Rabbi Visits German Communities

Young and talented rabbi Benzion Laskin from New York is acclaimed and well-loved on different continents.

In Germany, he was welcomed as a long-awaited guest and good friend. It was not his first visit there, and each time he flies there, he brings the light and joy to those Russian-Jewish communities that are eager to learn about their traditions.

The lecture tour was organized by Chabad of Munich, directed Rabbi Yisroel Diskin and Rabbi Yochanon Gordon, where Rabbi Laskin was a guest speaker at a special Chanukah Shabbaton for young families in Russian and Shabbat day for students in English.

Lectures were hosted by the shluchim in Dusseldorf (rabbi Chaim Barkan), Cologne (rabbi Mendel Schtroks), Nuerenberg (rabbi Eliezer Chitrik), Dresden (rabbi Shneor Havlin), Frankfurt (rabbi M. Gurevich and rabbi Yossi Havlin), Kahrlsruhe (rabbi Moti Mendelson ) and Ulm (rabbi Shneor Trebnik). These Shluchim do a huge work for their communities, and it is so important for the Jews from the former USSR, who for many years were deprived of the possibility to get knowledge and help in their own language.

This time, topics of his lectures were mostly diverse – from the holiday Chanukah lectures “Reveal your inner light ” to the complex philosophical analytical “613 Commandments. Why Do Jews Need So Many?” in the light of Chasidut, Philosophy and Kabbala.”

The meetings, including questions and answers sessions, lasted 3-4 hours instead of usual 1-1.5. And that did not surprise those who at least once have been to rabbi B. Laskin’s lectures.

Rabbi Laskin is a columnist of national Russian Jewish weekly newspaper, “Forum”; he is a radio host of the program “Talks About Judaism and Kabbalah”, he is the program director of CHAMAH, the international Jewish educational organization in NY.

Not all the questions have been asked yet, not all the answers given, the Jewish communities were saying goodbye to Benzion Laskin with warmth and sincere gratitude and, as they hope, not for long…