Shabbos in K'far Chabad

K'far Chabad is a blast from the past. Over the last 30 years, sadly, the life has become more modern little by little. They now have paved roads. But don't worry the horses are still allowed to walk on them. ;)


(The pic on the top is from 1966, below is present day where a picture of the Rebbe hangs to greet those entering and leaving.)

We got to this small town on Friday afternoon, and stopped right in front of 770, a replica of the famous building "770" (Eastern Parkway, NYC) where the last leader of the Chabad movement, endearningly called the Rebbe z"l, had his office. They have somehow cropped up all over the world. (Below is 770 K'far Chabad.)

We had to rush to our host families after a longer than necessary picture shoot. I was invited warmly into the house of a family, Goodman, who had moved to K'far Chabad 25 or 30 years ago. The wife grew up Bais Yaakov (a title given to people who go to a type of Jewish School when they are young), from a Sephardic family. The husband was baalei t'shuva (returned to Judaism from a non-orthodox background). They were both more than happy to have me and Sarah (another girl from seminary) over for Shabbos.

The town was like a little paradise when looking in from the outside. Everyone in town knew everyone else, and even where they lived. There were no addresses or street names posted, you just had to ask folks on the street to find where someone lived. No one locked their doors. Kids played in the streets, even after dark. Of couse this kind of safety doesn't come without a downside, but it is still nice to think about places like this still existing.