Tonight: Bar Mitzvah For Aliya

By a friend

Tonight will mark its 13th “Bar Mitzvah” anniversary of the Aliya Institute in Crown Heights whose doors have been open to Chabad’s wayward youth without exception.

The gala dinner this evening at the Jewish Children’s Museum will salute the love and care they provide to young men and women sunshine or rain, day or night.

The three Rabbis at Aliya whose cellphones are always on and ringing. Most of what they deal with on a daily basis is hardly known to anyone, but the amount of lives they save and better everyday cannot be counted for it’s too high.

As an Aliya member for over 10 years, I believe it’s vital that members of the Crown Heights community attend tonight’s gala.

Rabbi Moshe Feiglin, the director at Aliya and a hero to so many of us, told me that Aliya boasts thousands of members with over at least 100 members active members at the moment.

For him, the fact that they are about to celebrate the 11th wedding of their members this year is nothing short of a miracle. Indeed, during it’s existence, Aliya has mourned the loss of 10 precious members way too early. The ability to celebrate the lives and success of it’s members is important to Feiglin and something he hopes will only increase in the near future.

The thing is, Aliya cannot do their work without support from the community. Rabbi Feiglin hopes that this event will help finance Aliya’s ambitious building plans so that they can have proper classrooms, a real gym, a full service recording studio and much more.

While some of these thing currently exist at Aliya’s space, they are far from perfect and are mediocre at best. Rabbi Feiglin believes that if this community will step up to the plate they will be sending an unequivocal message to everyone in the younger generation that their community cares about the, understands them and wants the best for them and their futures

If you have any doubts about Aliya’s operation, come see it for yourself tonight at the Jewish Children’s museum and be part of Aliya’s celebration of it’s bar mitzvah. It’s time that the next generation of people growing up in Crown Heights see that while we have so much to be proud of as a Chabad community with over 5,000 centers across the world, it begins and ends here at home.

For every parent, friend, uncle, grandparent that cares about their loved one growing up in a more modern era here, the way to support them is to contribute in any way that you can towards a better and safer space for Aliya members. After all, the Rebbe started his mission here in Crown Heights and has always said that this is where “kan tzivah hashem es habrocho”, let’s bring that Brocha into fruition by standing in support of Aliya and its holy mission tonight and as much as possible in the future.

Please go to www.chabadinreach.com/dinner and send a message to Aliya and our young community that they matter.