STAMFORD - Twelve-year-old Hannah Zucker didn't hesitate to thrust her hands in the warm, sticky mess.
Her mixture of flour, water, sugar, egg, oil, salt and yeast had just the right consistency, and it was time to knead. So she happily pressed the dough until it was a fluffy, white ball.
"It's fun because it's nice and messy," Hannah said of the challah dough stuck to her fingers. "And it tastes good at the end."
Hannah wasn't alone Monday night in making challah, the traditional bread eaten by many Jewish families as part of the weekly Shabbat meal. She was joined by her mother, grandmother and more than 200 other women at Chabad of Stamford for what the congregation called "the world's largest challah baking event."
But no actual baking was involved - after shaping their dough, women were encouraged to bake their bread at home. But the event was planned for months as a way for local Jewish women to learn more about the spiritual aspects of challah making, sad Leah Shemtov, the congregation's director of community programming. But two violent events on the world stage, the December terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, and the new war in Gaza in the Mideast, gave the event special significance, she said.
"We are told that when a woman is engaged in lighting candles, or baking challah, the gates of heaven are open for personal prayer," Shemtov said. "So it was very appropriate for us to hope for peace while baking the bread.
"We hope there can be peace for everybody. It's really a hope for world peace - that there will be no more pain and suffering."
Chabad of Stamford dedicated the event in memory of Rivkah Holtzberg, the wife of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg. With her husband and six others, Rivkah Holtzberg was killed in an attack on the Mumbai Chabad house last month.
"She was a great, modern Jewish woman who really exemplified the ideals of Jewish womanhood," Shemtov said. "She maximized every day and did not allow life's obstacles to get in her way."
In the Shabbat tradition, women made two loaves of bread, one to share with family and one to give away. Alexandra Cahr, 10, of Springdale, said she made a special dough with raisins, cinnamon, sugar and poppy seeds she hoped to give to the homeless.
In sheer numbers, the event was a resounding success. The more than 200 women and girls filled a cavernous room at the Chabad temple. Outside, cars spilled out of the parking lot onto nearby streets as drivers struggled to find a parking space.
Most of the women came from Stamford and nearby towns, but at least one family was visiting from as far as Argentina, Shemtov said. Each had her own personal reason to attend.
Regina Weisel, 32, said she wanted to learn to make challah. As a young mother of a 2-year-old, she saw the event as an opportunity to learn while taking a break from being in the house.
"I thought it would be a fun thing to do together with a whole bunch of women," Weisel said. "Down the road, it will be something fun to do with my daughter."
Lined up at long tables outfitted with aprons, ingredients and bowls, the women chattered and laughed, nearly drowning out the instructions piped over a loudspeaker. But quiet fell when Shemtov uttered a blessing and prayer for "our brothers and sisters in Israel, those on the front lines, those in harms way, and those who are put by their own people in harm's way."
She raised a fistful of challah dough as an offering, admonishing, "And the world be filled with peace."
Showing posts with label jewish women. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jewish women. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Dead Sea Chabad: 'Tefillin to Protect Us in Battle'
A team of Chabad activists led by Rabbi Shimon Elharar has begun a new initiative to protect Israel from her enemies: encouraging Jews to use tefillin (phylacteries). Jews are responsible for each other, Rabbi Elharar explains, according to the verse, “The entire people of Israel are guarantors for each other.”
A mitzvah (good deed) performed by one Jew can provide spiritual protection not only for the one performing it, but for all Jews, Rabbi Elharar says. “In our current situation, we must help our soldiers on the front of mitzvot and good deeds.”
Tefillin in particular is known for providing Divine protection and casting fear on Israel's enemies, Rabbi Elharar's team reminds the men they encounter as they work the crowds in the shopping malls at the Dead Sea hotel strip. The rabbis quote a verse from Devarim (Deuteronomy): “And the people of the land shall see that G-d's name is upon you, and they shall fear you.”
