Ontario Shluchim Gather for Kinus

Last Monday, Cheshvan 3, close to forty shluchim from throughout the Canadian Province of Ontario convened for a regional Kinus Hashluchim.

The kinus took place in London, Ontario, also home to the veteran Shluchim Dr. Yitzchak and Leah Block.

A highlight of the Kinus was a beautiful luncheon to honor Dr. and Mrs. Block on their fiftieth anniversary since moving to London.

The conference was held at the beautiful Lamplighter Inn Convention Centre with a grand dinner and banquet held at the Chabad House at the University of London, Ontario, directed by Rabbi Mordechai and Nechamie Silberberg.

The kinus started out at nine o’clock in the morning, with a busload of Shluchim arriving from Toronto, while listening to a shiur in Chasidus from Rabbi Moshe Steiner, a shliach in the Bathurst Manor section of Toronto.

The first session of the day was a very serious discussion led by Rabbi Mendel Kaplan from Chabad Flamingo on some very sensitive issues pertaining to shluchim in Ontario.

A beautiful dairy luncheon was awaiting all shluchim with a delicious menu catered by the hotel.

Lunch was mc’d by the local shliach from London, Ontario Rabbi Mordechai Silberberg, who spoke about the uniqueness of getting to know such a chasid as Dr. Block and related a few lessons that all shluchim can learn from such a special individual.

He then went on to introduce a new shliach, Rabbi Y. Zarchi, who will serve the Laurel Leaf area of Toronto, to open the program with a a Dvar Malchus.

Next he introduced two members of the London Jewish community and reps of the local UJA who spoke about how much Chabad and the Blocks have impacted the community.

Rabbi of the Orthodox shul in London and a son in law of Rabbi Block, Rabbi Lazer Gurkow, shared some very warm words of bracha and some personal experiences of how he was impacted by his dear in-laws.

Rabbi Zalman Ahron Grossbaum, the head shliach of Ontario, spoke about how much ground work the Blocks have done to make the later shluchim in Ontario’s jobs that much easier.

Finally, Dr. Block stood up to the podium and thanked everyone for the special honor accorded to him and his wife, and said that it was only through the special brachos of the Rebbe that they were able to make it through all the challenges throughout the years, raising a beautiful mishpacha in a small distant city, almost all of them shluchim throughout the world.

Rabbi Yosef Gansburg then read the Pan klali that was written for the kinus asking the Rebbe to bench all his Shluchim with Hatzlacha bgashmius and Ruchnius.

Following lunch, sessions went on for four hours, many of the topics were related to children programs, campus programs, adult education, and more, with shluchim sharing ideas that can be implemented in other cities.

A moment of nachas for all was when emcee Rabbi Levi Gansburg introduced a group of new shluchim that have recently moved to the Province.

A special address was given by the head Shliach Rabbi Zalman Ahron Grossbaum, where he discussed, amongst many other things, the great need for achdus amongst Shluchim and Anash.

Rabbi Yossi Lew from Atlanta was the guest speaker, who spoke to the Shluchim about strengthening their personal avoda, as well as tips and insights to be zocheh to raise chasidishe children on Shlichus.

After mincha the shluchim boarded buses, as the kinus moved to the Chabad House for a beautiful dinner and banquet in honor of all the shluchim.

The evening’s Emcee was Rabbi Hayes from Ottawa, who first called up Avremel Silberberg, son of the local shliach and student of the Shluchim on-line School, to say a Dvar Torah.

Speakers included Rabbi Landau from the Chabad Israeli Centre, Rabbi Levi Jacobson from the JRCC Thornhill, and Rabbi Yosef Gansburg From Chabad Gate to speak, all who were mechazek the shluchim in their responsibilities, and a strong emphasis was put on the achrayis that the shluchim have to the growing Anash community. To end off the day the shluchim Farbrenged for a few hours with the guest Shliach Rabbi Yossi Lew from Atlanta.

The cities that were represented were:
Toronto, Thornhill, Maple, Thornhill Woods, Richmond Hill, Aurora, Mississauga, Waterloo, Hamilton, Niagara Falls, Kingston, London, Concord, Beaches and Ottowa.