Rabbi Yossi in the News

In Swampscott, firefighters, police officers, local officials, and residents gathered at the fire station to remember those who died and all who were affected by 9/11.

The ceremony began with Swampscott High School student Kira Madruga singing the National Anthem before Rev. Mark Templeton was invited up for the opening reflection.

“It is important that we remember. It is important that we gather. It is important that we think those things that bring peace and hope,” Templeton said.

He led everyone in a prayer for all who suffered during the attacks, and gave thanks to the men and women who served “fearlessly, and with valor.”

Rabbi Yossi Lipsker also spoke during the ceremony and delivered the benediction.

“We stand together this morning on sacred ground. The sacred ground of our shared memories. The sacred ground of the broken hearts that we all shared, and the horror, and the aftermath, and the weight of 9/11,” Rabbi Lipsker said.

Rabbi Lipsker remembered the firefighters, police officers, and first responders who ran toward danger “giving their last full measure of devotion.”

At 10:03 a.m., the same time United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in Shanksville, PA, a moment of silence was held before Firefighter Benjamin Rossman rang the Four Fives.

Fire Chief Graham Archer then read the names of those from Swampscott who died in connection with 9/11: Robert Jalbert, who was on United Airlines Flight 175; Michael Kelly, a journalist who was killed while covering the war in Iraq; U.S. Army Spc. Jared Raymond, U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Jennifer Harrison, and U.S. Army Spc. Joseph Lewis, who were killed in Iraq; and retired Swampscott Fire Lt. Ed Seligman, who provided aid on 9/11 and died in 2023 from occupational cancer.

“The words never forget are often repeated. They should mean more than remembering the images of destruction. They should be remembering the lives that we lived. Supporting those who still bear the wounds, teaching those who were not yet born,” Archer said.

Archer said the station hired its first firefighter last year who had been born after 9/11.

“Our job is not to ask young people to inherit only our grief. It is to show them the courage, discipline, generosity, and unity that emerged in the face of that grief,” he said.

LYNNFIELD — Residents gathered on a chilly evening to celebrate Hanukkah with a public menorah lighting ceremony on the Town Common, marking a decade of the annual tradition.

The event was led by Rabbi Yossi Lipsker, director and founder of Chabad of the North Shore, who has overseen public menorah lightings throughout the region for the past 10 years.

Approximately 30 community members attended, including families, children, and Town officials.

This year’s ceremony featured a large outdoor menorah, with the flames physically lit using tiki torches, adding both drama and warmth to the winter night.

In a show of solidarity and celebration, the Town of Lynnfield turned the lights of the trees on the Common tree blue for the occasion, a color closely associated with Jewish tradition and Israel.

Three residents were invited to take part in the lighting. Sasha Cooper, Jason Freshman, and Noah Book each lit one of the candles, while Town Administrator Rob Dolan had the honor of lighting the first candle of the evening, the Shamas, which is the middle candle used to light the others.

Cooper said she enjoyed lighting the menorah in the Common: “It was nice to celebrate Hanukkah.”

But her favorite part might have been the warm apple cider on the cold night.

The participants were greeted with applause and encouragement from the crowd, underscoring the family-friendly spirit of the event.

Rabbi Lipsker kept his remarks upbeat and child-centered, emphasizing joy, pride, and positivity.

“I want every single child that’s here to remember this night,” he said.

He led the crowd in song, inviting children to come forward and sing along, helping to warm spirits as temperatures dropped. Following the singing, blessings were recited and the candles were lit together.

Rabbi Lipsker noted that this year marked the 10th anniversary of Lynnfield’s menorah lighting, recalling that when the idea was first introduced, the Town immediately embraced it. Since then, public menorah lightings have grown across the region, with more than 25 ceremonies now held throughout the North Shore.

Town officials echoed the message of inclusion.

Dolan, on the symbolism of light, called it “a sign of hope and the triumph of light over darkness” and emphasized Lynnfield’s commitment to celebrating all faiths.

“We want to make sure Lynnfield is open to all, inclusive of all, and celebrates all traditions,” he said.

After the ceremony, attendees gathered to enjoy apple cider, donuts, and latkes, sharing conversation and warmth as the blue-lit tree and menorah glowed against the night sky.

The evening served as both a celebration of Hanukkah and a reminder of the strength found in community, tradition, and shared light during the darkest time of the year.

Editor’s Note: Creative Director Spenser Hasak contributed to this article.

Across the North Shore on Thursday, residents, government officials, and first responders came together in solemn remembrance of the 24th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which claimed nearly 3,000 lives in 2001.

Ceremonies in Lynn, Lynnfield, Marblehead, Peabody, and Swampscott offered moments of reflection, prayer, and unity as communities paid tribute to the victims and the bravery of those who rushed toward danger that day.

Lynn

At the Lynn Fire Department Headquarters on Western Avenue, firefighters and police officers stood in formation alongside members of the City Council to honor both the first responders and civilians who perished.

At 10 a.m., Fire Capt. Jon Godbout called the Lynn Fire and Police departments to attention, assembling behind firefighting equipment symbolizing the sacrifices of 9/11 responders. Fire Lt. Joel Abreu rang a ceremonial bell, followed by Firefighter Lenny Levesque lowering the American flag to half-staff. The gathering then held a moment of silence to remember the lives lost.

Lynnfield

Lynnfield’s remembrance coincided with its annual First Responders Day on the Town Common. Veterans’ Services Officer Bruce E. Siegel emphasized the dual purpose of honoring daily sacrifices and remembering 9/11.

“We will honor the many men and women who put their lives on the line every day to serve and protect… as well as those who made the ultimate sacrifice on Sept. 11, 2001,” Siegel said. “What happened that day will be etched in our minds forever.”

The Town’s ceremony featured an invocation by Rev. Thomas Bentley, a presentation of colors by the Boy Scouts, music, and reflections from Police Chief Nick Secatore, Fire Chief Glenn Davis, and Select Board Chair Phil Crawford. The event concluded with prayers, patriotic songs, and a community cookout.

Marblehead

Fire Chief Jason Gilliland opened the ceremony, calling Sept. 11 a day “etched in our soul,” particularly for those in the fire service. He remembered the 343 firefighters who died in New York City, as well as police officers, paramedics, and other first responders who rushed toward danger. “Ordinary people became extraordinary,” he said, noting the bravery of both first responders and civilians who acted selflessly amid chaos.

The ceremony featured prayers, readings, and personal reflections. Speakers emphasized the need to educate younger generations, many of whom were not yet born in 2001. “To them, it is history. To us, it’s a memory,” Gilliland said.

Town officials also honored Marblehead residents who lost their lives in the aftermath of the attacks and in the wars that followed. Clergy offered blessings for peace, healing, and unity – and one speaker, Veterans Agent Ro Trionfi-Mazzuchelli, reflected on her Army Reserve service, urging the community to “live like you vowed on 9/12 — love more, live more, and serve more.”

In an interview with The Item two retired firefighters shared vivid memories of the day, from standing vigils on Franklin Street to hearing military jets overhead as commercial flights were grounded.

“That was my shift that morning. It was quite after 10 o’clock in the morning. We didn’t know what to do everyone was in shock,” Walter Conrad said.

Gary Bartlett added, “It was hard to believe what we were seeing on television, we couldn’t believe it.”

The service concluded with prayers for strength, compassion, and the resolve to carry forward the values of freedom and justice.

Peabody

In Peabody, city leaders, first responders, and residents lined Perkins Street for a 20-minute ceremony at the Public Safety Memorial. Fire Chief Jay Dowling opened with a reminder of the enormity of the day.

“Ordinary people began their day like any other, unaware that history would remember their courage, sacrifice, and resilience,” Dowling said, noting the nearly 3,000 lives lost, including hundreds of firefighters, police officers, and military members.

Mayor Ted Bettencourt reflected on the importance of holding the ceremony at the City’s police and fire memorial and paid tribute to local victims Janis Lasden, Christine Barbuto, and Don DiTullio. DiTullio’s family attended the ceremony.

Police Chief Tom Griffin closed the event by highlighting the unity that emerged in the wake of tragedy. “The challenges we may face may be different, but the answers always remain the same,” Griffin said. “We must stand together… The greatest tribute we can give to the heroes and victims of 9/11 is to build a stronger, kinder community.”

Swampscott

In Swampscott, officials and community members filled the front of the Humphrey Street Fire Station for a service that included the national anthem, moments of silence, and words from Acting Town Administrator Gino Cresta, Fire Chief Graham Archer, and Rabbi Yosi Lipsker of Chabad of the North Shore.

The ceremony also featured the striking of the Four Fives, five bell strikes repeated four times, a firefighter tradition honoring those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

“This is not an occasion of celebration, but it does mean a lot for the community to come together with a single purpose of remembrance,” Archer said. “Whether it’s intentional or not, it really helps build community.”

Cresta urged unity, compassion, and dedication: “Let us never forget the heroes, the victims, and the families whose lives were forever changed on that day. May their legacy continue to inspire us … not just today, but every day.”

Local leaders, including State Rep. Jenny Armini and State Sen. Brendan Crighton, echoed the importance of reflection and continued remembrance. Police Chief Ruben Quesada added that he hopes future generations will never forget “the brave souls that were lost that day” and called for unity over division.

As Fire Chief Dowling in Peabody reminded attendees, remembrance is not only about looking back. It is about moving forward, together.

Reports of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas have sent shockwaves around the world.

A deal was reached by the two parties on Wednesday. The next phase could see the release of hostages held in both Gaza and Israeli custody, according to an article by CNN. This is the second ceasefire since the war began on Oct. 7, 2023.

The first ceasefire to halt the war in Nov. 2023 lasted one week.

According to the article, phase one of the ceasefire will start Sunday and is expected to last roughly six weeks. During that time, the ceasefire will see a withdrawal of Israeli troops and an exchange of hostages and prisoners, as well as a surge of humanitarian aid for Gaza.

The article states that Israeli military will withdraw from population centers but remain along the Gaza-Egypt border.

President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that American hostages in Gaza will be released during the first phase of operations.

The second and third phases of the ceasefire are still being developed.

“Though it is yet premature, the hopes are running high in our community for their imminent safe return. Only then can we begin to exhale,” said Rabbi Yossi Lipsker, regional director of Chabad of the North Shore. “We won’t fully do so until every last hostage is home. When that does happen, you can expect to see unbridled joy unfolding wherever decency still prevails.”

But Lipsker also added a warning. “They will find themselves sadly, in a new brainwashed society where murder is whitewashed, and an orgy of suppressed collective hatred, wrapped in the cellophane transparency of humanitarianism, is the new zeitgeist,” he said.

U. S. Rep. Seth Moulton also reflected on the ceasefire. “At long last, a stunning diplomatic victory in Gaza, a relief for the hostages, their families, and the civilians who have suffered the deadly consequences of this war,” Moulton said. “We should celebrate this hard-won deal, but the difficult work of rebuilding Gaza—bricks, mortar, lives, and governance—lies ahead.”

