Shluchim Confrence
While curious youngsters often try to sneak into places for which they are not quite old enough, the global Chabad community's annual conference is usually not one of them. But for Rabbi Eliezer Zaklikovsky, the conference's culminating banquet was where he wanted to be. “Growing up as the son of a Chabad rabbi in Detroit, I always tried to squeeze my way into the banquets, because it was such an unbelievable experience,” Zaklikovsky, who is now the rabbi of the Chabad Jewish Center of Monroe Township, said. And to make this year's event even more meaningful for Zaklikovsky, the International Conference of Shluchim will take place, for the first time, in New Jersey, from Nov. 16-20, at the Garden State Exhibit Center in Somerset. “For me, as someone who runs a Chabad center in New Jersey, it's particularly heartwarming to have this banquet in my state, because in general the banquet is something that is very emotionally charged, and very special,” Zaklikovsky said. “It's the highlight, sort of, of the whole year, of the typical Chabad rabbi who's living in Boise, Idaho, or Siberia, or New Zealand, and it's the only time of the year that we get to see each other.” The conference, also known as a kinus, is expected to gather about 2,500 Chabad rabbis from around the world. Zaklikovsky said the banquet hall holds 4,000, and he expects it to be full, since the banquet is for the rabbis and lay leaders from their respective communities. The conference is even closer to home for Rabbi Mendy Herson, of the Chabad of Greater Somerset County. “It's wonderful,” Herson said of the conference's location. Herson said the conference is usually held in Crown Heights, NY, which is where the Chabad community has been centered in the United States. The Lubavitcher Rebbe - Rabbi Menachem M. Schneersohn - lived there and led his synagogue there. Herson said that because of that, Crown Heights has been the hub of Chabad activity. “Every year the gathering takes place there, in the Rebbe
