Our Man at the Royal Wedding

By COLlive reporter

As a million eyes gazed at the balcony of Buckingham Palace, where newlyweds Prince William and Kate Middleton stood, one man in the crowd didn’t look up.

It was not out of a lack of respect for the royal couple, but because he was busy at work.

Rabbi Shneor Glitsenstein, Director of Chabad Israeli Center on Woodstock Road in London, was doing his rounds searching for Jewish people.

Holding a pair of Tefillin, he offered Jewish males to do a Mitzvah and wrap them on their arms. Dozens obliged, he reported.

One of them, a teenager, told the Shliach he was part Jewish since only his grandmother was a Jew.

Is she from your father’s or mother’s side, the Chabad rabbi asked.

Mother, the youngster answered.

If so, the enthusiastic Lubavitcher told him, you are a Jew, and let us make you a Bar Mitzva at this wedding.

Another interesting encounter Rabbi Glitsenstein had was when an older woman stopped to asked him if she can make the traditional Jewish blessing for royals even from a far distance.