Moulton added that only after the ceasefire is successfully completed can the world finally look forward to peace for both Israelis and Palestinians. “This is a time to empower the peacemakers, and it will take Israelis, Palestinians, Arab partners, and undoubtedly the next U. S. Administration—working together— to ensure success.”

He continued by saying, “The people of Israel, Gaza, and the entire region deserve nothing less after the 16 months of hell they just endured.”

Rabbi Michael Ragozin of the Congregation Shirat Hayam also looked for progress toward peace. “We pray that all of the hostages are swiftly freed and returned home,” he said. “And we hope tomorrow brings better days for all people of the region.”

Around 500 people filled Temple Sinai on Monday night to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel that killed over 1,200 people.

The somber gathering brought together members of the North Shore Jewish community to remember those lost, show solidarity and continue the process of healing. The event was organized by Temple Sinai in partnership with the Jewish Community Center of the North Shore and several other local synagogues and Jewish organizations.

As the community gathered in Marblehead, Israel intensified its military operations against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. This escalation has resulted in significant casualties, with reports of over 41,800 Palestinian deaths and more than 1,400 Lebanese casualties since the conflict reignited.

Rabbi Michael Schwartz of Temple Sinai welcomed attendees, noting the significance of coming together as a community during such a difficult time. The ceremony began with the lighting of a memorial candle to honor the victims of the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks.

The evening featured poetry readings, musical performances and visual art displays, reflecting the community’s use of artistic expression to process grief and trauma.

Rabbi Yossi Lipsker, director of Chabad of the North Shore, explained the power of artistic expression in times of grief.

“Music and poetry in particular have a magical capacity to capture the way people are feeling when they have no words,” he said. “The power of poetry lies in its… words that you really have to work harder to get at what they’re saying. And that really captures the challenge of using words to describe the indescribable.”

Iris and Yotam Dagan, parents of Israeli soldiers Ori and Daniel Dagan, offered a prayer to protect Israeli forces. One poignant moment came when attendees heard a message from Rachel Goldberg Colin, mother of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was murdered in captivity after being taken hostage a year ago.

Head of Epstein Hillel School Amy Gold, sharing Rachel’s letter, read, “Since then, those of you I knew and didn’t know have prayed for Hersh and us, cooked, advocated, took to the streets, cried for us and tried for us, prayed and prayed and prayed and I felt it. It washed over me. I felt it for these long, tortuous, arduous and tormented days,” Gold said.

The event also highlighted the plight of the remaining hostages, with 101 still believed to be held in Gaza. Organizers stressed the urgency of securing their release, stating simply, “Bring them home. Now.”

Throughout the evening, speakers emphasized the resilience and unity of the Jewish community in the face of tragedy. Marty Schneer, executive director of the JCC, addressed the gathering.

“We are here tonight to remember and grieve together as a community, to acknowledge the trauma we all hold and the generational trauma,” Schneer said. “We are here to cry together and also find strength by being together, strengthening one another.”

The commemoration included a display of handmade ceramic anemones, part of a project called “Darom Adom” or “Red South.” These red wildflowers, which typically bloom in Israel’s western Negev region each spring, have become a symbol of renewal and remembrance.

Schwartz explained the significance. “These gatherings provided a space to mourn the loss of so many lives that were like flowers plucked violently from the ground,” he said. “The project has served this way to find hope, by creating these symbols of renewal, a reminder that [anemones] would bloom once again after the rain.”

Community members reflected on the impact of coming together for such an event. Rita Swartz, a Swampscott resident, shared her thoughts.

“Our hearts are connected to our brains, and we see the evil, and we come together to comfort each other and support each other as a community,” she said.

Swartz added, “Judaism is love and freedom and peace, and what you’re seeing is the beauty of Judaism, the belief that we’re all brothers and sisters, that all life is precious and it takes priority over everything.”

As the community moves forward, speakers emphasized the importance of working towards healing. The evening concluded with a call for peace and a renewed commitment to supporting one another through difficult times.

The ceramic anemones created before the event will be displayed in the sukkah at Temple Sinai and the JCC, serving as an ongoing reminder of those lost and the community’s resilience in the face of tragedy.

While the Marblehead community gathered in remembrance, commemorations in Israel included solemn vigils for the victims of last year’s attacks. Simultaneously, pro-Palestinian protests erupted globally, highlighting the complex and deeply divided responses to the ongoing conflict.

MARBLEHEAD —The Jewish Community Center of the North Shore commemorated the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas on Monday at Temple Sinai.

The ceremony began with words from Temple Sinai Rabbi Michael Schwartz.

“We begin our remembrance ceremony this evening on the first anniversary of that cursed day, 7th of October, 2023,” Schwartz said. He said a Yahrzeit candle would be lit in remembrance of the 1,175 people who died.

“Israelis, and foreign citizens, civilians, soldiers, police, men, women, children, the young, the elderly — we hold them all and their families in our hearts,” he added.

“Our minds struggle, even one year later, to process what happened that day. To grasp so much horror and loss,” Schwartz said. “The human soul is not designed to hold so much loss.”

Schwartz then played a slideshow of pictures of those who died.

Executive Director of the Jewish Community Center of the North Shore Marty Schneer also spoke.

“How do we remember, while we remain so focused, still, on the continuation of that horrific day, October 7?” Schneer asked. “We are here tonight to remember, and grieve together as a community…we are here to cry together. And also find strength by being together…to pray for peace.”

Rabbi Jenn Mangold of Temple Emanu-El said it is a universal experience among many of those grieving the attack to be asked how they are, and to not know how to respond.

“Not even knowing where to begin trying to express what we are feeling and going through and worse, too often, not being asked at all,” Mangold said prior to reading a poem expressing similar sentiments.

Director and founder of Chabad of the North Shore Rabbi Yossi Lipsker said “nobody will ever forget how we came together.”

Amy Gold, head of school at Epstein Hillel School shared words from Rachel Goldberg-Polin, whose son, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, was killed.

I will now have to learn to be in this world without him,” Gold read. “But having him all the years I did is worth the pain.”

“There’s a war going on,” said Yotam Dagan, who served in the Israel Defense Forces, him and his wife, Iris, having two of their four children serving on the border of Lebanon. “That war is also happening here on college and university campuses, demonstrations, rallies, and our mission needs to continue building a bridge between our people in Israel, and the people of Israel who are here,” he said, prior to leading attendees in prayer for the Israeli soldiers.

The event concluded with attendees joining in prayer for the departed, “ El Maleh Rahamim,” followed by the Israel National Anthem.

SWAMPSCOTT— A crowd gathered outside of Chabad Lubavitch of the North Shore Sunday morning for a march in support and recognition of the more than 100 Israeli hostages captured as a result of the Israel-Hamas war.

Resident Stephanie Simon organized the event, and emphasized how her focus was on highlighting the hostages above all else.

“This isn’t political,” Simon said. “This isn’t about Israeli government policy. It’s not about Palestinians… with all the craziness going on in the world with the presidential election, violence on campuses, antisemitism, and everything in Gaza, what has sort of been pushed aside are the hostages and their families.”

Chabad Lubavitch founder Rabbi Yossi Lipsker addressed the crowd of approximately 80 people ahead of the march, stating how the cause was not solely for people of Jewish faith and heritage but for all Americans. State Rep. Jenny Armini was in attendance and shared her experience of getting to know the family of Israeli-American hostages.

“The face of a young man in his twenties became the face of my own son, and I became full of grief for that man’s mother,” Armini said. “And selfishly, I became full of grief for myself.”

She alluded to author Elie Wiesel and his use of the phrase “Never Again” in his novel Hostages.

After prayer and music from Rabbi David Meyer, the group began its march through Humphrey Street and back, totaling approximately 3 miles. Upon return, the names of the hostages believed to still be alive were read out loud. Rabbis Michael Ragozin and Michael Schwartz concluded the event with a prayer for the captives in Hebrew.

“Our brothers, the whole house of Israel, who are in trouble and in captivity, who stand between the sea and dry land: May God have mercy upon them and deliver them from confinement to expanse, from darkness to light, from slavery to redemption, now, speedily in our day,” the prayer reads in English.

MARBLEHEAD — The School Committee agreed to hire an independent investigator to determine the merit of internal discrimination allegations, but did not vote to appoint a candidate.

The committee is looking to schedule a meeting next week to discuss which candidate it will choose for the investigation.

Parents of children in the school district received an email from interim Superintendent Theresa McGuinness on June 13 stating, “We (the district) have multiple formal complaints of harassment and discrimination from interpersonal disputes among adults working for the district.”

According to the statement, the district “attempted to investigate the claims internally, but the investigators themselves have been subjected to accusations of being conflicted.”

The committee approved the hiring of an independent investigator to look into all of the complaints that have been made and determine their merit. It was scheduled to vote on an individual candidate to conduct the investigation, but postponed the hire in order to gain more information on each candidate before making a decision.

“The severity of this is big, and as a result, I want to make sure it is done properly. In order to do that, I think we need these people, organizations to present to us,” Committee member Alison Taylor said. “I don’t want this to sound as if I’m delaying the vote, I fully support the independent investigation.”

Attorney Thomas Costello, who is representing the district, provided a letter to Committee Chair Sarah Fox and other committee members detailing three candidates for the internal investigation who were recommended to his firm. The letter was sent two days before the scheduled vote.

The letter included the organizations’ resumes and rates for the investigation.

“They are all qualified to do this type of investigation,” Costello said. “They all do discrimination investigations.”

Committee member Al Williams agreed with Taylor that the committee has to conduct further vetting before voting to approve any candidates for the investigation.

This vote followed a two-hour-long public-comment hearing, during which multiple constituents voiced their concerns, describing a rise of antisemitism in Marblehead and discrimination students are facing within the district.

Rabbi Yossi Lipsker of Chabad of the North Shore said at the committee’s meeting that people have come forward in distress and described feeling singled out.

“It is our obligation as a community to pursue clarification of that until there is no need for clarity,” he said. “This is not about slandering anybody or defaming anyone, it is simply about pursuing a practice of validating distress.”

In an interview with The Item , Rabbi Lipsker said he has noticed a rise in antisemitism in Marblehead.

“The consensus was that the rising number of instances and the way they were dealt with have come together to create a serious issue,” Rabbi Lipsker said.

He said he has a “general concern in society and the community of a stubborn refusal to look at the reality of the situation.”

Additionally, Police Chief Dennis King said that the town is seeing a rise in antisemitic activity at a Task Force against Discrimination meeting last week. He referred to “slap tags,” a kind of graffiti, that were placed on signs at the Jewish Community Center and near the high school, and said the slap tag at the JCC as antisemitic.

He said the Police Department is currently investigating the incident.

King also described an incident of vandalism at a porta-potty at Tower Elementary School, which had language written on it “that could be understood as antisemitic.” He said the investigation is also ongoing.

Before that writing was discovered, King said the department arrested two adults who were then charged with vandalism, hate crimes, and assault after they allegedly vandalized a “pro-Israel” lawn sign, resulting in a confrontation with a resident.

