About five hundred men and women from the Chabad community in Montreal gathered for a Hakhel event and Chasidic Farbrengen to mark Hei Teves.
Rabbi Shmuel Shochat, Director of Yagdil Torah of Montreal, was the MC for the evening which was held to celebrate the victory of the Seforim. He introduced the Director of the MTC Center in Montreal, Shliach Rabbi Moshe New, who led the crowd in reciting Tehillim.
Speakers included Rabbi Dovber Bell of Montreal who explained the significance of the Hei Teves events, and Shliach to Montreal Medical Centers Rabbi Barak Hezroni.
The guest speaker was Rabbi Yitzchok Raskin, Shalich in Burlington, Vermont, who spoke about Hei Teves and Didan Notzach, especially in this Hakhel year, and what should be done in action. He also spoke about the importance of traveling to the Rebbe during the year of Hakhel. Rabbi Raskin fascinated the crowd with anecdotes about his father, who served as the longtime Shliach in Morocco, Rabbi Yehuda Leib Raskin obm.
The inspiring Farbrengen continued until the wee hours of the morning.
a former Montrealer