Activists tell a story from the Yom Kippur War that illustrates this principle. Following the war, an Israeli soldier wrote to the Lubavitcher Rebbe, the head of the Chabad-Lubavitch Chassidic movement, describing an incident involving Egyptian soldiers.
In the middle of the war, Israeli soldiers saw a group of Egyptian soldiers approaching their position. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, the Egyptians dropped their weapons and began a hasty retreat. The IDF commander was so surprised that he chased the Egyptian soldiers to see what had happened. The Egyptian commander said he had seen the Israeli soldiers wearing their “secret weapon”--a black box centered in the middle of their foreheads.
The Egyptians had mistaken the soldiers' tefillin for a secret weapon, the soldier told the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Tefillin is the soldiers' secret weapon, the Rebbe replied.
Rabbi Elharar is calling on all Jewish men to put on tefillin in order to provide Divine protection for the IDF soldiers and all Jews, and to cause Israel's enemies to flee in fear. He adds that Jewish women, who traditionally do not use tefillin, should light Sabbath candles and perform other mitzvot (good deeds) on behalf of the IDF and the Jewish people
A mitzvah (good deed) performed by one Jew can provide spiritual protection not only for the one performing it, but for all Jews, Rabbi Elharar says. “In our current situation, we must help our soldiers on the front of mitzvot and good deeds.”
Tefillin in particular is known for providing Divine protection and casting fear on Israel's enemies, Rabbi Elharar's team reminds the men they encounter as they work the crowds in the shopping malls at the Dead Sea hotel strip. The rabbis quote a verse from Devarim (Deuteronomy): “And the people of the land shall see that G-d's name is upon you, and they shall fear you.”
Activists tell a story from the Yom Kippur War that illustrates this principle. Following the war, an Israeli soldier wrote to the Lubavitcher Rebbe, the head of the Chabad-Lubavitch Chassidic movement, describing an incident involving Egyptian soldiers.
In the middle of the war, Israeli soldiers saw a group of Egyptian soldiers approaching their position. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, the Egyptians dropped their weapons and began a hasty retreat. The IDF commander was so surprised that he chased the Egyptian soldiers to see what had happened. The Egyptian commander said he had seen the Israeli soldiers wearing their “secret weapon”--a black box centered in the middle of their foreheads.
The Egyptians had mistaken the soldiers' tefillin for a secret weapon, the soldier told the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Tefillin is the soldiers' secret weapon, the Rebbe replied.
Rabbi Elharar is calling on all Jewish men to put on tefillin in order to provide Divine protection for the IDF soldiers and all Jews, and to cause Israel's enemies to flee in fear. He adds that Jewish women, who traditionally do not use tefillin, should light Sabbath candles and perform other mitzvot (good deeds) on behalf of the IDF and the Jewish people
Monday, July 07, 2008
Daughter of haredi tycoon launches musical career
Amidst controversy, limited female audience, Chabad-affiliated Rivkah Krinsky shifts gears from mother, teacher to acclaimed international singer
Yoav Friedman
You obviously haven’t heard of her, but she manages to fill concert halls to full capacity, be it New York, Moscow or Melbourne. Her debut album has been selling all over the world, even though she only launched her singing career after hitting 30 and giving birth to no less than five children.
Meet the new nightingale of Hasidic culture: Rivkah Krinsky, daughter of Chabad-affiliated diamond tycoon Joseph Gutnick.
Unlike Lev Leviev’s daughters, 32-year-old Krinsky never chose to go into her father’s business. She opted for the musical gene she inherited from her maternal grandmother, who was a soprano singer.
As a child, Krinsky told Ynet, she used to sing with her mother and sisters every chance she got. Even as an adult, she never thought of becoming a singer, and until recently, made do with teaching guitar lessons to kindergarten and elementary school children in New York and Long Island.
Until that one day, when Krinsky was invited to perform in a women’s event – and has not stopped singing since. It’s no easy task being a singer in an Orthodox world.
Even when a woman in this religious community makes such an unconventional career choice, half of her potential audience refrains from listening to her songs, since in Orthodox Judaism men are generally not allowed to hear women sing, a modesty prohibition called "kol b'isha ervah".
