Rabbi's Blog - Chabad of Central Switzerland

Samarkand 1942 - Luzern 2004

Friday, June 24, 2011 - 11:23 AM

This week there was a funeral in Luzern of a very special person in the Jewish community.

Rabbi Kopelman was the Rosh Yeshiva, the leader of the Rabbinical College in Obernau, on the outskirts of Luzern. For many years he taught the students, who are mostly from the United States and other countries. This week he passed away at the age of 106. Up until about 3 months ago I would see him from time to time still teaching Torah and educating his students.

His life story is very interesting and fascinating, and there are many stories told about him, his greatness and his knowledge.

I actually chose to share with you something simple but touching which I experienced when visiting him.

In order to make the story understoo… Read More »

A Bar Mizvah in the Hospital

Wednesday, June 15, 2011 - 11:42 PM

This week I would like to share with you a very emotional story.

In my position as a Rabbi, I can very often fulfill the Mitzvah of visiting the sick. Sometimes I visit people from our community whom I know. In that case, I never consider this visit to be work, on the contrary, I always come as a friend, which definitely also has a positive effect on the visit.

However, there are also visits of another kind.

I sometimes get calls from the hospital or from a Jewish family who is visiting in the area, not for a ski holiday but for a medical treatment.

In most of these cases, the people are here on their own and don’t know a soul around. Many of them don’t speak the local language and don’t connect to the mentality. Their… Read More »