King said the two adults who were arrested are not residents of the town and did not have any prior record of this type of activity.

He said that as far as he knows, Marblehead was not specifically targeted.

LYNN — Rabbi Yossi Lipsker’s father came to America from Russia at 6 years old.

The traumas of escaping the Soviet Union followed him into adulthood, said Lipsker. The fear of police officers and others in uniform runs deep in his father because when escaping persecution, those in uniform were the bad guys.

He has watched his father work through his trauma forever, but watching it as antisemitism grows is “heartbreaking,” Lipsker said.

“Antisemitism in the United States is not a Jewish problem, it’s an American problem,” Lipsker, of Chabad of the North Shore, said. “Like racism and any other form of bigotry, it’s a rot and decay at the core of our society. And if we don’t shore up the foundational platforms of our society, then we all end up sinking.”

Carolina Trujillo has been an American citizen for more than 10 years, and has been living in the country for 25 years. She immigrated from Colombia and has since become the publisher of Essex Media Group’s La Voz , the executive director at Citizens Inn, a member of Gov. Maura Healy’s Advisory Council on Latino Empowerment, and more.

“I’ve been here 25 years contributing since I got here and yet, working twice as hard to be believed to be half as good,” Trujillo said.

Trujillo and Lipsker were two of the speakers at the Forum on Prejudice Tuesday evening, which was hosted by the Greater Lynn Bar Association, organized by Attorney James J. Carrigan, and moderated by Michael Jalbert, the head of the history department at St. Mary’s Lynn.

Panelists of different ethnic backgrounds, nationalities, religions, and sexual orientation spoke about the effects of prejudice at the Lynn Museum.

Lynn District Court Chief Justice Ina Howard-Hogan was the keynote speaker at Tuesday’s forum. Implicit bias, she said, is something that everybody has.

She remembered that as a young child, she didn’t think about the differences between her and her friends. She didn’t think about the color of their skin or their socio-economic status because to her, they were just her friend.

As kids get older, they take what they hear from their parents or other adults and form biases, she said.

Asking questions and engaging in meaningful conversations is what needs to happen to challenge prejudices, she said.

“Even if we don’t agree, that’s okay,” Howard-Hogan said, “Folks are entitled to their opinions. We want to be open and honest, it’s not going to help any of us to tell people what you think they want to hear. You feel a certain way for a reason and it’s okay to explore them.”

Educating yourself and doing research is essential, she said.

“Remember, what you choose to consume will affect your implicit bias,” Howard-Hogan said. “So if you want to learn about an individual, truly learn about an individual, do your research.”

Essex Media Group Senior Graphic Designer Emilia Sun spoke about what it was like to move to the U. S. from China about five years ago.

A lot of hate incidents go unreported because the victims are afraid of retaliation, language barriers, and distrust law enforcement, she said.

“I myself have experienced this kind of hate. About a year ago, I was at Stop & Shop in Lynn with my 15-month-old daughter when a drunk man yelled at us, ‘Go back to your country.’ He even threatened to kill my baby, and no one around us stopped him,” Sun said.

After this incident she felt angry and scared. She no longer wanted to live in the U. S.

“But I’m here to ask you, what are you willing to do to make a change?” Sun said. “I ask that you and your family learn about Asian American history, culture, and contributions to society.”

North Shore NAACP President Kenann McKenzie-DeFranza said she didn’t know what poverty or racism were until she moved to the United States from Georgetown, Guyana.

Her first encounter of prejudice came when her mother attempted to enroll her in school.

“I just remember the conversation going something like, ‘But people from third world countries, we don’t put them in their grade, they always go back a grade,’” McKenzie-DeFranza said.

After that, her mother got a second job so she could be enrolled in a private school.

“Many of these narratives are built in and codified and reinforced by the things we consume, the things we say to one another and around one another and to our young children,” McKenzie-DeFranza said.

Attorney Anne Gugino Carrigan spoke about what it is like to be a woman in the professional world. She said that for many people, concepts like power and aggressiveness take on negative connotations when associated with women.

She talked about the career of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the challenges she faced as a woman.

“She was never once invited into the office of the speaker of the house until she became speaker,” Gugino Carrigan said.

Lynn Ward 3 City Councilor Coco Alinsug spoke about being LGBTQ+. He is the first openly-gay city councilor in Lynn and the first Filipino-American city councilor in New England.

“I came to this country to be myself, as a gay man, and not being out in the Philippines, it was very difficult. So I said, ‘I will come to America to live my life as an open gay man,’” Alinsug said.

While many have started to accept the LGBTQ+ community, a lot of work still needs to be done, he said.

“In order for us to move forward is to acknowledge that there’s a problem, but at the same time, you need to be at that table and having that conversation,” Alinsug said.

Lynn English High School senior Christina Adeoye moved to the United States from Nigeria at the age of 11. The official language in Nigeria is English, but she said that doesn’t stop people from commenting on how good her English is.

“Those types of comments made me feel less than or uneducated,” Adeoye.

Over the years, she has learned to speak up for herself when comments like that are made. It is important to speak up and teach all generations about respect, she said.

Other speakers included Attorney Mario Capano, who discussed the history of prejudice that Italian immigrants faced; Edward Calnan, who discussed prejudice against Irish people in the past; and Mayor Jared Nicholson. Fatima El Hali spoke about what it is like to be a Muslim woman in the U. S., and challenges her children have faced because of their religion and clothing.

SALEM — Saugus Police Chief Michael Ricciardelli and Marblehead High School Principal Dan Bauer were honored with North Shore Community Awards by the Anti-Defamation League Wednesday morning for their efforts in responding to antisemitic incidents.

The awards were presented to Bauer and Ricciardelli at the ADL’s Law and Education Day program, which was themed around combating extremism in local communities. U. S. Attorney for Massachusetts Rachael Rollins served as the keynote speaker for the annual event at Kernwood Country Club, and Essex County District Attorney Paul Tucker also offered remarks.

Ricciardelli said he was surprised when he received the call informing him of the award, in part because he believed he handled an incident last September, when a group hung antisemitic banners above the Walnut Street overpass on Route 1, the way “most other chiefs would.” But, he said, it’s “always nice to be recognized.”

Rabbi Yossi Lipsker of Chabad of the North Shore presented the award to Ricciardelli, and said he was honored and privileged to work with the chief in the wake of the incident. Lipsker described the banners as “so beyond the pale” and said he received a number of calls in the wake of the incident from people who were “very alarmed.”

“I just want to say that chief, you and your entire staff were on it right away. You were thoughtful. You didn’t rush to judgment. You did everything in your power to gather as many facts as you could,” he said. “It almost felt like you were on a fact-finding mission which was very, very endearing to me.”

“When I reached out to you and said people would like to gather there wasn’t even a hesitation,” Lipsker added, referencing a rally held outside Saugus Town Hall in the wake of the incident.

Lipsker said he anticipated a relatively small group at the rally, but instead found a “huge crowd.”

“They took your lead, they took your example,” he told Ricciardelli.

As a result of the new relationship between the Chabad and the town, a menorah lighting was held outside town hall in December to celebrate the beginning of Hanukkah. There, “everybody came back out again,” Lipsker said.

Ricciardelli recounted the days following the incident, telling the crowd he was on vacation in Las Vegas that weekend and was woken up by Assistant Chief Ronald Giorgetti the Monday of his return. Giorgetti let him know the department had been inundated with calls and emails from members of the Jewish community.

When he got to the office, Ricciardelli began calling people back and was urged to publicly denounce the group’s actions. He said he was initially hesitant to do that, fearing it would give them additional publicity. He was told, in response, “that darkness cannot drive out darkness.”

“Light has to drive out the darkness, so they want as much attention put on this as possible,” Ricciardelli said.

“The reason I’m here and the reason I am proud of this award and the things we went through the past few months is we turned very negative and hateful events into at least two very positive events,” he added. “For that, I’m very proud. … I’m just a small part of doing that. There was a lot more people than me that are involved, but I appreciate the recognition and the award.”

After Ricciardelli’s remarks, ADL North Shore Advisory Committee Chair Melissa Kaplowitch introduced two of her children — Averi Kaplowitch, a Marblehead Class of 2018 graduate, and Jared Kaplowitch, a current Marblehead High School student — to present the award to Bauer.

Averi began by describing an antisemitic incident she faced when she was a sophomore at Marblehead High. A peer made a swastika out of pennies while doing a chemistry lab and posted it on Snapchat.

Although the incident occurred before Bauer became Marblehead High’s principal, Averi said he immediately sought to act.

The high school quickly implemented the ADL’s World of Difference curriculum, offering a variety of programs to help participants “recognize bias and the harm it inflicts on individuals and society; explore the value of diversity; improve intergroup relations; and challenge racism, antisemitism and all forms of prejudice and bias.” The program is still in place in Marblehead High School, nearly eight years after the incident.

“I certainly don’t know how I would have navigated acts of hate in the aftermath of what I experienced without Mr. Bauer’s guidance, reassurance, and help that I was making the right decision and speaking up even though it’s very scary,” Averi said.

Jared was next to speak, talking about the Hate Ends Now campaign’s work to bring a World War II-era replica cattle car exhibit to Marblehead High School. While the replica was at the high school, students were given the chance to enter it and hear a presentation on the Holocaust. Bauer had “no hesitation at all” when approached about the project, Jared said.

“This is just one example of many programs Mr. Bauer has brought to Marblehead High School that teach students about life and the world more than a textbook,” he said.

Jared added that Bauer has been a “source of strength” at the high school for seven years.

Bauer was then presented with the award by the Kaplowitchs, and expressed his gratitude for the recognition, calling it “humbling.” He spoke at length about the importance of building a culture and community inside the school where students and staff feel empowered.

He said he was proud of the work of teachers and staff, who have provided opportunities for students to bring positive change to the school, often by creating clubs and organizations.

“It’s so important that students have opportunities for connections to make not only their school a better place, but to take those examples for future endeavors,” he said.

“This really is an award for our community, how great they’ve been, and our young people, because they are the hope for tomorrow,” he added.

SWAMPSCOTT — The Town of Swampscott hosted a “No Place For Hate” rally at Linscott Park Thursday evening in support of the Jewish community. This comes after an antisemitic incident on Jan. 6 where a swastika was spray-painted on a sidewalk in town.

Rabbi Michael Ragozin of the Congregation Shirat Hayam, Rabbi Yossi Lipsker of Chabad of the North Shore, government officials, members of the police and fire departments, a representative from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and members of the Swampscott community and neighboring communities showed up to the rally.

“Thank you so much for standing up for decency. Thank you so much for calling out hatred by your presence here today,” Lipsker said in his opening remarks at the rally.

Detective Ted Delano of the Swampscott Police Department spoke about the Jan. 6 incident at the rally. He noted that it was still an active investigation and the police department has, been working with Essex County District Attorney Paul Tucker’s office, the ADL and the Boston FBI.