But Krinsky says she is proud to be a religious singer: “When I started performing and recording the songs I realized that this would be a challenge for me, surely in light of the significant financial limitations. Nonetheless, one can attest to the growing phenomenon of women gathering on specific occasions and that concerts for women have become more common today.
“There’s something special about singing to women only, a sense of unity and strength surrounding the space. It seems that women are looking for opportunities to bond and strengthen their common potential.”
Despite her optimism, an example of the obstacles placed on a religious female singer came in the guise her advertisement being eliminated from Chabad’s website after rabbis from Israel protested against it.
'Music is the soul’s quill'
Talkbackers on the Chabad site attacked Krinsky’s advertisement posting, saying it’s a disgrace and far from being modest. Krinsky prefers not to address the internet affair so as not to upset anyone.
She diplomatically responds, “The Chabad website personnel approached me for an interview, which did allow for added exposure to my new album and I am happy about that. However, I am not responsible for their advertising policy.”
Krinsky is the eldest of 11 Gutnick siblings. He father, the richest Jew in Australia, is known for his donations and contribution to Likud Chairman Binyamin Netanyahu. She studies at Beit Rivkah in Australia and did her seminary studies in Canada and New York, where she met her husband.
A few weeks ago, Krinsky released her debut album "In Your Hands", which doesn’t follow the classical Hasidic style, but features modern music accompanied by a delicate voice with an Australian accent. Apart from containing biblical texts, some of the songs were written by Krinsky in an attempt to reach out to a wide audience.
“My music is deliberately intended for secular audience as well,” she says. “Some people in the religious community think it’s too modern.”
Krinsky recently came back from a concert in Switzerland and will soon be off to Melborune for another concert. She says performing gives her a sense of satisfaction. “Chabad’s founder, Rabbi Shneur Zalman from Lady said that music is the soul’s quill. In many cases, music can touch the soul in ways that no speaker or book can.”
Yoav Friedman
You obviously haven’t heard of her, but she manages to fill concert halls to full capacity, be it New York, Moscow or Melbourne. Her debut album has been selling all over the world, even though she only launched her singing career after hitting 30 and giving birth to no less than five children.
Meet the new nightingale of Hasidic culture: Rivkah Krinsky, daughter of Chabad-affiliated diamond tycoon Joseph Gutnick.
Unlike Lev Leviev’s daughters, 32-year-old Krinsky never chose to go into her father’s business. She opted for the musical gene she inherited from her maternal grandmother, who was a soprano singer.
As a child, Krinsky told Ynet, she used to sing with her mother and sisters every chance she got. Even as an adult, she never thought of becoming a singer, and until recently, made do with teaching guitar lessons to kindergarten and elementary school children in New York and Long Island.
Until that one day, when Krinsky was invited to perform in a women’s event – and has not stopped singing since. It’s no easy task being a singer in an Orthodox world.
Even when a woman in this religious community makes such an unconventional career choice, half of her potential audience refrains from listening to her songs, since in Orthodox Judaism men are generally not allowed to hear women sing, a modesty prohibition called "kol b'isha ervah".
But Krinsky says she is proud to be a religious singer: “When I started performing and recording the songs I realized that this would be a challenge for me, surely in light of the significant financial limitations. Nonetheless, one can attest to the growing phenomenon of women gathering on specific occasions and that concerts for women have become more common today.
“There’s something special about singing to women only, a sense of unity and strength surrounding the space. It seems that women are looking for opportunities to bond and strengthen their common potential.”
Despite her optimism, an example of the obstacles placed on a religious female singer came in the guise her advertisement being eliminated from Chabad’s website after rabbis from Israel protested against it.
'Music is the soul’s quill'
Talkbackers on the Chabad site attacked Krinsky’s advertisement posting, saying it’s a disgrace and far from being modest. Krinsky prefers not to address the internet affair so as not to upset anyone.
