New Shluchim to Romania

By Chaya Schley – Chabad.org

Rabbi Dovber and Fraidy Orgad have arrived in Bucharest, Romania, this past August in order to establish a Chabad on Campus “home away from home” for some 200 Israeli medical students who are currently studying in Bucharest.

Becoming shluchim, or Chabad emissaries, was a “dream” for both of them, they say. Fraidy Orgad, 23, had volunteered at Jewish summer camps in Israel while in high school, and Rabbi Orgad, 28, had worked with shluchim serving communities in Southampton, N.Y.; Moscow; and Belarus during his rabbinical studies.

The couple worked in Israel after getting married: Fraidy as a first-grade teacher in a public school, and the rabbi as a manager of popular local wedding hall.

“My dream was to go to the Kinus Hashluchim as a shaliach,” Rabbi Orgad says, referring to the International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries that takes place every fall in New York.

Approximately 3,200 Jews live in Romania, according to a 2011 census, but the numbers have increased in recent years as Israelis have moved to Bucharest to work and study in the capital.

Rabbi Naftali and Risha Deutsch, co-directors of Chabad Lyubavitsh of Romania, moved to Bucharest in 1999, establishing a Chabad center with a synagogue, preschool, mikvah and other Jewish services.

“The Orgads have a lot of energy, they know how to work, and they have experience. I’m very happy with how many students they’ve gotten to know in just three months,” said Deutsch.