When Rabbi Mordechai Gershon spoke with Chabad.org on Thursday last week about the Chabad Hub he helped set up at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago, it was hard to get a full sentence out of him. The steady stream of passers-by just would not let up, pulling him away from the conversation to assist Jewish convention-goers with general information, lay tefillin, or make a blessing on the delicious rugelach—a traditional Jewish dessert—gracing the booth.
Gershon is no stranger to helping conference attendees with their Jewish needs. The Chabad-Lubavitch Jewish Center of South Loop, which he co-directs with his wife, Mushky, is a four-minute drive from McCormick Place, the largest conference center in North America. From Monday until Thursday this week, thousands of dignitaries, political and business leaders, and activists descended upon McCormick Place to watch Vice President Kamala Harris accept the Democratic nomination for president at the DNC.
When Chicago was announced as the host city for the event in April 2023, Gershon immediately began collaborating with Lubavitch-Chabad of Illinois on the preparations. They meticulously planned every detail and dozens of emissaries from across the Chicago area played a vital role, volunteering their time and effort to help with the planning, execution and staffing the various locations during the convention.
Gershon says there was much excitement after seeing the success of the similar booth operated by Lubavitch of Wisconsin a month earlier at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee.
“We attend a handful of conventions each year, but normally, we don’t set up a booth,” Rabbi Gershon told Chabad.org. “But when Rabbi Moshe Luchins, who organized the Chabad booth at the RNC, called me and told me what they had achieved at the RNC, we got excited.”
‘A Place to Pray’
Like in Wisconsin at the RNC, the Illinois DNC operation provided kosher food, minyanim and a fleet of volunteers walking through the crowds offering individuals to lay tefillin.
Hundreds engaged with the booth each day. Some came to put on tefillin, others to pick up a yellow ARK charity box—more than 600 were distributed over the course of the week, to both Jews and non-Jews. Others were drawn to make a blessing on the rugelach, and even more simply to express how grateful they were to see such overt Jewish representation at the event, some with tears in their eyes.
This follows the success of the similar Chabad booth in Milwaukee, upon which Republicans descended for four days in July to see former President Donald Trump accept his party’s nomination for president. There, hundreds came to Chabad to enjoy bagels in the morning, a pastrami sandwich for lunch, as well as to join prayer services and wrap tefillin.
“We couldn’t have even begun to imagine how successful our booth would be, close to 1,000 people came by throughout the week,” said Rabbi Moshe Luchins, the community engagement director at The Peltz Center for Jewish Life in Mequon, Wis., and organized Chabad’s Hospitality Hub at the RNC.
Preparations began a few years ago, when murmurs of Milawaukee being the likely site surfaced, with Lubavitch of Wisconsin getting to work procuring a location to base their operations out of.
They eventually found a space nearby. When they asked the Republican host committee to accommodate a room for prayer, they were met with great enthusiasm and a free space.
“Not only did they grant us a place to pray, they consulted with us on how to best accommodate people of all religions,” said Luchins.
Meanwhile, in Chicago, as Gershon was telling Chabad.org about the bright-yellow charity boxes they were distributing, a man from Washington, D.C, approached the booth. The boxes, shaped like Noah’s ark, are emblazoned with the letters “ARK,” which stands for “Acts of Random Kindness.” They are a reminder, Gershon could be heard telling his interlocutor, that “when we flex our muscles to do acts of kindness on a regular basis, we bring goodness to humanity and become stronger in our kindness.”
The man from D.C. took an ARK, was helped to lay tefillin—he was left-handed and needed the set to be adjusted accordingly—and accepted one of the rugelach to go.
‘The Feedback Has Been Magnificent’
Each morning throughout the four-day convention, the “Chabad Hub” was active in a location close to the convention center. There, attendees were welcomed to a minyan and a hot breakfast buffet.
As McCormick Place opened its doors to conference-goers at 8:30 each morning, Chabad was set up and ready to greet the passers-by at booth #213.
“At any point of the day, you could see black hat-clad young men engaging with visitors or people perusing the various Jewish books we had on display,” Gershon said.
Some of the books available were Rebbe: The Life and Teachings of Menachem M. Schneerson, the Most Influential Rabbi in Modern History by Joseph Telushkin; Towards a Meaningful Life by Simon Jacobson; and Make Peace: A Strategic Guide to Achieving Peace in the Land of Israel by Sichos in English. At the RNC in Milwaukee, hundreds of copies of Make Peace were distributed to political leaders and laypeople alike.
“As emissaries, whenever we have the opportunity to engage with the general public in a way as vast as this, we have to seize the opportunity to impact and share,” said Luchins.
For DNC attendees, Chabad made sure the experience was a memorable one. Gershon even gave out wristbands emblazoned with the words “Am Yisrael Chi,” a nod to the term “Chi” affectionately used to refer to the Windy City.
“The feedback has been magnificent,” said Rabbi Avraham Kagan, who heads the government affairs department at Lubavitch Chabad of Illinois. “Jews, no matter where they are in the world or where they fit on the political spectrum, are looking to connect.”
Rabbi Meir Shimon Moscowitz, director of Lubavitch Chabad of Illinois, adds that “it’s been tremendous. Chabad is here to help everyone do more. There has been a good feeling rippling throughout the community. Even people who did not attend the convention have been telling me that they are so proud to see such a strong Jewish presence.”
‘We Rushed to Action’
The conclusion of the RNC in Milwaukee coincided with last month’s CrowdStrike outage. On the Friday after the RNC, chaos erupted when the cybersecurity firm failed, causing outages to millions of users throughout the world.
The outage affected airlines, hospitals, banks and even screens in Manhattan’s Times Square. Airports were jammed with delayed passengers, stranded in terminals with no way out and nowhere to go.
“When we found out the extent of the chaos that Friday, we rushed to action to see what we could do to help,” says Rabbi Shea Shmotkin of Lubavitch of Wisconsin. “We scrambled to find accommodation for the stranded passengers, both in the Chabad centers as well as by community members.”
That Shabbat, hundreds of the same guests who had attended Chabad’s Hospitality Hub at the conference, now also took advantage of Chabad’s famous year-round hospitality.
This week in Chicago, things were less dramatic according to Gershon. “While I feel I need a bit of a break after this high-octane week, we’re already back to regular programming in the South Loop,” he said.
Join the Discussion