She diplomatically responds, “The Chabad website personnel approached me for an interview, which did allow for added exposure to my new album and I am happy about that. However, I am not responsible for their advertising policy.”
Krinsky is the eldest of 11 Gutnick siblings. He father, the richest Jew in Australia, is known for his donations and contribution to Likud Chairman Binyamin Netanyahu. She studies at Beit Rivkah in Australia and did her seminary studies in Canada and New York, where she met her husband.
A few weeks ago, Krinsky released her debut album "In Your Hands", which doesn’t follow the classical Hasidic style, but features modern music accompanied by a delicate voice with an Australian accent. Apart from containing biblical texts, some of the songs were written by Krinsky in an attempt to reach out to a wide audience.
“My music is deliberately intended for secular audience as well,” she says. “Some people in the religious community think it’s too modern.”
Krinsky recently came back from a concert in Switzerland and will soon be off to Melborune for another concert. She says performing gives her a sense of satisfaction. “Chabad’s founder, Rabbi Shneur Zalman from Lady said that music is the soul’s quill. In many cases, music can touch the soul in ways that no speaker or book can.”
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Female Chabad emissaries share experiences at NY gathering
When Dina Freundlich came to Beijing with her husband and two young daughters six years ago, there was no significant Jewish infrastructure. The community had never had a rabbi, there was no Jewish school, no kosher meat and only a very limited number of kosher food items were available.
Six years later, the community has grown tremendously. The Freundlich family, sent as Chabad emissaries, established a Sunday school and a Montessori school, and they brought over a butcher who enables them to supply kosher meat to four cities in China. They also spearheaded the building of a mikve (ritual bath), the first in China since World War II, which includes Chinese touches such as a pagoda and a carved dome ceiling, as well as a jacuzzi, multi-jet shower and massage services.
Approximately 1,200 to 1,400 Jews live in Beijing - employees of embassies, academics, students and foreign businessmen. About 3,000 Jews visit each year.
Freundlich is one of 2,000 female Chabad emissaries who came to New York from as far away as Singapore and Uzbekistan last week to learn from each other's experiences and to discuss the future of the movement. Topics addressed included the "revival" of world Jewry, contending with terrorism, leveraging the latest technology for spiritual outreach, and "breaking the ice" in new communities.
"Sometimes I go to bed thinking I've been pulled in a million directions, but I feel I've done something to make the world a better place," said Freundlich, who grew up as an emissary child in South Africa.
Chabad's emissary movement has trained and ordained thousands of rabbis, educators, ritual slaughterers and ritual circumcisers, together with their wives, to establish communities around the world aimed at Jewish outreach. Today there are roughly 4,000 emissary families, with growth of about 100 families each year.
"It makes me proud to fulfill the dream of the Rebbe [the late Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson] to create a home for every Jew in the world, and I am proud to be a part of his team," said Freundlich.
The five day conference ended Sunday night at the Brooklyn Marriott, at a gala dinner that also served as a tribute to Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka Schneerson, widow of the late Rebbe. All the women were dressed in skirts and long sleeves, but it was clear that contemporary fashion had slipped through the cracks. Tight, form-fitting skirts, patent leather belts, and fashionable boots were all part of the evening attire.
Contrary to popular perception Chabad insists that women are not insular, nor are they secondary to men. On top of juggling large families, women run Chabad houses on college campuses, provide substance abuse counseling and share the responsibilities with their spouses.
"It is a perception that comes from judging things that are synagogue based, but Judaism is not a synagogue based religion," said Rivkah Slonim, an emissary at the University of Binghamton, where her and her husband run one of the largest and most successful Chabad houses in the country. "Ninety-nine percent of ritual doesn't take place in the synagogue."
Women and men are equally obligated to study the Torah required to observe mitzvoth, but women, unlike men, are not required to study above and beyond that because of their household obligations, Slonim said.
"The Rebbe going back all the way to the first, greatly encouraged women to develop every aspect of their personality including their intellect."
