Georgia’s Present to the Rebbe

Even Rabbi Levi Matusof, the Belgium-based Chabad Shliach to the European Union institutions, was not expecting such a request from a head of state.

At a meeting Friday with the President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili who was in Brussels on a state visit, Matusof told him about the specialty of that day in the Jewish calendar.

The 11th of Nissan was the birthday of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, whose followers are responsible for the Jewish revival in Georgia and other countries in the Former Soviet Union.

Seated at the Conrad hotel, the pro-Western leader listened attentively and recalled his attendance at an inauguration of a synagogue in the capital of Tibilisi.

After receiving a complimentary box of Shmura Matzah, Saakashvili asked, “What Jewish holiday can I proclaim as a national holiday in honor of the grand Rabbi?”

Matusof, Director of EU Jewish Public Affairs, needed not a moment’s thought.

“Chanukah was a holiday dear to the Rebbe.”

The Georgian President nodded and thanked him warmly for the visit, asking an aid to remain in touch on the subject.