London Celebrates 19 Kislev

On Sunday night over 500 people from various areas of the UK gathered together in Brent Town Hall to celebrate Inspire, the annual conference for Yud Tes Kislev, the new year for chassidic teachings.

Organized and chaired by Rabbi Nissan Dovid Dubov, shliach in South London, people from North, South, and Central London, as well as Essex, Leeds, Brighton, Bournemouth, Birmingham, Leicester, Oxford and elsewhere all enjoyed a most unique program.

A new chavrusa on the phone program called JNET was launched, and Rabbi Bentzi Sudak, chief executive of Lubavitch UK, related the good news that a new building has been purchased in Golders Green for the Lubavitch Yeshiva Ketana.

The guest speaker was Rabbi Mendel Gluckowsky, Rav of the Lubavitch community in Rechovot, Israel. His inspiring speech was intertwined with many interesting stories from his involvement in spreading Yiddishkeit over the past 35 years.

One amazing story he told was how his father, who served as a chazzan in a small town near Toronto for the Yomim Noroim, spoke at Neilah one year and announced he would be spending Sukkos in the town and whoever would like a sukkah built or the daled minim, he would provide it. That year 4 extra sukkos and 7 more sets of daled minim were in the town. “If you show others that you will make an extra effort, then the results will be seen,” said Rabbi Gluckowsky.

Whether it was Rabbi Gluckowsky’s inspiring words, the lively dancing, or the palpable unity felt by all, the evening certainly left a deep impression on the participants, many of whom commented that they felt that their commitment to Judaism and chassidic teachings was certainly renewed and energized.