The late Rebbe recognized that in contemporary times, where women have more time, and are not just engaged in day to day household activities, they need to use their time to study Torah, according to Slonim.
Six years later, the community has grown tremendously. The Freundlich family, sent as Chabad emissaries, established a Sunday school and a Montessori school, and they brought over a butcher who enables them to supply kosher meat to four cities in China. They also spearheaded the building of a mikve (ritual bath), the first in China since World War II, which includes Chinese touches such as a pagoda and a carved dome ceiling, as well as a jacuzzi, multi-jet shower and massage services.
Approximately 1,200 to 1,400 Jews live in Beijing - employees of embassies, academics, students and foreign businessmen. About 3,000 Jews visit each year.
Freundlich is one of 2,000 female Chabad emissaries who came to New York from as far away as Singapore and Uzbekistan last week to learn from each other's experiences and to discuss the future of the movement. Topics addressed included the "revival" of world Jewry, contending with terrorism, leveraging the latest technology for spiritual outreach, and "breaking the ice" in new communities.
"Sometimes I go to bed thinking I've been pulled in a million directions, but I feel I've done something to make the world a better place," said Freundlich, who grew up as an emissary child in South Africa.
Chabad's emissary movement has trained and ordained thousands of rabbis, educators, ritual slaughterers and ritual circumcisers, together with their wives, to establish communities around the world aimed at Jewish outreach. Today there are roughly 4,000 emissary families, with growth of about 100 families each year.
"It makes me proud to fulfill the dream of the Rebbe [the late Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson] to create a home for every Jew in the world, and I am proud to be a part of his team," said Freundlich.
The five day conference ended Sunday night at the Brooklyn Marriott, at a gala dinner that also served as a tribute to Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka Schneerson, widow of the late Rebbe. All the women were dressed in skirts and long sleeves, but it was clear that contemporary fashion had slipped through the cracks. Tight, form-fitting skirts, patent leather belts, and fashionable boots were all part of the evening attire.
Contrary to popular perception Chabad insists that women are not insular, nor are they secondary to men. On top of juggling large families, women run Chabad houses on college campuses, provide substance abuse counseling and share the responsibilities with their spouses.
"It is a perception that comes from judging things that are synagogue based, but Judaism is not a synagogue based religion," said Rivkah Slonim, an emissary at the University of Binghamton, where her and her husband run one of the largest and most successful Chabad houses in the country. "Ninety-nine percent of ritual doesn't take place in the synagogue."
Women and men are equally obligated to study the Torah required to observe mitzvoth, but women, unlike men, are not required to study above and beyond that because of their household obligations, Slonim said.
"The Rebbe going back all the way to the first, greatly encouraged women to develop every aspect of their personality including their intellect."
The late Rebbe recognized that in contemporary times, where women have more time, and are not just engaged in day to day household activities, they need to use their time to study Torah, according to Slonim.
"Certainly the contemporary Chabad woman does not see herself as disconnected from Torah study."
The rift between motherhood and professional life is less of an issue in the Chabad world, according to Sara Esther Crispe, editor of TheJewishWoman.org, a Chabad website launched a year ago that offers intellectual, emotional and spiritual writings on a range of women's issues including motherhood, and marriage.
On top of juggling large families, the women run Chabad houses on college campuses, provide substance abuse counseling, and share in their husbands' responsibilities.
Chabad women and men are equally obligated to study the Torah, but the women are not required to study beyond that because of their household obligations, said Rivkah Slonim, an emissary at the State University of New York at Binghamton, where she and her husband run one of the largest Chabad houses in the US.
"The rebbes, going back all the way to the first, greatly encouraged women to develop every aspect of their personality, including their intellect," she said.
Sara Esther Crispe, editor of TheJewishWoman.org, a year old Chabad Web site that offers intellectual, emotional and spiritual writings on a range of women's issues including motherhood and marriage, said, "In the modern world, there is always a big rift, either you are a good mother, or you have a career. There is major pressure to choose, but these women [the emissaries] have shown that you can simultaneously do both."