“We will proceed with the investigation to make sure we gather all pertinent information. If any resident has any information, you’re encouraged to call the Swampscott Police Department. To my cherished friends, Rabbi Lipsker and Rabbi Michael, I am truly very sorry,” Delano said.

Massachusetts State Rep. Jenny Armini was in attendance and spoke to the crowd.

“These odious views tear at the fabric of a community, but we are here right now to repair the tear. That’s what we are doing right now, repairing the tear, and our community will be stronger as a result,” Armini said.

Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald spoke at the rally as well. He said Swampscott is going to “create a community that respects and supports each other.”

“The only thing I really want to share with everybody here — everybody that took the time to stand shoulder to shoulder — is that you are loved. You’re loved by a community that cares for you, by your neighbors, by your friends. This is our democracy and this is the community that we create,” Fitzgerald said.

DA Tucker also attended and spoke Thursday evening.

Melissa Kaplowitch, the chair of the ADL North Shore Advisory Committee, spoke about a study the ADL had released Thursday that found “that 20 percent of Americans believe in six or more antisemitic conspiracy theories.” In 2019, it was 11 percent, she said.

“As alarming as this is, we will continue to work with community partners, with law enforcement, with civil rights organizations and elected officials to combat this,” Kaplowitch said. “We must all do our part to stand up to hate and break down these antisemitic bullies.”

At the rally, Ragozin thanked everyone for coming out to fight against antisemitism and hatred in general.

“While there’s much work to be done, it’s the work of our elected officials, civic leaders that give me so much strength that this is indeed a different era for our people,” Ragozin said.

In an interview after the rally, Ragozin said it was “powerful” to see the large number of people and officials show up.

“It just makes a world of difference to know that you got a whole community standing behind you and to know that, were any other group to be discriminated against or be subjected to hatred, bigotry, etc., that we would stand behind them as well,” Ragozin said.

When he was told about the Jan. 6 incident, he said he felt “annoyed.”

“I think that we like to build things. We like to administer to people’s souls and focus on uplifting lives and devote time to becoming better people. And to address hatred it usually feels like you’re trying to, instead of build something new, repair that which is broken,” Ragozin said.

However, he said if this incident hadn’t happened, we wouldn’t be seeing the community coming together like it did at the rally.

“You wouldn’t have people standing shoulder to shoulder. You wouldn’t have had all of the people who participated who are going to feel empowered and connected. And so that’s a really beautiful thing and we can use that as something new that we built today and continue to find strength,” Ragozin said.

When asked how he felt after the rally, Lipsker called over Swampscott Fire Chief Graham Archer to have him relay a statement he’d told Lipsker a few minutes earlier. Those words, Lipsker said, “capture my feelings perfectly.”

“I just said that if the people who did this felt that they were going to make this community feel alone and isolated, they couldn’t have failed any more spectacularly,” Archer said.

SALEM — At the January 4, 2023 inauguration of Essex County District Attorney Paul F. Tucker at the Old Town Hall in Salem, Rabbi Yossi Lipsker of Chabad of the North Shore delivered the invocation and blessing before judges, law enforcement officials, mayors, and civic leaders from across Essex County.

Speaking from the podium alongside Governor-elect Maura Healey, Lieutenant Governor-elect Kim Driscoll, and outgoing District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett, Rabbi Lipsker reflected on the sacred balance between justice (Mishpat) and compassion (Chesed) in public service.

In his remarks, Rabbi Lipsker invoked the biblical imperative of pursuing justice with integrity and humility, offering a prayer for the safety of first responders and for the wellbeing of every community across the North Shore and Essex County.

SAUGUS — Town officials and community members gathered on the lawn of town hall on Monday for Saugus’ first official menorah lighting ceremony.

Rabbi Yossi Lipsker, Regional Director of Chabad of the North Shore, led the ceremony and sang a Hebrew song before inviting Saugus resident Ruth Berg and Police Chief Michael Ricciardelli to light the menorah.

“The story of Hanukkah, while it might be part of Jewish history, it certainly is also part of human history, and it’s a human story that’s universal and is way bigger than a Jewish story,” Rabbi Lipsker said. “It’s a story of people wanting to live in freedom, people wanting to have the ability to live illuminated by the light that moves them … and the light that lights them up and inspires them.”

Lipsker said that Saugus was one of the only communities that doesn’t light a menorah, which Selectboard Chairman Anthony Cogliano said town officials were happy to change. Lipsker said that in working to implement this ceremony, the Jewish community and the town built lovely bridges, gained new friends, and learned about and became more comfortable with each other.

“One of the beautiful things about being an American is that of all the places in this large but tiny globe, America was a place where people came to experience freedom. Freedom from every kind of persecution, freedom from tyranny, freedom to practice religion, freedom to practice humanity,” Rabbi Lipsker said.

“Hanukkah is a reminder that freedom is both our most precious resource, but it’s also our most vulnerable and delicate resource. It needs to be protected, it needs to be sheltered, it needs to be nurtured and it needs to be sustained.”

Around 30 people came out on the cold and windy afternoon to watch the menorah lighting. Rabbi Lipsker described the ceremony as “breathtaking” and said he was touched by everyone who took time out of their day to attend.

In addition to Cogliano and Police Chief Ricciardelli, other local officials in attendance included Rep. Jessica Giannino, Rep. Donald Wong, Selectman Jeffrey Cicolini, Selectman Corinne Riley, Selectman Michael Serino, Vice Chairman of the Selectboard Debra Panetta and Town Manager Scott Crabtree.

Crabtree said he was happy to attend a ceremony that extends “our minds and our arms to the diversity of the world.”

“I think it’s just an excellent way of the community coming together in different ways,” Crabtree said. “I think it just helps build stronger bonds.”

“We were very shocked as a community to learn of this outrageous banner hanging over Route 1 in Saugus on both sides, north and south, and we had no doubt or question that we needed to respond to it,” said Rabbi Yossi Lipsker, director of Chabad of the North Shore.

From Jewish faith leaders to state officials and neighbors of Saugus, so many came together to support each other after they were outraged by that hateful banner.

“It’s jarring, it’s very disturbing, and then you know right away we need to be with other like-minded people,” said Rep. Sally Kerans of Danvers.

Saugus Police say the men responsible were technically not breaking any laws since the First Amendment protects free speech, but the police department says they condemn the hateful, false message.

“No more of this, this is not acceptable in any way shape or form, this is not what it means when we say we have freedom of speech in America,” said Rabbi Lipsker.

Now this group hopes to lift up the Jewish community after this alarming incident.

“If we can turn it around and manage it and leverage it to our advantage like we did here tonight, then that sends a very strong message and I think that message was sent tonight,” said Rabbi Lipsker.

The rabbi says after this gathering, the town of Saugus will likely start lighting a menorah outside town hall during Hannukah to show even more support for the Jewish community.

LYNN — Chabad of the North Shore and Rabbi Yossi Lipsker are inviting the public to attend the first lecture of the year, a conversation with an award-winning author Dara Horn titled “Facing anti-Semitism head-on” on Monday, Nov. 15.

Lipsker said that they have invited Horn because she uses her pen as a literary scalpel that dissects anti-Semitism in its current state.

“She has shined a glaring light on the hatred lurking in the shadows,” said Lipsker. “The current spasms of attacks on Jews in the streets of every major city is merely the tip of the 2021 version of the oldest hatred in the world.”

Horn, an acclaimed novelist from New Jersey, has recently published her sixth book, an essay collection called “People Love Dead Jews” (Norton 2021). The book features 12 individual but thematically-linked pieces that explore how the non-Jewish world looks at Jews in a non-Jewish society, and how Jews have been gaslighted, manipulated or forced to erase themselves in an effort to survive, including in contemporary America.

The book is a finalist for the Kirkus Prize for 2021.

Her previous books, all novels, focused on how Jews lived in different places and eras. However, in this case she wanted to “unravel, document, describe and articulate the endless unspoken ways the popular obsession with dead Jews, even in its most benign and civic-minded forms, is a profound affront to human dignity, as Horn, 44, wrote in the introduction to the book.

To research and demonstrate how, why and when Jews have been “expected to erase themselves in interactions with the non-Jewish world,” Horn studied campaigns of the Soviet regime, history of the early-20th-century Jewish population in Harbin, China, and a modern digital project Diarna, that preserves remnants of the Jewish civilization in North Africa and the Middle East.

Horn arrived at the conclusion that Jews were made into a metaphor, however, “The problem is that for us, dead Jews aren’t a metaphor, but rather actual people that we do not want our children to become,” she wrote.

Horn received her doctorate in Yiddish and Hebrew literature from Harvard University. She has taught courses in these subjects at Sarah Lawrence College and Yeshiva University and has held the Gerald Weinstock Visiting Professorship in Jewish Studies at Harvard.

Her nonfiction work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Smithsonian, and The Jewish Review of Books, among many other publications, and she is a regular columnist for Tablet.

She is a recipient of two National Jewish Book Awards, the Edward Lewis Wallant Award, the Harold U. Ribalow Award, and the Reform Judaism Fiction Prize, and she was a finalist for the JW Wingate Prize, the Simpson Family Literary Prize, and the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. Her books have been selected as New York Times Notable Books, Booklist’s Best 25 Books of the Decade, and San Francisco Chronicle’s Best Books of the Year, and have been translated into 11 languages.

Horn lives in New Jersey with her husband and four children.

The event will take place at Brill Family Jewish Library on 151 Ocean St. in Lynn. It will start with a cocktail hour and a meet-and-greet at 6 p.m. The lecture and the conversation will follow at 7 p.m. There is also an option to view the lecture virtually.

Chabad of the North Shore is serving the community at five locations in Swampscott, Peabody, Everett, Lynn and Cape Ann.

LYNN — To celebrate the opening of the North Shore Jewish Art Co-op, Yitzchok Moully, a pop art artist and Chasidic Rabbi, will display his unique artwork at the launch event on Feb. 27.

When the last remaining synagogue in Lynn was going to be sold, members of the Chabad Lubavitch of the North Shore did everything they could to keep the “treasure” in the Jewish and Lynn communities, according to Rabbi Yossi Lipsker. Thanks to a generous donation from North Shore natives Richard and Dorothy Tatelman, the 151 Ocean St. building will now be a multi-functional Jewish center that focuses on all forms of art.

“We all felt it was important to preserve it and keep it going,” said Lipsker. “One of our dreams was to create a center on the North Shore that focused on Jewish arts and culture of every form, from dance, to music, to different displayed art forms.”

The Chabad Lubavitch of the North Shore, a Jewish educational network, has branches in Everett and Peabody, with their headquarters on Burrill Street in Swampscott. Lipsker said they are thrilled at the addition of their new co-operative Lynn campus.

“We are about to launch a curriculum that has many local art teachers and offer it to a wider community,” said Lipsker. “We are holding this art gallery night as a kick-off to celebrate this milestone. We are super excited about it.”

