New Chabad-Lubavitch Centers Coming to Serbia, Northern Cyprus and South Korea

More than 4,500 Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries, their supporters and parents attended the grand banquet of the International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries in Manhattan Sunday night.

At the event, conference chairman Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky announced the opening of five new centers in Serbia, Northern Cyprus, South Korea, the Dominican Republic and the U.S. state of Wyoming, following requests from local communities there to appoint permanent emissaries to serve their needs. These locations have been visited for years by members of Chabad's "Roving Rabbis" program during summers and Jewish holidays.

The centers in Serbia, South Korea and Wyoming are being assisted by generous grants from the Rohr Family Foundation.

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In South Korea, where Rabbi Osher and Mussia Litzman will be departing before Passover, the request came at an event arranged by rabbinical students at the end of last summer. Its bearer was Israeli ambassador Yigal B. Caspi.

"This is not my job – to look for religious activities for the Israelis or any Jewish people – but I need to ask you," said Caspi at the time. "We need Judaism here. We need Chabad. I have to ask of you, please do not forget about us."

At the banquet, which was held at the Pier 94 conference center, diamond magnate Lev Leviev – who gave the lay leadership address – stressed that no Jew would ever be forgotten.

"I asked a leading bank officer, 'What are you going to do in Vietnam for Yom Kippur,' " said Leviev in Hebrew. " 'What do you mean?' she answered me. 'There's Chabad in Ho Chi Minh.' "

The businessman also announced that the next year would see 100 new rabbis join the ranks of the 400 emissaries already living in the former Soviet Union.

Following Leviev's speech, Kotlarsky presided over the traditional roll call of emissaries by country and state. At its conclusion, the packed ballroom erupted into a chorus of Chasidic melodies and a sea of attendees dancing arm in arm.