Many of their daughters, "little emissaries," also came to New York for the conference, a rare chance to socialize with others like themselves. The kids participated in seminars on how to deal with cultural isolation.
At one point, they were asked to compare where they were from and where they get their kosher nosh (snacks). The girls were thrilled to be in New York, where they had all the kosher snacks they desired.
The night ended with a roll call by country, and then the emissaries were asked to rise by their decades of service. It began with just a few, and as the decades passed more and more women stood until the whole room was standing.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Miss South Africa's Journey To Judaism
Ellen Nester Peters was crowned Miss South Africa South in 1973, and later that year she came in ninth at the Miss World contest.
Today she is an observant Orthodox Jew known as Ilana Skolnik, married to Israeli businessman and chairman of Friends of Lubavitch of Tel Aviv Naaman Skolnik.
"I was born in Cape Town to what was called a mixed family," Ilana began her interview with The Jewish Press. "My ancestors came from Scotland and France, maybe from Indonesia, so I was considered in South Africa a person of color. I didn't have the same rights as the whites. I had more privileges than the blacks but I was not allowed to study at the same school as the whites and we had no restaurants to attend."
The Jewish Press: So how did you come to represent South Africa in a Miss World contest?
Skolnik: I represented the coloreds and the blacks. At that time it was still before the fall of apartheid, so there were two Miss South Africas in the Miss World contest. You had the Miss South Africa who was all white and you had Miss Africa South, who represented the coloreds and the black people.
When were you first drawn to Judaism?
When I was in a Protestant school at the age of ten, the teacher asked us to study Ruth, Chapter 1, verses 16-17, which we had to recite aloud. Ruth said "Beseech me not to leave thee for where thy goest I will go."
I have loved this since I was ten years old, and I used to recite this very, very often. Sometimes I used to be very sad and I didn't know why I was sad.
How did your family accept the fact that you became Jewish?
They loved it. I think they are half Jewish, and Rabbi Klein [the Lubavitcher Rebbe's secretary] told me that the Rebbe said there was [a] Jew in my family. I am sorry I never inquired about it, but my mother told me that my grandfather's name was Saul Solomon Jacob Simpson.
Do you still have contact with your family back in South Africa?
Oh yes, very much so. I heard later that the Lubavitcher Rebbe had told a certain convert he should always keep up the contact, but I naturally have it because I was brought up in a very warm and loving family.
When and how did you meet your husband?
I met him in 1980 in Athens, Greece. I then was working as a stewardess for TWA on the ground. I would be meeting groups who came from all over to visit Greece. One time when I came back from America I had gone to collect my car at a long-term parking lot. The man in the office there asked me to make a recording in English on his answering machine saying, "The office is presently closed," which I did.
A few days later, Naaman called there. He had been expecting guests who didn't show up, and he had bought flowers for them. He told his friend he needed someone to give away these flowers to. His friend said why not give them to me. said no, I can't do that. So Naaman himself called me and told me why I should come and collect the flowers. He said it with such humor. . . . He is very witty and sharp, and he caught me with his humor. I loved his humor and I said okay.
The following day he asked me if I could take him to various shops. I agreed and then I saw something in his suitcase which was crocheted. I asked him, "What is that?" He said, "It is my kipa." I said, "So put it on your head." That was my first instruction to him.
Did he?
Yes, he did. I was in absolute shock then. There is a Jew in front of me with a kipa on his head. Anyway, a bit of time later, he proposed marriage, but he was so far removed from religion that he didn't even condition it on my converting to Judaism first. He said "I would like you to marry me." So I said, "Okay, let's go get married in a civil ceremony."
He said "I can't. I am a Jew so I must get married under a chuppah." He did not say to me that I have to convert.
But since getting married under a chuppah meant I would have to convert first, I replied that I would pray to G-d to give me the answer whether I should or not convert, because I didn't know anything about conversion, I just knew it was something spiritual.
He asked me where I want to live – Israel or Australia?