The official launch party will be at the new campus, from 6:45 to 9 p.m., at $18 a ticket. Guests can enjoy locally brewed craft beer samples and beer-braised short rib burgers, topped with whiskey mustard mayo, while viewing Moully’s post pop artwork on display in New England for the first time.

Moully, better known as the “Pop Art Rabbi,” has been painting for almost a decade, according to Lipsker. He is known for his exploration of Jewish and Chasidic concepts through Jewish imagery in the classic pop art style and his work became recognizable on calendars and Purim gift sets.

To RSVP for the event, go to their website, www.nsjewish.com.

Once it’s launched and ready to go, Lipsker said the center will be home to major functions, a summer camp, and organizations that focus on bigger initiatives, such as making sure every Lynn-born kid has his or her own car seat. There will also be an array of classes for members to take part in, including artisanal bread making, hip-hop Jewish dance fusion, and portrait drawing.

The Lynn building was formerly known as a gathering place for many Jewish members who were born in the former Soviet Union, according to Lipsker. It is like a second home to them, he said, which is why the campus will keep their various social activities.

“One of the beautiful things about this facility in Lynn is it’s a way to create a bridge between communities like Swampscott and Marblehead that might not necessarily be exposed to the lives of people living in Lynn, for example,” said Lipsker.

A team of 40 Swampscott, MA High School students spent their winter break with Chabad helping rebuild homes damaged in Hurricane Harvey in Houston.

Natasha Tsaryuk could have spent her February school vacation lounging, skiing, or going to the movies with friends. Instead the 16-year-old Swampscott High School student spent the week in Houston helping to rebuild a home damaged by Hurricane Harvey. The storm dumped 60 inches of rain in some parts of Texas last summer and was responsible for 68 deaths and an estimated $125 billion in damage.

Tsaryuk was not alone. She and 40 teenagers from the Chabad of the North Shore learned a new set of skills to assist four families in repairing their homes. “We called ourselves the Jew Crew,” she said. “I saw it as a wonderful opportunity to help someone and I did just that and it felt really good.”

Like many of the teens, Tsaryuk lacked do-it-yourself skills. But group leaders trained them and off to work they went, she said. Within hours she was installing floors, windows, doors and trim, with the use of miter and jig saws.

Michelle Marder, a 15-year-old Lynnfield High School student, said she joined the mission as a way to give back. “It’s really rewarding to help someone,” she said. “It was frustrating cutting pieces of wood and getting them to fit, but we got help and it worked.”

Victor Kratik, 17, from Swampscott, said it was important for him to show Houston some love six months after Hurricane Harvey hit. “I wanted to show Houston we haven’t forgotten about the devastating impact of the storm,” he said. “My skills were limited, but my dad is an engineer and he prepared me.”

Newburyport resident Ava Grady, 16, said there’s not much of a Jewish teen community where she lives and the trip was a way to connect with other Jewish teens and do good. “I had never been to Texas and I didn’t know what to expect,” she said. “It was an eye-opening experience.”

Jarren Diaz, a 17-year-old Winthrop High School student, said when he saw what happened in Houston, he wanted to help. “Everyone there was so nice and welcoming, even strangers,” he said.

Rabbi Shmaya Friedman, 31, who helped organize the trip with Rabbi Yossi Lipsker and Nate Dalton, said the mission of the effort was simple. He called it “One Mitzvah,” which means good deed. “Our tagline is, ‘one mitzvah leads to another,’ and it happened on this trip,” he said. “One of the homeless homeowners had four foster children who had to stay at four different foster homes. But now that their home is done, those four homes can take in four new children. That’s the kind of ripple effect we hoped to see.”

Sunday, September 4th, 4:26 p.m., Sackett Lake, NY — My caller ID says it’s Rabbi Yossel Kranz, from Richmond, Virginia. “We’re going to Houston tomorrow — you’re coming right?” By “we’re going,” he means himself along with 49 other Chabad rabbis and of course I was going.

Monday, September 5th, 11 p.m., Aishel House Houston, TX — The rabbis begin to arrive: Omaha, St. Paul, Long Island, Los Angeles, Little Rock, Louisville, Denver and St. Louis. Rabbi Lazer Lazaroff and his wife Rochel are our gracious hosts at Aishel House.

Wednesday, September 6th, 8 a.m., Aishel House, Houston — “We must maximize our time to make the biggest impact for the people of Houston.” We are listening to Rabbi Yossi Lipsker from the North Shore of Massachusetts. Along with his friend, philanthropist Nate Dalton, they founded One Mitzvah, which has given us this opportunity to be there for Houstonians.

It’s roll up your sleeves time. “We will divide into groups of three or four. Please have your team leader come forward and I will brief you on your task list.”

After being briefed by Captain Joshua Verdan of the Houston Fire Department, we are each given an emergency kit with masks, gloves, bags and boxes. When we pull into the Meyerland neighborhood I realize that I was not prepared for what I was seeing. People’s entire lives, everything that they have ever had, is piled up in the front yard.

Our team spent a few hours in this neighborhood doing what I’d call shlepping and listening. Helping people with the physical and the spiritual. If we had a camera with every team, there would be dozens of pictures of rabbis in driveways and homes lending an ear and giving a hug; pictures of shlepping heavy furniture, helping rip out drywall, sorting through documents and preserving what could be salvaged.

Wednesday, September 6th, 2 p.m., Red Cross Emergency Response Center, Houston — Roger Heider, Red Cross volunteer from Toledo, Ohio, is showing me the ropes of Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV) 1230. Along with Roger’s friend Larry Coats, we are tweaking our assembly line. The feeling of being able to hand hot meals to a family of five is indescribable.

Fifteen-year-old Emanuel Sanchez hasn’t seen many Jews with kippahs but he knows enough to ask: “Are you Jewish?” In answer to his question, I said “Yes and these are my friends Larry, he’s Baptist, and Roger, he’s Catholic, and we all came here from different parts of the country to make sure you know you aren’t alone.” “Ah man, that’s so cool,” he said. I hope it included the recognition that we are all created in G-d’s image and that one mitzvah makes a real difference.

Thursday, September 7th, 4:28 p.m., IAH International Airport — In Houston I saw the Divine up close. In angels like my new friends Roger and Larry, in the sheer power of nature, in the force of good that is the Chabad network, and in the eyes of people who refuse to give up hope.

Witnessing the “sheer depth of loss” firsthand, 50 rabbis from a dozen different states set out to homes, shelters and hospitals in Houston this week to give spiritual and material comfort and aid to the victims of Hurricane Harvey.

After morning prayers at Chabad’s Aishel House at the Texas Medical Center in Houston on Tuesday, the rabbis spent their first day on the ground in small groups, assigned to different neighborhoods all over the city. They joined local volunteers in salvaging homes, brought cheer to residents of area nursing facilities and made themselves available to anyone in need. In the afternoon, many of the rabbis joined up with the Red Cross to serve dinner to people who had lost their homes.

“People have been holding it together for so long without an outlet,” relates Rabbi Yossi Lipsker, director of Chabad Lubavitch of the North Shore in Swampscott, Mass., and co-founder of 1Mitzvah, the organization sponsoring the mission. “When they see us, members of the clergy visiting them, they just break down. There were a lot of tears today.”

“This is the busiest time of the year for rabbis,” he continues, noting that the High Holidays begin in two weeks. “Beyond whatever work they will do on the ground, the presence of these rabbis sends a powerful message to the people whose lives have been affected. We are here because we care. The Jewish people care about you; we will not forget you.”

“We are just happy to be able to add our little bit to all the Americans pitching in to help our neighbors,” says Nate Dalton, who founded 1Mitzvah with Lipsker and underwrote the entire mission. “Our organization is based on the simple idea that one good deed or mitzvah leads to another.”

After a long day of work that included salvaging home goods and personal possessions, and handing out meals, Rabbi Yossel Kranz of Chabad of Virginia in Richmond reflected that “seeing 50 of my colleagues, some with beards whiter than my own, schlepping furniture and wet sheetrock one day and handing out food and hugs the next, was such a vivid reminder of the power and holiness of simple kindness.”

Rabbi Yossi Lipsker of Chabad of the North Shore in Swampscott on a relief mission to help Louisiana flooding victims earlier this week. Courtesy Photo

By Adam Swift

SWAMPSCOTT — Louisiana has seen more than its share of disaster and heartbreak in recent years.

This week, a group of local volunteers led by Rabbi Yossi Lipsker of Chabad of the North Shore headed to Baton Rouge to help victims of the recent flooding that left 13 dead and thousands homeless in the state.

Lisker and his wife, Layah , met up with 16 other North Shore volunteers when they flew into New Orleans on Monday.

Also among local residents playing a role in the relief trip were Todd Flannery and Neil Donnenfeld .

Over the two days, the volunteers helped deliver hot meals to residents in the town of Walker and helped homeowners in Baton Rouge remove their possessions from their devastated homes.

“There were piles and piles of debris lining the street and the curbs as far as the eye could see,” said Lipsker.

On the first day, the volunteers worked with the Red Cross to provide hot meals to the area residents.

“On the one hand, it was incredibly sad to see the scope of the devastation,” said Lipsker. “Most of the people did not have power in their homes and were not able to sleep inside; they were on their porches and on the grass in front of their houses.”

On the second day, the North Shore crew worked with Nechama , a Jewish disaster response non-profit, helping residents in Baton Rouge. Lipsker said he and other volunteers helped a woman remove all her possessions from her home and then began the demolition of the house.

The volunteer work helped save the woman up to $15,000, money she did not have, Lipsker said.

While the flooding destroyed a lifetime of possessions for the woman and others, Lipsker said he was especially struck by the spirit and optimism of those they helped.

“The one thing I was struck by was that these people who lost everything but they hadn’t lost hope,” Lipsker said. “They still felt like they could rebound. I thought I would find a lot of real despair and bitterness, and what I found was a shining human spirit.”

The impetus for the trip to Louisiana was a conversation Lipsker had with local philanthropist Nate Dalton , who underwrote the mission. Lipsker returned to Massachusetts on Wednesday, but he said the impact of the efforts will last for a long time.

“The volunteers all walked away feeling like they gave more than they received,” he said.

Anyone who wishes to assist with the flood relief efforts should donate to the Red Cross, Nechama, or other worthy organizations, Lipsker said.

Adam Swift can be reached at [email protected].

From its idyllic seaside communities to a score of inland villages, towns and small cities founded during the Colonial era, Massachusetts’ North Shore is a region that’s both proud of its history and poised for future growth.

“Connecting generations” was a fitting theme, organizers say, for Chabad of the North Shore’s celebration of its 23rd anniversary and Torah rededication last Sunday—an event that drew more than 200 people, including Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker and first lady Lauren Baker. The couple was given the Lamplighter Award and a menorah as part of the evening, and guests say they were visibly touched by the presentation on behalf of the Jewish community.

