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WWW.LUBAVITCH.COM vWc LUBAVITCH INTERNATIONAL NEWS FROM THE CHABAD - LUBAVITCH GLOBAL NETWORK | Summer 2008 CHSMILEABS AOND SENIORS INSPIRING FRIENDSHIPS Inside n WEST ORANGE, NJ BETWEEN YOUNG AND OLD SUMMER RESPITE FOR CHILDREN here’s something funny about Don need to visit all the ailing or lonely seniors OF SDEROT Rickles, 82, headlining at the first annual in their community exceeded the hours in SmileT on Seniors “Joy and Laughter” event, the day. CHABAD HABLA on June 29, at the New Jersey Performing ESPANOL Arts Center. “Everyone needs a buddy,” said Mrs. Kasowitz, “that’s understood. What surprised ISRAELI EXPATS STRENGTHEN TIES The impact that the program is having on me was how many people were looking to seniors across North America is no laughing volunteer for this kind of activity. S.O.S. CHABAD REP NAMED matter. S.O.S. of West Orange, NJ, has 100 draws all kinds of people to participate. I AVI CHAI FELLOW volunteers visiting seniors residing in 40 never have to ‘push’ the program.” nursing homes. FOOD BANKS KEEP Zvi Rosengarten, who visits a senior UP WITH DEMANDS Rabbi Mendy and Altie Kasowitz of residence near his home in West Orange on Lubavitch Outreach Center of Essex County Shabbat, jokes, “Smile on Seniors” should SCHOOL TEACHERS’ initiated the program when the hours they’d be named ‘Smile on Zvi.’ It makes me feel ENDURING INSPIRATION Continued on Page 3 Continued on page 3 Cover Story THE LUBAVITCHER REBBE RABBI MENACHEM M. SCHNEERSON Loneliness can g"hz n"dcb v"vkkeumz have serious health consequences Judaism views children, not as burdens but rather as the greatest source of joy and pride. for the elderly. That may be why nursing homes and assisted living “ facilities bring out the welcome mat for S.O.S. volunteers. The recreation director at a home visited A recent New York Times feature identified a disheartening A fraction of a child” doesn’t seem like much until it is regularly by S.O.S. buddies sees the program as trend in population decline. “Childless Europe” explored the viewed in future tense. such an asset that she asked the Kasowitzes to set phenomenon of cities and towns in Europe becoming deserted up a booth at the home’s open house for potential because there are no children being born. “The result is Jewish families with fewer children than the clients. minimum necessary to maintain group size,” said the JPPPI hile the world Jewish population climbed by in its annual report. One of S.O.S.’ most senior volunteers, Jacob 200,000, to 13.2 million over the past year, according Koltun, 83, a Holocaust survivor, attended Rabbi toW a Jerusalem-based think tank, projections for population In a recent report, Lubavitch.com looked at how Chabad Kasowitz’s Jewish Learning Institute course on the growth are much more sobering. representatives celebrate the joys of bringing Jewish children Holocaust, and grew to feel at home enough to step into the world, and how their community members have so good about myself and it makes the seniors so foot in the Lubavitch Center synagogue, something The Jewish People Policy Planning Institute has reported been inspired to follow their example, rethinking values and happy.” He joined up last year after filling in for a he had not done since leaving the camps. At the that Jewish women in their 30s in the U.S. had about 1.2 reordering priorities with larger families at the top of the volunteer who couldn’t make it one week. synagogue, he heard announcements about S.O.S. children, while the general U.S. population checked in with short list. and got so involved that Koltun is the S.O.S.’ 1.8 children. “I went once and I was hooked. When you are honorary president. Where secular sources add up the cost of having a child visiting senior citizens you are visiting your future- -about a quarter of a million dollars- until the child is and-it is something everyone can relate to,” S.O.S. board members and volunteer coordinators in college the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Rosengarten told Lubavitch.com. from the group are hard at work on projects that Issue #17 • Published by: Schneerson, of blessed memory, asked prospective parents will enhance the S.O.S. experience. to recall that G-d is a partner in the creation of every child: Lubavitch News Service When Amy Durschlang spends time with her “buddy” Molly, she knows she is going to hear One of their newest ideas is a traveling library that Machne Israel/Lubavitch Development Fund “Besides financial worries, a serious concern is the personal about Molly’s beloved late husband and the will allow S.O.S. buddies to share Jewish books Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, Chairman toll that raising children exacts from parents. It has become home she used to live in. Her reminiscences are with their seniors, keeping the good feelings going almost axiomatic in today’s society that a goal in life is bittersweet. “When I am there, Molly doesn’t feel until the next visit. LUBAVITCH WORLD HEADQUARTERS personal pleasure and enjoyment, and the pursuit thereof. 