I had never been to either Israel or Australia, but I grew up in a home where we knew my father fought against the Nazis at Alamein. He was wounded and was taken up to Jerusalem. So I grew up with the stories of Jerusalem, and my father had in a glass cabinet a stone with the word "Jerusalem." I therefore preferred Israel.
Once in Israel, I opened a file at the rabbinate in Tel Aviv, and received two years of tears. Rabbi Frankel [then chief rabbi of Tel Aviv] did not accept me; he kept pushing me off for two years.
You see, I suffered racism in South Africa, so for me his rejection meant he didn't like my color. I didn't know then that this is the procedure when someone wants to convert – halachically you're supposed to discourage and push him off. I was brought up with racism so I didn't know any different then. Of course, today I understand it and I think it is absolutely important to do that, because you are playing with fire when you convert someone.
So I met my husband in 1980, I opened a file in the rabbinate in 1982, converted in 1984, and married a bit later.
In 1986 we traveled to New York and met with the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and since I had a problem – I was unable to conceive – I asked the Rebbe for his blessing. Two weeks later, after we returned to Israel, we received a call from the Rebbe's emissary in Tel Aviv, Rabbi Joseph Gerlitzky, that a letter had arrived from the Rebbe with a blessing that I would have children.
Then within no time I became pregnant, and between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the same week that I had become a beauty queen, I gave birth to a baby girl.
Two months later, I got up one morning and found that my baby daughter's soul had returned to Hashem.
This was a turning point in my life. I knew that nothing happens without a reason, and if G-d had given me such pain there is something I need to correct in my life. After that we went to the Rebbe again. When we went out of 770 I said to my husband that if such a tzaddik like the Rebbe spoke to me I must start observing the holy Sabbath (until then we had not yet observed the Sabbath).
He said "I'm not ready yet."
Then I went to a bookstore on Kingston Avenue and there was a book of recipes for Passover. I opened it up and saw a letter printed there from the Rebbe to Chabad women in which he explains that the atmosphere in a Jewish home depends on the Jewish woman.
As I stood reading this letter I knew that I am this Jewish woman the Rebbe was referring to and that the atmosphere in my home depends o me.
I bought this book and came outside, and my husband was waiting for me. I said: From the 11th of Nissan (which was only a few days away), I am going to start observing the holy Sabbath.
We traveled back to Israel and informed everybody that we were going to observe the Sabbath.
Today she is an observant Orthodox Jew known as Ilana Skolnik, married to Israeli businessman and chairman of Friends of Lubavitch of Tel Aviv Naaman Skolnik.
"I was born in Cape Town to what was called a mixed family," Ilana began her interview with The Jewish Press. "My ancestors came from Scotland and France, maybe from Indonesia, so I was considered in South Africa a person of color. I didn't have the same rights as the whites. I had more privileges than the blacks but I was not allowed to study at the same school as the whites and we had no restaurants to attend."
The Jewish Press: So how did you come to represent South Africa in a Miss World contest?
Skolnik: I represented the coloreds and the blacks. At that time it was still before the fall of apartheid, so there were two Miss South Africas in the Miss World contest. You had the Miss South Africa who was all white and you had Miss Africa South, who represented the coloreds and the black people.
When were you first drawn to Judaism?
When I was in a Protestant school at the age of ten, the teacher asked us to study Ruth, Chapter 1, verses 16-17, which we had to recite aloud. Ruth said "Beseech me not to leave thee for where thy goest I will go."
I have loved this since I was ten years old, and I used to recite this very, very often. Sometimes I used to be very sad and I didn't know why I was sad.
How did your family accept the fact that you became Jewish?
They loved it. I think they are half Jewish, and Rabbi Klein [the Lubavitcher Rebbe's secretary] told me that the Rebbe said there was [a] Jew in my family. I am sorry I never inquired about it, but my mother told me that my grandfather's name was Saul Solomon Jacob Simpson.
Do you still have contact with your family back in South Africa?
Oh yes, very much so. I heard later that the Lubavitcher Rebbe had told a certain convert he should always keep up the contact, but I naturally have it because I was brought up in a very warm and loving family.
