Rabbis Turned Babysitters

The Rabbis of New Zealand will be meeting this weekend, in the city of Christchurch, to discuss a series of pressing issues concerning the welfare of the Jewish communities in the Country.

Rabbi Mendel Goldstein of Chabad of Canterbury and Rabbi Shmuel Kopel of Chabad of Otago will be baby-sitting their children while their wives fly out to Sydney, Australia to join the 15th Annual Nshei Chabad Convention of Sydney.

“I wouldn’t call it babysitting,” says Rabbi Goldstein, “taking care of our own children is our most important task.”

“Our wives really deserve a quality vacation,” says Rabbi Kopel, “and Rabbi Goldstein and I have a lot of community matters to catch up on as well, so it will be a very special weekend indeed.”

While much of the Rabbi’s time are focused on the thousands of Israeli backpackers who travel through the South Island each year, their ultimate goal is “to strengthen Jewish Infrastructure” in this isolated County “so that our fellow Kiwi Jews may also have the opportunity to experience Jewish life to the fullest.”

Amongst the issues they will be discussing will no doubt be the recent animal welfare code change which resulted in the ban on commercial Shchitah.

However, the Rabbis are tight lipped about the issue, since “such matters are best handled sensitively without much media and fanfare,” they said.

The Communities in Wellington and Auckland are currently without a Rabbi, but are expected to have one in the near future. In the meantime, The South Island Rabbis are finding themselves busier than ever attending to the needs of now an even wider community, including flying up to the North Island to officiate at a wedding, and arranging a number of brissim as well.