Rebuild Chabad of New Zealand

By Rabbi Shmuel Kopel

Lubavitchers around the world have been hearing about the miraculous events that happened to the Shluchim in New Zealand. After the terrifying earthquake, a shlucha ran down five flights of stairs with her son Moshe to a scene of chaos. Not every building was as lucky as hers, many buildings close by were flattened like “pancakes” as she says. Her husband Rabbi Friedman was in the Chabad House at the time and began seeing the walls caving in and yet he managed to escape unharmed.

For over a week the Shluchim were unable to reach the Chabad House since the entire area is a closed danger zone. Finally, after arranging a special escort into the city, they went to the Chabad House, only to be told that the building was marked “red” forbidding entry. After explaining to the city worker how precious a Sefer Torah is to Jewish people, the man agreed to go in by himself and rescue the Torahs. Miraculously, even though the roof caved in, the Torahs remained in very good shape.

For many Lubavitchers this was the first time they heard about the Shluchim to New Zealand. In such times it is important realize what the New Zealand Shluchim go through on a daily basis and why it is so important to ensure that their work goes from strength to strength.

There are ten thousand Jews who live in New Zealand, and there is relatively little infrastructure serving their Jewish needs. Besides for that, There are over 20 thousand Jewish travelers who tour New Zealand every year. Getting Kosher food in New Zealand is a job for itself. People have told the Shluchim that they stopped keeping Kosher in New Zealand because it was too difficult, and they did not restart when they went home.

As a Shliach to New Zealand I fillet my own fresh fish and make geffilta fish for Shabbos. I drive to a local farm to get Cholov Yisroel. Bringing meat from Australia is extremely expensive. Chabad and local communities would arrange shechita for chicken, since it is illegal to import chicken, but then shechita was banned. For six months I did not eat chicken. Finally we won the shechita battle only to have a huge earthquake a few months later.

The Shluchim are working in areas with few local Jews and many travelers. Most of our funds come from out side. The earthquake has brought on the Shluchim a lot of extra financial stress and confusion as to how to rebuild with less money than we already don’t have.

This is a tremendous opportunity to support the Rebbe’s work in a very difficult time.

A web site was set up just for the rebuilding process. Please participate by donating and encouraging your friends to do the same. www.rebuildchabadnz.com

VIDEO: Shlucha tells her story to Jewish.TV