When and how did you meet your husband?
I met him in 1980 in Athens, Greece. I then was working as a stewardess for TWA on the ground. I would be meeting groups who came from all over to visit Greece. One time when I came back from America I had gone to collect my car at a long-term parking lot. The man in the office there asked me to make a recording in English on his answering machine saying, "The office is presently closed," which I did.
A few days later, Naaman called there. He had been expecting guests who didn't show up, and he had bought flowers for them. He told his friend he needed someone to give away these flowers to. His friend said why not give them to me. said no, I can't do that. So Naaman himself called me and told me why I should come and collect the flowers. He said it with such humor. . . . He is very witty and sharp, and he caught me with his humor. I loved his humor and I said okay.
The following day he asked me if I could take him to various shops. I agreed and then I saw something in his suitcase which was crocheted. I asked him, "What is that?" He said, "It is my kipa." I said, "So put it on your head." That was my first instruction to him.
Did he?
Yes, he did. I was in absolute shock then. There is a Jew in front of me with a kipa on his head. Anyway, a bit of time later, he proposed marriage, but he was so far removed from religion that he didn't even condition it on my converting to Judaism first. He said "I would like you to marry me." So I said, "Okay, let's go get married in a civil ceremony."
He said "I can't. I am a Jew so I must get married under a chuppah." He did not say to me that I have to convert.
But since getting married under a chuppah meant I would have to convert first, I replied that I would pray to G-d to give me the answer whether I should or not convert, because I didn't know anything about conversion, I just knew it was something spiritual.
He asked me where I want to live – Israel or Australia?
I had never been to either Israel or Australia, but I grew up in a home where we knew my father fought against the Nazis at Alamein. He was wounded and was taken up to Jerusalem. So I grew up with the stories of Jerusalem, and my father had in a glass cabinet a stone with the word "Jerusalem." I therefore preferred Israel.
Once in Israel, I opened a file at the rabbinate in Tel Aviv, and received two years of tears. Rabbi Frankel [then chief rabbi of Tel Aviv] did not accept me; he kept pushing me off for two years.
You see, I suffered racism in South Africa, so for me his rejection meant he didn't like my color. I didn't know then that this is the procedure when someone wants to convert – halachically you're supposed to discourage and push him off. I was brought up with racism so I didn't know any different then. Of course, today I understand it and I think it is absolutely important to do that, because you are playing with fire when you convert someone.
So I met my husband in 1980, I opened a file in the rabbinate in 1982, converted in 1984, and married a bit later.
In 1986 we traveled to New York and met with the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and since I had a problem – I was unable to conceive – I asked the Rebbe for his blessing. Two weeks later, after we returned to Israel, we received a call from the Rebbe's emissary in Tel Aviv, Rabbi Joseph Gerlitzky, that a letter had arrived from the Rebbe with a blessing that I would have children.
Then within no time I became pregnant, and between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the same week that I had become a beauty queen, I gave birth to a baby girl.
Two months later, I got up one morning and found that my baby daughter's soul had returned to Hashem.
This was a turning point in my life. I knew that nothing happens without a reason, and if G-d had given me such pain there is something I need to correct in my life. After that we went to the Rebbe again. When we went out of 770 I said to my husband that if such a tzaddik like the Rebbe spoke to me I must start observing the holy Sabbath (until then we had not yet observed the Sabbath).
He said "I'm not ready yet."
Then I went to a bookstore on Kingston Avenue and there was a book of recipes for Passover. I opened it up and saw a letter printed there from the Rebbe to Chabad women in which he explains that the atmosphere in a Jewish home depends on the Jewish woman.
As I stood reading this letter I knew that I am this Jewish woman the Rebbe was referring to and that the atmosphere in my home depends o me.
I bought this book and came outside, and my husband was waiting for me. I said: From the 11th of Nissan (which was only a few days away), I am going to start observing the holy Sabbath.
We traveled back to Israel and informed everybody that we were going to observe the Sabbath.
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