Long Island Community to Open Library and Media Center in Wake of Sudden Loss

Fighting against the anguish that has struck their family and community, Rabbi Zalman and Chanie Wolowik, the co-directors of Chabad-Lubavitch of the Five Towns in Nassau County, N.Y., announced the building of a children’s library in memory of their son, Levi Yitzchak Wolowik. The nine-year-old boy suddenly passed away in the middle of the night last month.

The Levi Yitzchak Jewish Children’s Library is slated to open in late spring.

In an announcement posted on their Chabad House’s Web site, the Wolowiks drew on the response of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, to two particular tragedies in Chabad-Lubavitch history: one, the 1956 murder of five school children in Kfar Chabad, Israel, at the hand of Arab terrorists, and the other, the 1988 passing of the Rebbe’s wife, Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka Schneerson, of righteous memory.

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“After the passing of his wife of 60 years, the Rebbe repeated time and again the verse from [Ecclesiastes], ‘And the living shall take to heart,’ ” the Wolowiks wrote just after concluding the weeklong period of mourning known as shiva. “Each one of us must become better, must change, must do more good.

“When five young children were murdered in their classroom in Kfar Chabad in 1956, the Rebbe responded by building,” they continued. “He expanded the school, sent more [emissaries] to Israel, and founded more institutions. To this day, those institutions and the lives they have touched stand in everlasting memory to those who passed on.”

The creation of the library, they said, grew out of wanting to do something that reflected their young son’s interests. Already, family members and friends have signed on to the project, as have people from the community.

“Our son very much enjoyed reading and writing,” said Zalman Wolowik. “He kept a personal journal that he wrote in everyday. We decided that a Jewish Children’s Library would be the most fitting way to bring life and richness into our community.”

Chanie Wolowik envisioned the library as “a warm, inviting place for children.”

Current plans call for the library to be used by children of all ages, with a section specifically for teenagers and a lounge specifically for parents. A center for aspiring authors will foster writing skills, while an arts center will focus on illustration. There will also be a section dedicated to Jewish music and videos.

The project joins the writing of a children’s Torah scroll that the Wolowiks commissioned soon after their son’s passing. Children of Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries worldwide are enlisting the support of other children themselves.

“Thank you for the future library,” community member Moshe Borrows wrote on the memorial blog on the Chabad House’s Web site. “Turning tragedy into triumph is a tremendous merit for Levi Yitzchak and a powerful lesson to us all.”

“The library is a great idea whose time is now,” echoed Ellen Frank Bayer. “Much joy and happiness will be gained by the community by the addition of this great resource.”