Reb Levik’s Niggun” belted out by Benny Friedman, and all the guests responding enthusiastically to the music by the Zemer Orchestra.

The resounding keynote speech was delivered by Rabbi Abraham Shemtov, the founder of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad) and the Chairman of the Executive Committee of Agudas Chassidei Chabad, the umbrella organization of the international Chabad-Lubavitch movement.

“We live in such a period where we see great miracles in front of our very eyes. The prophets of doom long ago predicted our demise. Comes the Rebbe and says, no Jew is lost. No Jew or place is beyond the reach of a shliach,” he said.

“The time has come when the partnership between shluchim and supporters who have been outstanding get together, not only to make a difference but think different. No merely thinking big, but thinking real. Le’oisei niflaos Gedolos levado. We need to bring life. Sometimes we get deterred by “facts and conditions”, but next to what has been accomplished, we know we will overcome a block. They have the means, we have the ideas.

He related how at an early visit to the White House he told a senior aide to the President “I work for someone who knows what needs to be done, you work for someone who could make it happen.”

“Alone, we cannot accomplish it,” Rabbi Shemtov concluded, “but working together there is no limit to what we can do. And we will bring a full realization of the Rebbe’s dream, with the coming of Moshiach, speedily and in our time.”

The hundreds of participants, having travelled from far and near, headed home with many going to New York to spend the weekend of Gimmel Tammuz near the Rebbe.