By COLlive reporter
Photos by Amir Levy
The frum weekly Mishpacha Magazine held a summit this past week which convened some 150 New York Jewish community activists in the Dumbo neighborhood of Brooklyn.
Welcoming guests were some of the personnel behind the magazine, including the owner Eli Paley, CEO Avi Lazar, editor Moshe Grylak, Shana Friedman, Binyamin Rose, Sruli Besser and Mrs. Bassi Gruen.
The evening included a discussion with elected officials such as NYC Councilman David Greenfield and Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder and community activists and heads of Jewish organizations.
The keynote speaker was Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, Vice Chairman of Merkos L’inyonei Chinuch – Chabad’s education and outreach arm. “Mishpacha is about children and parents being on the same page and that is what Mishpacha has to focus on,” he said.
Rabbi Kotlarsky, who is in the midst of the annual Kinus Hashluchos convention which he organizes, spoke about the concern of growing assimilation in Jewish communities in North America and elsewhere.
“It is our job to instill emunah in Hashem,” he said and added about the need for Jewish people in Israel to be able to live in full safety and security. Rabbi Kotlarsky told the crowd they too can be “Shluchim” by commiting themselves to helping others.
A second keynote was Malcolm Hoenlein, head of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations since 1986, who spoke about the battle against the Iran deal.
A cross representation of frum Jewish communities were present. Participating from Crown Heights were Rabbi Ephraim Mintz and Rabbi Dubi Rabinowitz of the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute (JLI) and activist Yaacov Behrman.
VIDEO:
The credit doesn’t go to Mishpacha only but to the hardworking shlichim who bring the light of Chabad to the world so they have no choice but to recognize truth
Nice to see the faces behind the magazine (especially the women). I have to say I’m impressed by the steps taken recently to be more inclusive of Chabad; for a long time I felt like Chabad was quite excluded (as opposed to the Ami), but recently it had a FANTASTIC article (featured on the cover) about Rabbi YY Jacobson–toichendik and really well done; the next week, skimming through the table of contents I was surprised to see the holy face of the Frierdiker Rebbe–a feature article by dovid zaklikowsky on the Frierdiker Rebbe’s diary. Now I see Rabbi Kotlarsky was… Read more »
Look star studded. Impressive.