Nancy Schwartz’s Trip to the Annual Chabad Women’s Leadership Conference and to Crown Heights

Nancy Schwartz’s Trip to the Annual Chabad Women’s Leadership Conference and to Crown Heights

We’ve all done it.  We’ve traveled near and far to find, visit with and even live among a group of people so that we can really get a good sense of what their community is like on a daily basis.  Perhaps you’ve experienced this by spending a semester abroad during college or you moved overseas for your company for a two year stint. You may have visited or even lived among a particular group of people, but you probably felt like an outsider the whole time.

Last weekend, I, a New York Jew who has moved religiously from a Reform congregation to a Conservative one went to Crown Heights in Brooklyn, New York to attend the International Convention of Chabad Women.  This annual event brings together the women of the worldwide Chabad movement, also known as the Rebbitzen (another word for the wives of the Chabad Rabbis).  Over 2,500 women attended the five day conference.  My friend, Julie (from Wellesley) and I only spent one and a half days at the event, but we both came away with insight and memories that will stick with us for years to come.

Housing was arranged for us by our local Rebbitzen’s, Mrs. Genny Bleich from the Chabad of Wellesley and Mrs. Shayna Freeman, Chabad of Sudbury.  I felt as if I were reliving my hostelling years during college.  Living out of my suitcase in what was a warm version of a bed and breakfast.  The difference was this was an apartment belonging to a young religious couple with two kids and they were opening their home to me, a complete stranger because the Rebbitzen asked if they could put me up. I did get to spend some a little time getting to know them a little bit.  He’s a musician with an in-home recording studio and she’s a patent attorney working in lower Manhattan.  They used to live in Park Slope and weren’t very religious. They began their religious journey a few years ago and decided to move to a “kosher” area in which to bring up their children.

My full day of activities was loaded to the brim.  It began with a lovely breakfast at the Jewish Children’s Museum-a spot which should be on each and every Jewish family’s list of “must sees” when visiting New York. After breakfast, our group of non-Rebbitzen women which included others like myself from places like California and Colorado, took part in a fabulous walking tour around the area surrounding 770 Eastern Parkway, from which the founder of the Chabad movement, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, used to live, pray and organize the Chabad world.  (Rabbi Schneerson is also referred to as the Rebbe). 

We went into the Chabad Synagogue and observed the men davening (praying), laying tefillim, discussing and arguing Torah commentary and just bonding with each other in a way that would look familiar to my ancestors in small town Eastern Europe 100 years ago. 
 

From there we visited the official Shmura Matzoh Factory.  What makes Shmura matzoh different from store bought brands like Streits or Maneshevitz is that Shmurah matzoh can take ABSOLUTELY no longer than 18 minutes to make.  This is the total amount of time from the moment the water mixes with the flour, the dough gets rolled out, it gets thrown into the oven and comes out ready to eat-18 minutes total! 

Watching the process was fascinating and it gave me more of an appreciation for the box of matzoh I receive each year from my Chabad friends.  I’ll certainly look at that box differently this Passover!  By the way, 18,000 pounds of matzoh are produced at that factory between September and March and the boxes are sent to Chabad Centers around the world for Passover.

We headed to the Mikveh, the ritual bath which women are commanded in the Torah to take each month. We learned about the process and procedures surrounding the ritual bath and gained an appreciation for the reasoning behind the ritual. 

We were then privileged to visit the art gallery of an artist by the last name, Muchnik.  His work is breathtakingly beautiful and very unique.  Many works are two and three dimensional.  I would love to see his artwork adorning some vacant wall space in my home. 

The next stop was back at the Museum to hear a speaker talk about our next activity which was to go by bus to a cemetery in Queens where Rabbi Schneerson is buried.  The spot within the cemetery is called the Ohel and it is a very sacred spot for many Jews around the world.  To visit the Rebbe’s grave is considered a very special event and it has its’ special and distinctive rules.  It is also customary to write a prayer and then drop it in a large area at the foot of the Rebbe’s gravestone, similar in a way to the process people follow when they visit the Western Wall in Jerusalem and they wedge a note with a prayer between the stones of the wall.  We write, think and say our prayers in the hope that they are heard and answered. I lit a candle in my mom’s memory at the Rebbe’s gravesite.  Two great souls and my one candle-this has to be a good combination!  We left the Ohel and were served boxed lunches on the motorcoach for the ride back to Crown Heights. 

Once back in the neighborhood, I made my way back to the apartment I was staying at and had a chance to get to know my lovely hosts a little better.  Before long though, I had to get dressed for the night’s Gala Banquet which was held at the New York Hilton.  What a night it was!

(To be continued next week…)

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