One hundred and fifty Shluchim gathered on Sunday, 24 Sivan at Chabad of the River Towns in Dobbs Ferry, New York for the annual New York and New England Regional Kinus. The Rebbe entrusted Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, vice chairman of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, with organizing regional kinusim for Shluchim, to give every Shliach an opportunity to interact with fellow Shluchim in a more personal setting, and to gain guidance and Chizuk from their neighboring colleagues.
Some highlights of the kinus included seminars such as Guidance from the Rebbe, an interview with Rabbi Yisroel Deren by Rabbi Shaya Gopin, and The Chinuch of Our Children: Raising Chasidishe Children Today, presented by Rabbi Hirshel Lustig. New for this year was a Shlichus Roundtable Discussion facilitated by Rabbi Yosef Wolvovsky, and a panel discussion with Rabbis Mendel Samuels, Leibel Baumgarten, Levi Mendelow, and Tuvia Teldon imparted powerful and practical inspiration on Growing Through Our Challenges.
After a full day of learning and reflection, a beautiful and lavish banquet coordinated by the host Shliach Rabbi Benji Silverman commenced. Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky addressed the Shluchim and Rabbi Mendel Silberstein delivered the keynote. The banquet was followed by a farbrengen led by Rabbi Yosef Gopin.Although most Shluchim had a long drive home, they didn’t want to miss this unique opportunity to enjoy the company of their brothers and store up some of that camaraderie for the months ahead.
“This years kinus,” notes Rabbi Tuvia Teldon, “ gave many more opportunities for shluchim to open up about the personal challenges we all face in our shlichus. The session on overcoming struggles and the roundtable discussions were novel formats which I hope will be used in other kinusim in the future. As a result, the increased ‘sheves achim’ was definitely felt by all.
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