New Shluchim to Quebec

By COLlive reporter

The southwestern Quebec city of St. Lazare has experienced rapid growth in recent years, fueled predominantly by the arrival of young, middle-class families.

Naturally, it was a matter of time until Chabad-Lubavitch set up camp.

Two weeks ago, Rabbi Nochum and Malki Labkowski and their children Mendele and Ita, have moved to the off-island suburb of Montreal.

They will be serving the estimated hundreds of Jewish families living there and in the neighboring town of Hudson.

The couple has already opened a synagogue in their home and reached out to local families in an effort to create Jewish life.

For a Canadian population with linguistic diversity – 44% speak only French and 45% only English – the Lubavitch couple seems like a good match, in addition to their backgrounds in outreach and education.

Nochum grew up in the small French village of Brunoy where his father Rabbi Shmuel Labkowski teaches in the known Yeshivas Tomchei Tmimim.

Malki is the daughter of Rabbi Dovid Aba and Chany Mochkin, Program Director of Chabad Lubavitch of Rochester, NY.

Her grandfather is Rabbi Berel Mochkin, Director of Lubavitch Youth Organization in Montreal and Head Shliach of Quebec.

Speaking to COLlive.com, Rabbi Labkowski acknowledges there is a lot of work and leg work ahead of them.

In the short run they plan on develping an active synagogue – the lone Reform temple closed a while back – and a Sunday Hebrew School with some 15 parents already expressing interest.

For more information, visit ChabadStLazare.com