The Rebbe's message: Caring is contagious
The Rebbe's message: Caring is contagious By Rabbi Zushe Greenberg
I was astounded to learn recently that about 400 Jews move into Las Vegas every month. Thirty years ago in this fastest-growing city in America, there was one synagogue; today there are 22, as well as 12 daily minyans. This is just one of the interesting things that I learned from "Celebration 100," which I recently attended in Washington, D.C. The two-day conference was the kickoff of worldwide celebrations commemorating the 100th birthday of the Lubavitcher rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of blessed memory. Delegates representing 40 countries and over 40 U.S. states, as well as international Jewish leaders and dignitaries, gathered to mark this milestone and to seek inspiration from the monumental accomplishments of the rebbe. We heard from Nobel Prize laureate Elie Wiesel; famous Talmudist Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz; Senator Joe Lieberman; presidential spokesman Ari Fleischer; chief rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Israel Lau, and many more. But what struck me more than anything were the lay people we heard from all over the world. A man from Gothenburg, Sweden, shared the hardships of keeping the mitzvah of brit milah (circumcision). According to Jewish law, a brit is done expertly and quickly by a trained mohel without anesthetics. Swedish law prohibits circumcisions of babies without anesthesia and requires a government representative to be at each brit to ensure compliance. Many traditional Jews are taking their newborns to nearby Denmark to keep this centuries-old tradition properly. Sitting in that room, I was able to feel the pulse of the Jewish nation thriving. Everyone was there because he or she was a Jew who cared. About Judaism. About Jews in their city. About the future of the Jewish nation. And they care enough to do, learn and be active in their communities. We were all there, as well, to pay tribute to the rebbe who gave us the gift of caring. Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky of Lubavitch headquarters shared a story about a letter that was received by the rebbe in the