Evening Marks Double Yartzeit

This past Thursday, July 3, over 150 people gathered at the Chabad Center in Natick to mark Gimmel Tammuz, the twentieth anniversary Yahrtzeit of the Rebbe, of righteous memory.

The program was a joint effort of 5 Chabad Centers in the Metrowest – the Chabad Centers of Framingham, Natick, Sudbury, Wellesley and Westboro.

The inspiring evening of tribute also included a memorial service for the three “Holy Souls” who were murdered in Israel.

This event also coincided within a few days of the first Yartzeit of Rabbi Hershel Fogelman obm, who was among the first Chabad representatives of the Lubavitcher Rebbe in America.

The schedule of this well-planned event included a buffet with hors d’oeuvres, salads and refreshments. Rabbi Levi Fogelman opened the evening. Rabbi Yakov Lazaros of Framingham and Rabbi Yisroel Freeman of Sudbury led a Memorial Prayer service for “our boys” the Jewish martyrs with a Moleh and Tehilim.

Rabbi Moshe Bleich of Wellesley introduced the newly released video “Marching Orders”. The video featured popular figures such as Alan Dershowitz, former Senator Joe Lieberman, Joseph Telushkin, Ari Goldman of the New York Times and others, commenting on their awe and recognition of and personal connection with of the Rebbe. The message of the Rebbe’s focus was clear – always on a positive attitude and action, despite obstacles and challenges.

The highlight of the evening was a lecture by the renowned speaker, Rabbi Yossi Paltiel. Rabbi Paltiel shared stories of the Rebbe’s personal love and unique connection with individuals like a father to a child as well his tremendous impact on worldwide Judaism.

Following the lecture was the Maariv Evening service. After that many people stayed on for a “farbrengen” informal gathering, which continued into the wee hours of the night. As evening turned to midnight, there were still about 30 people thoroughly engaged and the gathering continued going strong for the next few hours until about 2:00 am when the last people left.