Chabad center to be named for Virginian prof

A new Chabad House at Virginia Tech will be named for an Israeli Holocaust survivor killed in Monday’s shooting rampage. The center, to be named the Levi Librescu Chabad House, will operate under the auspices of Lubavitch of the Virginias, based in Richmond, and is expected to open in coming months. “In times of sorrow we act quickly and we accomplish things that normally take much longer to accomplish,” said Yossel Kranz, the Chabad emissary in Richmond. Kranz said plans for a Chabad center at Virginia Tech had been the works for some time, but this week’s events prompted him to “fast-track the plans so it can happen immediately.” Librescu was among the 32 victims Monday in the worst shooting rampage in modern American history. Witnesses said he was killed while barricading the doorway to his classroom to keep the killer out while students escaped. “Professor Librescu’s final act of heroism will be eternally memorialized in the life-affirming activities of the new center,” Kranz said.