don't stay...go Kfar! :my weekend in Anetevka

Last weekend, Mayanot went on a mini Shabbaton weekend to Kfar Chabad, a moshav (village) about 5 miles southeast of Tel Aviv. Although it is geographically extremely close to the most progressive, modern city in Israel, culturally, Kfar Chabad is worlds away from Tel Aviv, and far closer to Anetevka, Russia.
We left Jerusalem before 10 am, packed in our bags and toting along bagged lunches (I had made a schnitzel pita sandwich from the previous night’s dinner, knowing the lunch of the day would be tuna). Arriving at Kfar Chabad before 11, after dropping off our things at 770* we were escorted over to the Roeber factory, where the family-owners of the company leather-bind books. Although most of the books they work with are religious siddurim, tehillim, etc, they do custom work and will bind anything. During the factory tour, our host (one of the sons of the family) showed us some of the more intricate and artistic works that his father has done, combining different pieces of colored leather, designs with individually, handstamped designs, etc. It was truly inspiring to see that this sort of artisan work is still done and appreciated anywhere; I am considering getting a book bound, something really special. The biggest holdup is deciding which book to bind (the book 2001 Things to Do Before You Die lists getting your favorite book bound in leather as one of the things to do…maybe Anthem, or something from Jane Austen?)

After leaving the leather factory, we returned to 770 and had a tour of the building, as well as a video presentation on the life of the Rebbe (Moses Mendel Schneerson, deceased 1994). We saw clips from different meaningful figures, such as Yitzchak Rabin, Ariel Sharon, and Bibi Netanyahu speaking about their encounters with Schneerson, as well as confessionals from average people about the way he touched and altered their lives in a single sentence. We were then shown the building as if it was the actual 770—“this room was where the Rebbe slept, this was his little schul, this was where he received visitors,” etc (except that the Rebbe never actually came to Israel, let alone to 770 in Kfar Chabad). People still come to this place in order to daven and to feel connected to the Rebbe, and even to write letters to him.

Right. Idolatry.
If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, and walks like a duck...
That is all I have to say about that.

After the tour, we ate our lunches on the lawn in the front of the building, and then went to go and walk through one of the largest etrog orchards in Israel ( I got to take a fallen etrog…smells wonderful). By this time, it was nearly 3, and since Shabbat was in 4:30 it was time to head to our host families. I was to stay with three other girls at the M- family, the home we were all going to Fabreng in that evening. Since we would need to bring all the fabrengen food with us, we were given a ride.
The family lived in a beautiful home. Both the mother and father had grown up in Kfar Chabad, and now lived there with their 9 children, ranging in age from 16 years old to the youngest, Mussia, just 1 year. I had expected to get right to work helping to get ready when we arrived, but our host mother, Chana, insisted she didn’t need help, and we should go upstairs to rest and get ready.
One of the girls wanted to daven at schul, but we discovered when we got there that the women’s section wasn’t open on Friday evenings, so we went home, and had a delicious Shabbos dinner.

After dinner had finished, the rest of the girls began to arrive for the fabrengen, led by one of the local rabbis. A fabrengen, in theory, is supposed to be an organized, social, casual but intellectual discussion. Instead, it became a lecture. Our guest Rabbi, when answering a question about why the fabrengen wasn’t so cooperative, made a joke. He said, “I was told not to tell girls jokes on Shabbos, because you aren’t allowed to prepare things for after Shabbos during Shabbat, and if you tell a girl a joke on Friday night, she won’t get it until Sunday.”
Then he had the nerve to ask if we got the joke. I don’t think I even need to say anything more here.
I slept until nearly noon the next day—the benefit of being Shomer Shabbos, is no one expects you to use an alarm clock. After dressing, I went down to help Chana get ready for lunch, but as she was nearly done, I mainly played with Mussia.

After lunch, Chana encouraged us to go upstairs to nap before needing to go to another home for Havdalah- Shabbat leaves as early as it comes in. It wasn’t hard to convince us of the nap.
Havdalah was relatively uneventful, and afterwards we went back to our host-homes, gathered our things, and headed back to 770. There, we played an ice breaker game, ate (really good) pizza (since it had been a whole hour since the last meal we had all eaten together), and then got back on the bus to head home shortly after 9 pm. On the way out of the building heading toward the bus, my heel caught on a stair and I fell…the theology of the building may not have killed me, but it had a bit of a go at it.

Leaving Anetevka, I was able to appreciate especially where, as Ashkenazi Jews, we have come from and where we are going to. Despite the constant bickering of two of the girls I was staying with, and the constant gaze of the Rebbe from pictures, portraits, and videos the whole weekend was lovely and relaxing, although it was nice to get back to the ‘modern world’ of Jerusalem.

* 770, the name for 770 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights, is the headquarters of the Chabad movement, having been purchased by the Friedliche Rebber (Schneerson’s father-in-law) when he arrived from Europe to New York. The 770 referred to in this story is an exact replica of this center that is located in Kfar Chabad, Israel. There are seven 770s in the world, from the original in Brooklyn to one in Kfar Chabad, and at Rutgers in New Jersey, one in California, one in Australia, Italy, Brazil, and Argentia. Because in the Lubavitch community, anything connected to the Rebbe is nearly deified considered holy, replicas of the building are seen as especially holy and spiritual places—and at least the one in Kfar Chabad was built under the direct instruction from Schneerson, and instructed to be an exact replica, down the fixtures on the doors and the stained-glass windows. Even a handmade table that the Rebbe davened at was replicated.