holidays – Melava Malka Stories

The children of the Rebbe

A number of years back, the Jewish Joint Organization arranged for a group of Jewish educators, principals and teachers from America to travel to Odessa, Ukraine. The purpose of the trip was for them to see firsthand the way of life of Jewish students there.
When the organizers of the trip searched for a place where the group could have a Shabbat meal together, they reached out to the Shluchim of the Rebbe in Odessa. Unbeknownst to them, this special Shabbat was the day before Yud Alef Nissan, the birthday of the Rebbe.

“Elijah the Prophet” appears at the Seder!

Macon, Georgia, an hour’s drive from Atlanta, did not yet have a Chabad presence. Enter Rabbi Chaim and Chayala Markovits, directors of Chabad of Rural Georgia. This young couple from Australia and California, opened the first Rural Chabad Center in the US. They travel around the state to small Jewish communities and bring the warmth and light of Chabad to each place. One of their first Jewish experiences was to offer a public Seder in Macon for Passover last year, 2021. They rented a room in a hotel and transformed it into a beautiful Passover Seder complete with all the details including a delicious kosher for Passover meal. Jewish people heard about it and came out of the woodworks to attend. As the Seder progressed, little did they realize that G-d had planned a special guest to join them for the Seder. The unexpected guest appeared and for a moment the assembled thought they were seeing, “Elijah the Prophet” dressed up as a local.
Here is how it happened:

A Menorah On A Car Kindled A Soul

I had the most unusual phone call. A man called up anonymously, no caller ID, and asked, “Can I speak to a rabbi?”
“Yes, sure,” I answered.

Tishrei with the Alter Rebbe

The winter of that year—5547 (1786)—was most severe, the first snow falling in Liozna during the festival of Sukkot.

Shofar at the Kotel

In those years, the area in front of the Kotel did not look as it does today. Only a narrow alley separated the Kotel and the Arab houses on its other side.

The Community In Adelaide (Part 2)

“My family arrived in Australia two years ago.

The Community In Adelaide (Part 1)

During the first years that I lived in Sydney, Australia I was contacted by the Jewish community in Adelaide.

The Passover Miracle

When Chassidic master Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech Spira (known as the Bnei Yissaschar after the book he authored by that name) was ten years old, his father took a position as a teacher in a distant town.

Moshe The Tavern Keeper’s Kaparot*

It was the evening before Yom Kippur. One of the Chasidim of Reb Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev approached the Rebbe and asked if he could be present when the Rebbe does kaparot*.

Tisha B’av In Mezhibuz

It was Tisha b’Av night and the congregation was waiting for their rabbi who had left a couple of weeks prior and told them he would be back for Tisha b’Av. But he was nowhere to be seen.