770 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11213 alone,” said Durschlang. As the new ideas take shape, S.O.S. of West Orange Phone: 718.774.4000 And who can deny that children constitute an immense Loneliness can have serious health consequences shares them with its eleven affiliates. That’s because Fax: 718.774.2718 personal burden in terms of energy, freedom of movement and time, not to mention the emotional toll they exact. for the elderly, and its effects are the subject of a the program Rabbi Kasowitz heads was started with Email: [email protected] growing number of research studies. Blood pressure seed money from the Rohr Family Foundation. As WWW.lubavitch.com But the real problem is not one of sufficient personal levels in lonely seniors were found to be as much as an idea incubator, the programs that work in New resources, but rather one of priorities. thirty points higher than non-lonely people in a Jersey are replicated, refined and expanded upon Editors: study conducted by the Center for Cognitive and from Oxnard, CA, to Yardley, PA to Montreal. Judaism views children, not as burdens or as impediments to Rabbi Yosef B. Friedman Social Neuroscience at the University of Chicago. personal attainment, but rather as the greatest source of joy Baila M. Olidort Depression and isolation can change eating habits Hundreds or thousands of seniors will thus be and pride, and the more the better. Staff Writers: of the elderly, bringing on obesity or, conversely, reached, and that more Chabad centers will be geriatric anorexia, according to the American adopting this model to connect their communities Rikvah Chaya Berman, Devora Lakein The first Mitzvah in the Torah is be fruitful and multiply. Psychological Association. with seniors in need of a buddy. Managing Editor: Zalman Feldman To create a family and raise children with noble values and virtues that reflect G-dliness in humankind, ensures parents Design: MenachemKrinsky.com WWW.LUBAVITCH.COM | 2 LUBAVITCH INTERNATIONAL | SUMMER 2008 the rewards of enduring joy and fulfillment.” 3 Miami’s Jewish population identified themselves as Hispanic Jews. A Pew Research Center report projects that by 2050, the number of Hispanics in the United States is expected to triple, enlarging their slice of the population to 30%. Chabad will be ready. Gusto “Avigdor” Salazar arrived in Florida from Ecuador fifteen years ago. “Spanish people are very friendly. Everyone is close, and that is what makes our Spanish shul a special place,” said Salazar, affectionately known as “El Presidente” of the Chabad for Spanish Speakers. Espanol is the language of sermon and shmooze at a growing number of Chabad centers in the United States. In South Florida alone there are services for Spanish speakers in Sunny Isles, Silverlake, Bal Harbour, and Aventura. Along the Mexican-American border, Rabbi Mendel and Nechama Dina Polichenco serve gefilte fish a la veracruzana at their synagogues located in With the numbers of Jewish immigrants from Spanish Chula Vista, CA, and Tijuana, Mexico. In other speaking countries on the rise, Chabad representatives communities, Chabad rabbis are studying Spanish are opening centers that are making them feel comfortably so they can reach and teach their locals in their welcome and at home. own language. other for help,” said Salazar. Sometimes help t’s not bagels and lox at La Sinagoga de Jabad These centers offer more than translated prayer comes only after stereotypes are shattered. “It’s a de Coral Springs’ brunch. Here the fare is arepas books to their congregations. They bring the taste persistent myth that there are no poor Jews from andI cheese pies, a taste of the old country shared of home that the immigrants crave, and offer South America,” said Rabbi Shloime Halsband, by regulars and newcomers at this Spanish Chabad guidance over the shoals of culture shock. who directs the California Club Chabad in North “These centers offer more than center. Miami Beach. Rabbi Halsband toils to raise funds translated prayer books to their Rabbi Mordechai Lichy, an administrator and to feed 35 families, who fled Argentina’s economic An offshoot of Chabad of Coral Springs, Rabbi teacher at Hebrew Academy Lubavitch in collapse in 2003 and still haven’t gotten on their congregations. They bring the taste Mordechai and Shoshana Lichy lead the Spanish Margate, Florida, and who started La Sinagoga feet. of home that the immigrants congregation which attracts Jews from Colombia, a year ago, is as likely to get calls about finding Venezuela, Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, El crave, and offer guidance over a good immigration lawyer as he is to counsel With Argentina’s finances on the mend, the Salvador and other points across South and Central married couples and officiate at Bar Mitzvahs.

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