Indeed, Chabad of the North Shore, based in Swampscott, Mass., has been bridging people and generations from the get-go. It got its start in 1992 and has grown by leaps and bounds, as has the Jewish population it serves, according to co-directors Rabbi Yossi and Layah Lipsker, who have six children ranging in age from 13 to 23. There’s the new Aleph Academy preschool. There’s an active daily minyan. They are close to breaking ground on a mikvah.

Twelve years ago, the Lipskers hired Rabbi Nechemia and Raizal Schusterman to formally establish a new branch in Peabody—Chabad of Peabody Jewish Center—and this past weekend celebrated the grand opening and dedication of a stunning new permanent facility there as well. More recently, in 2011, Rabbi Shmaya and Aliza Friedman moved out to assist the Lipskers in their work.

“People have really embraced us and our goal,” says Rabbi Lipsker, which is “to continue to strengthen and revitalize Yiddishkeit throughout the entire North Shore.”

Last Sunday’s celebration began at Ahabat Sholom in Lynn with a Torah procession leading to Chabad of the North Shore, where a rededication ceremony was held. Lipsker explains that the Torah honors the memory of Alan Kaplan, who studied Torah with him on Thursday nights when Lipsker was a rabbinic intern in the Brookline-based New England Hebrew Academy. “It’s very meaningful,” says Lipsker. “It was a celebration of goodness and life, and of the continuity of Yiddishkeit. It’s a statement of hope.”

The Lipskers were the last Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries that the Rebbe sent out by handwritten letter, in 1992, prior to his stroke. That letter, says Rabbi Lipsker, “sits framed on my desk. It’s the first thing I see when I sit down for work. The Rebbe’s unprecedented and bold vision of a post-Holocaust Jewish renaissance was nothing short of exhilarating, and all I have ever wanted was to be part of the worldwide, joyous and upbeat spiritual infrastructure that the Rebbe imagined.”

SWAMPSCOTT – It has simple ingredients: “flour and water, plus flour and water, plus flour and water,” as Rabbi Yossi Lipsker explained Tuesday. But add dance music, lessons about the story of Passover, and about 50 kids, teachers and parents, and you’ve got the ingredients for the Model Matzah Bakery.” My passion and responsibility, and I’m fortunate it’s both, is to share the joy of our traditions with as many people as possible and to bring it alive in as many ways as possible,” said Lipsker.

The Model Matzah Bakery is basically a mobile matzah factory that offers people a chance to bake matzah and learn about the story of Passover. Passover began this Friday at sundown, and is a weeklong Jewish commemoration of the deliverance of the ancient Hebrews from slavery in Egypt.

The matzah bakery was set up in Chabad Lubavitch in Swampscott Tuesday afternoon, where the local Hebrew School students gathered to try their hand at baking.

Lipsker has taken the factory throughout the North Shore and region, setting it up in temples, at Whole Foods in Lynnfield and even at nursing homes. The production began with the traditional Hebrew greeting of “Shalom Aleichem,” and then Lipsker introduced special guest Moses, whose favorite holiday is Passover, “because he led the Jews from Egypt,” as one youngster shouted out.

The flour and water were kept isolated, or prepared “shmurah,” into their own specific booths, so they did not come into contact until they were put in the bowl. Meanwhile, student volunteers ground the flour and mixed the flour and water (with a little assistance from Pharoah, or Rabbi Moshe Liberow, who Lipsker said was “doing part of his 2,000 years of community service for all he did to the Jewish slaves in Egypt.”)Then each child got a handful of dough, a cylindrical wood dowel to roll out the bread, and set to making the matzah.

As the matzah baked for 18 minutes (no longer and it is no longer matzah, Lipsker explained) the students answered questions about the Passover Seder, including why Prophet Elijah has a cup of wine at the feast, and how Jews remind themselves of the hardship of slavery by saving the majority of a piece of matzah for later. Then came the matzah.

The kids ate it excitedly, but it was, well, matzah. Baking matzah, of course, was not the point of the day, however.” This congregation has been great,” mother Samara Feldman, of Marblehead, said Tuesday. “My son has learned more about the Jewish tradition here than anywhere else.”

SWAMPSCOTT – The miracle of the 2011 Run-a-Latke occurred when the four-foot high Lego menorah stayed together for all eight nights. Rabbi Yossi Lipsker is trying to re-create the miracle by kicking Hanukkah off on Sunday with a workout and a fried reward. On Sunday at 10 a.m., Chabad of the North Shore will hold its second annual Run-a-Latke, a 5K race through Swampscott with latkes, the Jewish potato pancake, and Israeli doughnuts with jelly and powdered sugar at the finish line.

The fried foods traditionally represent the miracle of Hanukkah when a small amount of oil that was meant to last for one day burned for eight nights. The run, Lipsker says, is just for fun.” It’s a nice way to combine physical fitness, fun and the Jewish holidays,” said Lipsker. Lipsker said he is familiar with the balance of discipline and indulgence, being a dedicated runner and keeper of his family’s secret recipe for “arguably the best latkes on the East Coast.” He said the event on Sunday will combine his “favorite passions: Hanukkah, latkes and running.” Last year’s race drew 85 runners.

In addition to the binging on latkes and doughnuts, and the purging of calories through running, children of all ages can participate in building the Lego menorah, which will have two candles lit when it is finished to symbolize the second night of Hanukkah.

Children who don’t have the same attention span can play in a bouncy house. The event is free to the public, but there is a fee to participate in the race. Participants can register at the race before the start at 10 a.m. at Chabad of the North Shore at 44 Burrill St. in Swampscott. Lipsker said all are encouraged to participate in the race, food and other activities on Sunday, since the message of Hanukkah “is a spiritual and universal message that goodness and light triumphs over darkness.

Even a little light dispels darkness.” Lipsker will bring Hanukkah even further into the spotlight with Jewish Heritage Night with the Boston Celtics on Wednesday, Dec. 12 when Chabad lights the menorah on the court during halftime. Lipsker said there will be Kosher food at the concession stand and a post-game event on the court.

Kait Taylor can be reached at [email protected]. IF YOU GO The second annualRun-a-Latke, a 5K race in celebration of Hanukkah, will be Sunday at 10 a.m. at Chabad of the North Shore, 44 Burrill St., Swampscott.

There is a fee for the race, but family activities are free. For more information go to http://www.nsjewish.com/

SWAMPSCOTT — When it seemed Israel was about to invade the Gaza Strip to put an end to Hamas rocket attacks, the North Shore Jewish community held an emergency Israel solidarity rally at Congregation Shirat Hayam on Atlantic Avenue on Sunday night. At least 500 people attended, said Rabbi Yossi Lipsker of Chabad of the North Shore, co-chairman of the event with Rabbi Baruch HaLevi of Congregation Shirat Hayam, both of Swampscott.

The next night, Lipsker said a contingent from the North Shore headed to a “Freedom From Fear” rally at Congregation Mishkan Tefila in Chestnut Hill.

Sunday’s rally included various North Shore rabbis, members from various temples and other organizations. It was streamed live and videotaped and then sent to the Israeli Embassy, HaLevi told the audience.

“It’s important to come together, it’s important to rise up in these moments,” HaLevi said during the service.

Yesterday at 2 p.m. came word of a cease-fire after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton conducted talks in the region. A bus bombing in Tel Aviv, reports of airstrikes by Israel Defense Forces and more rockets launched from Gaza preceded word of the lull in fighting.

“As Americans and Jews, we have an obligation to support a democracy in the Middle East,” Lipsker said in an interview. He said the rally tried to put into perspective for those in attendance what this latest round of violence was all about.

“Israel is simply defending its civilians,” HaLevi said. “That is not what Hamas is doing.”

Local Jewish community leaders say it is wrong to draw a parallel between what Israelis are enduring, living under the constant threat of attack by Hamas rockets, and what those living in Gaza are going through. The civilians who are killed and injured by Israeli airstrikes are being used as “human shields” as a way to turn world opinion against Israel, HaLevi said.

HaLevi said he cannot understand why world opinion would turn against Israel, after it has endured 1,300 rockets strikes since January, not including the latest round of violence.

“It’s just getting down to basics,” Lipsker said. “This is a country that has made so many concessions to try and establish peace with its neighbors, and it seems all they get in return is more abuse.”

Lipsker said the irony of the rocket attacks is they are taking place from Gaza, from which Israel withdrew several years ago in the name of peace. He feels Israel is justified in its attack on Hamas militants — no government would stand by and allow for rockets to be fired on its cities, Lipsker said. Israeli citizens have been traumatized by the missile attacks, so much so they now have an app for their smartphones that tells them when a rocket is launched and how much time they have to make it to a shelter.

According to various reports, the latest round of rocket attacks and airstrikes between the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and Israel revolves around the Islamic militant group’s persistent launching of rockets into southern Israel in the face of Israel’s embargo of the strip of land along the Mediterranean Sea, where 1.7 million people live. It echoes tensions that flared in 2008 and 2009 when Israel led a short-lived ground offensive into Gaza.

While enduring continued rocket attacks, Israel last week targeted and killed a top Hamas military leader amid a series of airstrikes. Hamas retaliated by launching more rockets toward Israeli cities, forcing civilians to scramble to bomb shelters.

“This fellow,” Lipsker said of the Hamas leader who was killed, “has been a mastermind of terror with blood on his hands. An absolute butcher.”

The Israeli Defense Forces have been targeting military operations, but reports are more than 100 civilians have been killed and hundreds more injured. At least three Israeli civilians and a soldier have died, according to reports, and dozens wounded. The rocket attacks have been blunted by Israel’s anti-missile system known as Iron Dome.

Lipsker said Israeli forces “have exercised extraordinary restraint” while “Hamas goes out of its way to use civilians as human shields,” launching rocket attacks from mosques, hospitals and other everyday targets that then draw fire from Israeli airstrikes, leading to the high death count. Israeli forces have also been known to drop leaflets warning civilians of airstrikes.

“They go out of their way to target civilians,” Lipsker said of Hamas, “and Israel goes out of their way to avoid civilian casualties.”

Professor Kanishkan Sathasivam, chairman of the political science department at Salem State University, said he spoke with his students in his Middle East politics class earlier this week about the conflict, which has implications beyond Israel’s and Gaza’s borders.

“It’s a complicated situation about which we have very little factual information,” Sathasivam said.

“This is not really an Israel vs. Palestinian issue,” he said, given that Palestinians living in the West Bank have been quiet.

In the late spring and early summer, Hamas had seemed to quiet down as Turkey tried to persuade the group to work within the political system, given the Muslim Brotherhood’s success in taking power in Turkey and Egypt, with Hamas allied with the Muslim Brotherhood.

“That’s why the events of the past six days have come as a surprise,” Sathasivam said Tuesday. The response had been mild when Israel had targeted its leaders in the past. This time, Hamas sent “a massive barrage of rockets” into Israel.

Some experts say the conflict is due to Iran “almost forcing Hamas to engage,” Sathasivam said.

The conflict serves to turn public opinion in the United States and Europe against Israel, drawing attention away from Iran’s nuclear ambitions and the crackdown in Syria, he said.

