So Rabbi Weitman decided to create a “home away from home.”
The result is the year-old Latin Jewish Center (jewishlatincenternyc.org), a religious-educational-social program based at the Chabad of Gramercy Park in Manhattan.
It’s shlichus (a mission) for the Chabad-trained rabbi and his wife Frumie. “I saw a big need,” he says.
The center, with the blessing of Gramercy Park’s Rabbi Naftali Rotenstreich, offers classes, holiday celebrations, social gatherings, a Jewish Youth Club, a weekly e-mailed “Torah Thought,” and Shabbat services followed by a communal meal.
“I’m following in the footsteps of my father,” a Chabad shaliach in Brazil, Rabbi Weitman says. “He helped build a community.”
Rabbi Weitman is raising funds for a building for the Latin Jewish Center.
“With God’s help,” he says, the center will soon have its own space.
More than 120 South American Jews come to the center’s Shabbat services; the e-mail list has grown to 600. But there’s plenty of work ahead of him. “Tens of thousands” of Jews from South America live in the New York area, Rabbi Weitman says. “Not even 2 percent” have taken part in center activities. “We have a long way to go.”
Rabbi’s soccer pitch: Like most Brazilians, Rabbi Weitman is a soccer fan. He plans to host World Cup-finals events in July.
High on Pesach: He assisted the largest-in-the-world, Chabad-run seder in Katmandu, Nepal, three years ago. More than 1,500 people, mostly young Israelis, come annually.
Want to weigh in on this year’s "36 Under 36?" Join the "Friends of the Jewish Week’s 36 Under 36" group on Facebook
Support the New York Jewish Week
Our nonprofit newsroom depends on readers like you. Make a donation now to support independent Jewish journalism in New York.
|
Signup for our weekly email newsletter here. Check out the Jewish Week’s Facebook page and become a fan! And follow the Jewish Week on Twitter: start here. |
