New Shluchim to Cypress, Texas

Chabad.org

The 12th Chabad center in the Houston area, to be co-directed by Rabbi Levi and Devorah Leah Marinovsky, was timed to start by the anniversary of Hurricane Harvey as an expression of the tenacious vitality of the city’s Jewish community.

In the days leading up to the new center’s opening, Rabbi Shimon Lazaroff, Texas regional director of Chabad-Lubavitch, welcomed the new emissaries and the new center.

“In keeping with Chabad’s dedication to Houston’s long-term recovery, I’m ecstatic to welcome Rabbi Levi and Devorah Leah Marinovsky to the team of Houston area emissaries,” said Rabbi Lazaroff.

He said the new center is one of many efforts by Chabad to help rebuild the community at large that has been continuously aided by a patchwork of helpers from the day Harvey struck until today.

“The force of Harvey brought together all forces of the Jewish community, especially demonstrated by the Chabad centers’ husband and wife emissaries, along with volunteers hailing from across Texas and the world who helped with material and financial support,” said Lazaroff.

In the mix of some 30 guests at the Marinovskys’ open house on Sunday, were Cypress residents who were healed and recovered and others still struggling, including from having to pay back exorbitant loans for repairs when insurance wasn’t available, said Biana Godin, a single mother of two boys.

But all agreed that the presence of Chabad in their neighborhood would make a big difference.

“I am really excited that we now have a rabbi in Cypress,” said Godin, who had been traveling 40 minutes to the neighboring West Houston Chabad center for Hebrew school for her children and other programs. “I think it is absolutely awesome, and whoever I spoke to is very excited as well.”

The Marinovskys, appointed by and working under the direction of Rabbi Dovid Goldstein, began warming up to what has turned out to be a welcoming community with public menorah-lightings and a Purim celebration over the past year before assuming their new position.

In the weeks to come, they said, the center will be providing adult-education classes, youth programs, community events, and Shabbat and holiday services in typical Chabad-style, and is taking reservations for a dinner planned for the first night of Rosh Hashanah. Godin and her children are already signed up.

“We are very excited about the opportunity to provide a welcoming environment for all Jews in the area where they can learn and experience their tradition,” said Marinovsky, a Houston native, graduate of the Chabad-run Torah Day School of Houston, and son of longtime Houston emissaries Rabbi Betzalel and Leah Marinovsky.

His wife, Devorah Leah, a Brooklyn native and daughter of emissaries Rabbi Avraham and Chana Hertz, in the spirit of the Harvey relief effort, which saw so many go out of their comfort zones in every way to help others, added: “We are inspired by the Rebbe to not only think about our own religious comforts, but to go out and make a difference in the world.”

To donate to the new Shluchim, visit Chabadcypress.com/donate.