However, the so-called Arab spring has changed the dynamics in region. It’s possible that Egypt and Turkey could use this conflict to lessen their once-strong ties with Israel.

“It’s a tough situation because of the facts on the ground,” Sathasivam said. “Gaza is a highly populated area where it’s tough to distinguish between good guys and bad guys.”

Shirat Hayam’s HaLevi said one has to accept that there are evil people in the world.

“We say as Jews, ‘never again,’ after the Holocaust, and when we say, ‘never again,’ it’s not just words, it’s actions,” HaLevi said.

“Stay informed” was the message of Chabad of the North Shore’s Lipsker during the rally, he said. “Stay informed, really, really informed. As Jewish people, we come together, and we pray.”

To watch a video of the rally at Congregation Shirat Hayam, go to www.ustream.tv/recorded/27131515 .

Staff writer Ethan Forman can be reached at 978-338-2673, by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at @DanverSalemNews.

Hundreds of Swampscott and Marblehead residents gathered Sunday night at Congregation Shirat Hayam in Swampscott to talk, sing songs of hope and pray.

Monday night in Boston, Jewish and non-Jewish residents rallied to support Israel during the unfolding Middle East crisis.

In response to persistent rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip into Southern Israel — hundreds in the past several days — Israel has bombed targets from where the missile are being fired in Gaza.

Civilians have been killed in Southern Israel and in Gaza, though many more have died in Gaza, according to news reports.

It remains to be seen what will happen next.

We asked two local rabbis, one from Swampscott and one from Marblehead, to weigh in on the topic — tell us what their concerns are and what they have heard from their North Shore congregants.

We also asked: what is the best thing that can happen?

In separate interviews, Rabbi Yossi Lipsker of Chabad Lubavitch of the North Shore in Swampscott and Rabbi David J. Meyer of Temple Emanu-El in Marblehead said they and others will continue to support Israel's right to defend itself from attacks targeting its civilian populations.

The rocket attacks, reportedly fired from cover sites such as schools and hospitals in Gaza, are coming from Hammas, a terrorist organization supplied by Iran, they said.

Israelis are living under fire, and actually have mobile phone apps telling them how much time they have to get to a bomb shelter, said Rabbi Lipsker.

"It’s absurd that in today’s day and age that innocent Israeli civilians — women and children — are running to bomb shelters," he said. "People can't live like this."

The rabbis said that the message from Sunday night's gathering at Shirat Hayam was one of unity and clarity, expressing support for Israel and its right to defend itself.

Many of those who were at the gathering have family or friends in Israel or have visited the country.

Rabbi Meyer said it is necessary for Israel to strike back but nobody is rejoicing over the deaths suffered by Palestinian civilians.

The Hammas terror attacks is or should be a concern to anyone in a free and Democratic country, he said.

As far as the best outcome goes, Rabbi Lipsker said it would be "for terrorist organizations like Hammas to accept the reality that Israel is here to stay and Israel is not going anywhere."

One would be the dismantling of Hammas's ability to release unprovoked attacks.

President Obama and the United States have stood up for Israel's right to defend itself, he said.

Now it is up to the international community to recognize this, he said.

North Shore residents with ties to Israelis and Palestinians called for peace as rockets sent from Islamic extremist group Hamas landed close to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on Friday. In an attempt to raise awareness and support for Israel, Rabbi Yossi Lipsker of Chabad of the North Shore and Rabbi Baruch HaLevi of the Congregation Shirat Hayam in Swampscott are holding a rally, “Rise Up & Become Pillars Of Defense: An Israel Solidarity Rally, Memorial Service & Prayer Vigil” on Sunday at 7 p.m. at Shirat Hayam.

The event will be held in conjunction with the Jewish Federation, Cohen Hillel Academy, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.” We’re going to gather everybody together in support of Israel to stand together to unite our voices and to speak as one, and to commemorate the Israeli victims that have been murdered,” said HaLevi.

“We’re bringing together the entirety of the North Shore, Jewish and non-Jewish.” Lipsker said he has many friends and family in Israel, and when he spoke to them on the phone a few days ago, he could hear rockets going off in the background. He said is concerned not only about the carnage, but the psychological damage of the children running for bomb shelters.” It absolutely could escalate unless Israel washes terrorism, and world citizens, including Americans and Arab countries, speak out against terror.

That’s hope we’ll put an end to this,” said HaLevi.” As a Jew and an American, I think it’s atrocious that a civilized democratic country with citizens seeking peace should have to endure one missile bombing, let alone hundreds upon hundreds, and when they retaliate in self-defense to put an end to the bombing, they are condemned in the world’s opinion.” Islamic business owner Abdelouahab Aitelhadj of Amana Green Realty in Revere was more resigned about the issue. Aitelhadj said that after 52 years, the conflict is hardly a conversation topic between him and his Islamic friends.” At the end of the day, the conflict will stay,” said Aitelhadj.

“People are already used to it.

Many people will die, and nothing will have happened at the end of day.” Aitelhadj said he has friends from Israel and Palestine. “Everybody wants peace, that’s the bottom line. But there are no solutions without negotiating peace,” he said. Iman Shati, executive director of the Iraq and Arab Community Association, said whatever conflict is going on between the powers-that-be overseas isn’t reflected between the religions on the North Shore.” I think it is between them,” she said.

“They need to sit together and talk. If they cannot do that, someone else can be involved, like Obama or someone else, can sit with them and talk with them. It is a big country, they can live together peacefully.” Kait Taylor can be reached at [email protected].

SWAMPSCOTT – A young family is embarking on a new chapter in their lives at Chabad Lubavitch of the North Shore. Rabbi Shmaya Friedman moved to Swampscott two weeks ago with his wife Aliza and their 10-month-old daughter Leba to work at Chabad. Rabbi Yossi Lipsker of Chabad Lubavitch of the North Shore referred to the young couple as the “dynamic duo.””We’ve been looking for 16 months for a young couple to add to our staff,” Lipsker said.

“We want an enormous infusion of energy into our community and our goal is to broaden the scope of our educational opportunities on the North Shore.

I feel like we found the right couple to do that.” Shmaya Friedman studied in rabbinical colleges in Miami, Montreal and Israel, where he received his Rabbinical ordination.” Being a rabbi has always been my dream,” he said. “It’s more than being Rabbinical. I love working with people and being a community helper.

I want to bring joy and meaning to people’s lives on the North Shore.” Shmaya, who grew up in Brooklyn, and his wife, Aliza Friedman, said they feel right at home in Swampscott.” I’ve been coming here since I was a child because Leah Lipsker (wife of Yossi) is my cousin,” Shmaya said.

“I love it here. The people have been welcoming, warm and nice. I enjoy the suburban aspect, not having to hunt for a parking space and the overall quality of life. We hope to establish roots here and stay forever.” Aliza, who is already teaching at Cohen Hillel in Marblehead, said she is happy in Swampscott.” I love it,” she said.

“The Chabad here is an active, vibrant community and it’s like an instant family.” Shmaya added the Boston area has held a special significance for his family for several generations. He explained his great-grandfather immigrated to Boston in the early 1900s to escape the European persecution of the Jews.” He was one of the first rabbis in Boston and his family was one of the first orthodox families in the area,” he said.

“My great-grandfather was the only ritual slaughterer here. My grandfather moved to New York City as a teenager but my family always called Boston home.” A ritual slaughterer has a prescribed method of slaughtering an animal in a ritual manner. His maternal grandfather, Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, is the chairman of Chabad Lubavitch International and was recently voted the “Most Influential rabbi in America” by Newsweek magazine.

He is the son of Rabbi Yosef B. Friedman, director of the “Kehot Publications,” the largest Jewish publishing house in the world. With a laugh, Shmaya said he has “some very big shoes to fill.” Aliza said she always knew her life work would be in the Chabad. She is the daughter of Rabbi Avraham Grossbaum, who is the Executive Director of Chabad in Indiana.” This was my life growing up in Indianapolis,” she said.

“I always wanted to spend my life helping my community. Community is a big deal to me.” She said she loves working with children and one of her first projects would be starting a Jewish preschool, which she hopes will be open by September. Shmaya said he would be working closely with Lipsker and would be actively involved with the Hebrew School, Jew Crew, Camp Gan Israel and holiday programming.

SWAMPSCOTT – Chanukah begins at sundown today and Thursday a very different kind of menorah was being made at Chabad Lubavitch of the North Shore. Rabbi Yossi Lipsker said Chanukah is also known as the Festival of Lights and the menorah plays a central part in the eight-day commemoration of rededication of the Temple.” We’re making a new kind of menorah,” Lipsker said. “It’s called a ‘canorah’ and will be made out of canned goods.

When we’re finished it will be five feet tall. Then it will be dismantled and the food will be donated to charity.” Lipsker said his wife, Layah, who is the director of Hebrew Schools of the North Shore, came up with the idea and the Chabad Lubavitch community has been working on the project for a couple of months.” We’ve been collecting canned goods,” he said.

“We have collected hundreds of cans of food. Kids from youth groups and schoolchildren have all been involved.” Lipsker said the “canorah” is a way to celebrate Chanukah that is both fun and meaningful. The menorah contains nine candles – the server candle is lit first and from that candle, the Chanukah candles are lit, one more each night until all are lit. The tradition of lighting the menorah stems from 167 B. C. when the Syrian army took control of and defiled the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.

After three years of Jewish guerrilla warfare, the Jews entered the defiled and half-demolished Temple. They started cleaning and rebuilding the Temple and the work was completed on the 25th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev in 165 B. C. They planned a celebration to rededicate the Temple but there was only one jar of the consecrated lamp oil, which had been sealed and hidden away.

It was only enough oil to burn the Temple menorah for one day. According to Jewish tradition, the lamp burned for eight days and eight nights, giving them the eight days needed to prepare more oil. Lipsker said the “canorah” would help teach the children the importance of the menorah while they are doing a Mitzvah, which is an act of kindness for another person. Lipsker said after the canorah is disassembled the canned goods would be given to the Jewish Family Service Food Pantry in Peabody.

SWAMPSCOTT – As he prepares to enter what is a war zone, Rabbi Yossi Lipsker is praying for peace. Lipsker, of Chabad Lubavitch of the North Shore, is departing Wednesday for a week in Israel to visit his son, who is studying at a Rabbinical school in Jerusalem, and to offer a little comfort to those in war stricken areas.” I have a two-fold purpose for going,” he said. “I am going to show solidarity with the people of Israel.

I hope and pray for peace very, very soon. I hope by the time I get there or get back this war is over. I hope there is peace so citizens are allowed to live without fear and little children allowed to sleep at night without worrying about rockets crashing into their living room.” Lipsker, who is making the trip alone, said he is taking gifts from the North Shore community to those most affected by the violence.” We are collecting new small toys for the children in bomb shelters in those areas that are most vulnerable right now,” he said.

