The municipality of S. Denis, France, as well as the city’s regional council bestowed local Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Mendel Belinow for his 17 years as director of the Chabad House in the northern Parisian suburb.

Among the many dignitaries who attended the ceremony – which was held at a kosher restaurant in Paris – was local Mayor Didier Paillard, who named Belinow the “Chasid of the Nation.”

The regional council likewise awarded the rabbi with a gold medallion for his humanitarian work in assisting children with physical and mental disabilities. …