Rabbi Goldstein Visits Ohel, Plans Big Shabbos in Poway

By COLlive reporter

Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, Director of Chabad of Poway in California, traveled to New York after speaking on the White House lawn during the National Day of Prayer on Thursday.

Rabbi Goldstein, who was injured during the shooting attack on the final day of Pesach in his center, visited the Rebbe‘s Ohel at Old Montefiore Cemetery in Cambria Heights, Queens.

He walked in to the Ohel Chabad-Lubavitch house with his hat and kapota, the same he proudly wore while speaking alongside President Donald Trump and calling on reintroducing “A Moment of Silence” in public schools.

His arms were placed in a blue cast, covering the 2 fingers that were shot at during the anti-Semitic attack that claimed the life of Lori Kaye and injured 8-year-old Noya Dahan and her uncle from Israel, Almog Peretz.

As Rabbi Goldstein walked in, the round-the-clock video footage of the Rebbe from JEM was playing on the large screen. The Rebbe was seen during a farbrengen, stating “but the soul remains whole…”

Rabbi Goldstein continued to the Ohel, thanking the Rebbe for his survival and praying for the Kaye family and the Jewish community in Poway.

As was reflected in his remarks to the media, Rabbi Goldstein has resolved to increase the programs and activities of Chabad of Poway with the assistance of his teams of Shluchim and Shluchos.

On his flight back to San Diego, Rabbi Goldstein will be joined by Rabbi Simon Jacobson, author of the best-selling book “Towards a Meaningful Life” and host of the MyLife: Chassidus Applied weekly podcast on COLlive.com.

Rabbi Jacobson, a scholar who served as a reviewer of the Rebbe’s talks, will be the guest speaker of the “Shabbat Unity Services and Dinner” at Chabad of Poway this week, billed as an evening of healing and inspiration.

“Shabbat offers us a profound opportunity to come together for solace, healing and to refocus our efforts to bring light to the world,” Chabad of Poway wrote.

“Women, please light Shabbat candles before the onset of Shabbat in Lori’s merit, and men, don tefillin on Friday morning in the merit of the recovery of all those injured and those grieving in our community.”

Also flying in are cantor brothers Shlomie Rabin and Fitz Rabin who will be the guest cantors and lead the community in a Shabbos of music and song. They told COLlive.com it was an honor for them “to bring comfort and healing in the first week after the attack.” They are donating their time and services, while part of their travel expenses were crowd-funded.

The Shabbos is being organized in response to Rabbi Goldstein’s request for Jews across the world to do extra mitzvot and “fill the synagogues.” The campaign was titled #ShareShabbat to encourage everyone to go to their Chabad or local synagogue.