“We are also purchasing new iPods for the wounded soldiers with donations we have received.” Lipsker, who grew up in Philadelphia and moved to Swampscott in 1992, said he also plans on visiting some children who spent the summer with families in Swampscott. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, only to come under frequent rocket attacks from militants there.

Hamas, whose charter calls for Israel’s destruction, won Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006 before seizing control of the seaside enclave from the rival Fatah group in June 2007.

In response to the ongoing attacks, Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza with Egypt’s backing, but that failed to stop the rockets. A truce brokered by Egypt last June broke down in November and Hamas let it lapse Dec. 19. Israel’s airstrikes began eight days later, followed by a ground offensive. The Israeli military said its military operations, which began Dec. 27, are aimed at halting the firing of rockets into southern Israel by Hamas.

But militants have continued to fire rockets and mortar shells into Israel. Lipsker said The Jewish Federation of the North Shore is sponsoring a rally in support of Israel. The event will be held this Sunday at Temple Ner Tamid, 368 Lowell St. in Peabody at 5 p.m. and the guest speaker will be Nadav Tamir, consul general of Israel to New England.

The event is free and open to people of all faiths.” The community will come together to support Israel’s right to exist in peace and security,” he said. “We encourage everyone to attend.” Lipsker said participants are encouraged to donate a small handheld game or toy so Israeli children can entertain themselves during the long hours in bomb shelters and iPods for wounded soldiers. Lipsker said he would personally deliver all of the donated items to Israel.

Anyone unable to attend who would like to make a donation can do so online at www.nsjewish.com, by calling 781-581-3833 or sending an email to [email protected]. The solidarity rally is sponsored in partnership with Anti Defamation League, Chabad of the North Shore, Cohen Hillel Academy, Congregation Ahabat Sholom, Congregation Shirat Hayam, Congregation Sons of Israel, Congregation Tifereth Israel, Holocaust Center Boston North, Jewish Community Center of the North Shore, Jewish Family Service of the North Shore, Jewish Historical Society of the North Shore, Jewish Journal Boston North, LSM Hadassah, Mikvat B’not Ysrael, North Shore Rabbinic Council, North Suburban Jewish Community Center, Temple Ahavat Achim, Temple B’nai Abraham, Temple Beth Shalom, Temple Emanu-El, Temple Ner Tamid, Temple Shalom and Temple Sinai.

Associated Press material was used in this report.

SWAMPSCOTT – At sundown on Sunday Hanukkah, which is also known as the Festival of Lights, begins and this year the holiday will burn a little brighter at Chabad Lubavitch of the North Shore. A big part of the Hanukkah celebration is the menorah, which contains nine candles – the server candle is lit first and from that candle, the Hanukkah candles are lit, one more each night until all are lit.

Rabbi Yossi Lipsker said most families have their own menorah, but the temple did not have one until very recently when two families who belong to Chabad Lubavitch of the North Shore made a menorah for Lipsker and the congregation.” It was a work of love, a work of art and a gift of light for our community,” Lipsker said. “It was a very thoughtful act.” Marc and Beth Andler, who own Andler Bottles, a glass manufacturing company based in Springfield, and Nancy Rosen, who is a local artist, have been collaborating on the project for a year.

Rosen said she made a smaller menorah for Marc in the past.” Marc got these really cool glass bottles and he said it would be cool if we could make a menorah with them,” she said.

“I said let’s do it again. Let’s make one for Yassi (Lipsker). (The Lipskers) give so much to the community and we wanted to give back at a deeper level. We wanted to create something permanent.” Beth said the two families decided to make the menorah to try to give back to the Rabbi, who means so much to the community.” It is given from the heart to the Rabbi,” she said.

“He just brings so much to the table and to the community. I think the Jewish community and the community as a whole are lucky to have the presence of Rabbi Lipsker and Chabad Lubavitch of the North Shore.” Rosen said she did most of the physical labor but the menorah was a true collaboration.” I started formulating an idea,” she said.

“Beth and Marc would stop by. I was constantly consulting with them about the idea. It was a joint process and everybody had input. It’s about the group.” Rosen pointed out the cut glass mosaic base looks like an Israeli flag rippling in the wind.” We made three prototypes,” she said. “Because we had to find a way to support the weight of the glass and the contents.

We had to put 50 coats of varnish on it. Art is very time consuming.” The tradition of lighting the menorah stems from 167 B. C. when the Syrian army took control of and defiled the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. After three years of Jewish guerrilla warfare, the Jews entered the defiled and half-demolished Temple. They started cleaning and rebuilding the Temple and the work was completed on the 25th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev in 165 B. C.

They planned a celebration to rededicate the Temple but there was only one jar of the consecrated lamp oil, which had been sealed and hidden away. It was only enough oil to burn the Temple menorah for one day. According to Jewish tradition, the lamp burned for 8 days and 8 nights, giving the priests the eight days needed to prepare more oil.

SWAMPSCOTT – North Shore rabbis and their congregation members will gather in Swampscott today to mourn the loss of two colleagues who were among those murdered in last week’s terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India. Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg were slain by terrorists during an assault that left more than 200 dead.

The Holtzbergs had deep connections to Chabad rabbis in the Boston area, many of whom studied with them at Chabad institutions in New York and in Israel. Rabbi Yossi Lipsker, director of Chabad of the North Shore, knew the Holtzberg family well.” We have truly lost our finest,” he said.

“Since 2003, Gavriel and Rivah directed a thriving hub of spirituality and kindness, with a Chabad center that serviced thousands of tourists and business people, as well as the local Jewish community.” The memorial service at 44 Burrill St. begins at 7:30 p.m. Traditionally, in times of sorrow, the community comes together in a show of solidarity, said Peter Nathan, president of Chabad of the North Shore.

The public and the media are invited to attend and share in this moment of reflection and remembrance, he said. Chabad representatives in Swampscott and Peabody will be among those mourning the loss.” The harrowing events have elicited prayers and heartfelt tears from every sector of our community,” says Rabbi Nechemia Schusterman, director of Chabad of Peabody.

Upon confirmation of the tragic end to the three-day ordeal, Boston area Chabad representatives asked their communities to honor the wishes of the family of Rivkah Holtzberg and light Sabbath candles before sundown on Friday. Hundreds of responses poured in.

“I gathered my family and we lit candles together,” said Wendy Polins of Swampscott. “In a darkened world, we must respond with light.” At least six bodies were found at the Nariman Chabad Center, including those of four Israelis. “Our thoughts and prayers are with all of the families of the victims of this heinous act of terror and we pray for the recovery of all of the wounded,” said Lipsker.

The Holtzberg’s toddler son, Moshe, was heroically rescued by his nanny and marked his second birthday yesterday, in India, with his grandparents.

A special fund has been set up for the boy and his younger brother, who is sadly ill and living in Israel. Contributions in support of the family can be made online at www.nsjewish.com. According to Nathan, many North Shore residents learned of the tragedy and the planned Swampscott memorial service through the Chabad of the North Shore email list, or through another list dispatched by the North Shore Jewish Federation.

Chabad sources indicated that an ELAL flight has left Israel to retrieve the bodies and that the funerals will be held today, he said. In addition to attending today’s memorial service, the North Shore community is asked to respond to the Mitzvah Memorial, using the “submit your mitzvah” link at www.nsjewish.com and pledge acts of goodness in memory of Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg, Nathan said.

The music is throbbing; the drums pound to a crescendo as the capacity crowd at the Coolidge Theatre in Brookline, Massachusetts rise to their feet for a final standing ovation.

The prolonged applause is not exclusively for the Moshav Band, one of today’s hottest Israeli ensembles, but is also intended as an outpouring of love and admiration for the work that Chabad Lubavitch has been doing on Boston’s North Shore for the past thirteen years.

The celebratory concert, held last Sunday, marked the Bar Mitzvah year of Chabad on the North Shore and honored Rabbi Yossi and Layah Lipsker who founded the organization in 1992. The event was attended by more than 500 people representing a cross section of the Jewish community.

Peter Samiljan , a Swampscott native who attended the concert with his family, said that “it was incredible to see grandparents dancing in the aisles with their grandchildren and teenagers having the time of their life in a Jewish setting.”

Samiljan, the owner of an online camera company, has been coming to Chabad for seven years and says it has changed his life. “I always considered myself a proud Jew,” he says “but I was never comfortable with the spiritual side of Judaism and I was saddened to see my three children following the same path.” At a friend’s suggestion, he met with Rabbi Lipsker to inquire about enrolling their eldest son in Chabad Hebrew School.

That was seven years ago and today the Samiljan family is a familiar sight at the Chabad shul and all three children have attended Hebrew School. “Rabbi Lipsker always greets me so warmly whenever I come to Shul” says Samiljan, “and he always asks how I have been, not where I have been.”

Chabad of the North Shore, which began in 1992 with a small office in the oceanside town of Swampscott , has become a powerful force for Jewish life north of Boston. Today Chabad serves the 23 communities of the North Shore with Hebrew Schools, Gan Israel Day Camp, the Aleph Bet Montessori Preschool, and the Adult Learning Institute. The growing staff includes Rabbi Moshe Kohen , Chabad’s educational director and Rabbi Nechemia and Raizel Shusterman who serve as directors of the newly opened Chabad of Peabody.

The highly acclaimed Chabad Hebrew Schools, in three locations, have a combined enrollment of 180 children and the newly founded Montessori preschool has doubled registration for the coming year. Camp Gan Israel, only three years old, has almost 100 children enrolled this summer. According to Liz Donnenfeld whose daughter Julie has attended the camp since its inception, these six weeks are the highlight of her daughter’s life.

Donnenfeld, who is the community coordinator for the Anti-Defamation League on the North Shore, says that Rabbi Yossi and Layah Lipsker have been the driving force in the way she raises her two daughters. “Had we not joined Chabad, I doubt whether our family would be experiencing the warmth and love of Yiddishkeit as we do today,” Liz said.

“Their influence has even spread to Chicago where my mother lives. I told her about the adult education classes I was taking with Layah and encouraged her to take one at Chabad of Chicago. Well, now my mother is talking to me about Kabbalah and I’m loving it”

The Donnenfeld’s daughter Allie , 12, is in Layah Lipsker’s Bat Mitzvah club, a program that is receiving rave reviews throughout the community. “Nothing can come close to the experience Allie is having,” says Donnenfeld. “Layah is an incredible teacher and the lessons she is imparting to these girls will last them throughout their life.”

Both Liz and her husband Neil , an executive with Advanced Vision Research, love coming to the Lipskers for Shabbat dinners. “Their home is always open and everyone is welcome,” says Neil. “Families don’t just come to Shul at Chabad, they become a part of larger Chabad family.”

“It has been a good 13 years,” says Rabbi Yossi Lipsker, “but my spiritual mentor, the Lubavitcher Rebbe , was never satisfied with good.”

“Having reached Chabad’s Bar Mitzvah Year, we are all infused with a new energy, with great hope and vision for the Chabad’s future,” he says.

Immediate plans include a new office in Beverly.

“We believe that every Jew has an inherent right to Torah study in an environment that respects and validates them.”