Yiddishe Mameh Pays a Visit

By COLlive reporter
Photos by Yossi Percia

Shelley Berkley, one of the best known Jewish Democrats committed to the Jewish community and Israel, spent a good few hours on Sunday with some Lubavitcher friends.

The senior Nevada Congresswoman dedicated part of her New York visit to pray at the Ohel (grave site) of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, in Cambria Heights, Queens.

In an exclusive video interview with COLlive.com, Berkley paid tribute to the leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, who she has come to know through the Shluchim in Las Vegas and Washington, DC.

“When you look at the Rebbe’s face in the pictures, you see the holiness and goodness in the eyes,” she told us. “There is a certain look or twinkle, or a kindness that emanates through the eyes.”

The 7-term representative said she had the same feeling when she looked in the eyes of the hundreds of Chabad rabbis and supporters who came to the capital last year for the international Living Legacy Conference, marking the Rebbe’s yahrtzeit.

Accompanied by Rabbi Levi Shemtov, Director of American Friends of Lubavitch – Washington, DC, and AFL supporter Yossi Davidsohn, Berkley later traveled to Brooklyn to see Lubavitch World Headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights.

Representing an area labeled the fastest-growing Jewish community in the United States, she took particular interest in the local educational institutions of Campus Chomesh – Beis Rivkah for girls, Oholei Torah for boys and Crown Heights tourist-favorite The Jewish Children’s Museum.

She was also delighted to meet members of the Harlig family, who are prominent shluchim in the Las Vegas area, headed by Rabbi Shea Harlig.

“He created an extraordinary movement in middle of the desert. We now have 4 Chabad synagogues in Las Vegas and each one is thriving. The work that Chabad does is nothing short of extraordinary. They made a significant difference in our town,” she said of Rabbi Harlig.

Berkley then headed for dinner at Basil Pizza and Wine Bar, where she had a chance to meet with prominent members of the Crown Heights Jewish community and discuss relevant issues concerning Israel and other important matters.

“Nothing happens on Capitol Hill that affects the Jewish community or Judaism that Rabbi Shemtov is not only in the forefront of, but he is the leader. Even if it’s a Sukkah on the lawn of the Capitol, Pesach or Chanukah, he is in charge,” she told her dinner mates.

She also updated them on her present campaign for the U.S. Senate in which she enjoys a slight lead in polls over Republican Dean Heller.

The “Yiddishe Mameh of Capitol Hill,” as she is lovingly referred to in Washington, concluded her tour with a quick visit to Ahavas Chesed Center, where she was moved to see the wonderful and dignified work there supported by businessman Yossi Popack.

Congresswoman Berkley’s only regret? Not being able to spend more time in Crown Heights, since family were waiting for her on Manhattan’s Lower East side, where her life actually began.

Her parents travelled West over 50 years ago, and stopped over in Las Vegas “just overnight” for a rest. They never left.

VIDEO: Congresswoman Berkley speaks to COLlive