Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Happy Holidays 2006

On a mission to light up the world

By MINDY RUBENSTEIN
Published December 20, 2006

TRINITY - Rabbi Yossi Eber is passionate about bringing Judaism to Jews. That fact was evident Tuesday evening as he erected an 8-foot-tall menorah in a cordoned-off section of the parking lot in the Publix at Chelsea Place Shopping Center.

"We're lighting up the world, spreading goodness and kindness," the 30-year-old rabbi said. "To be kind and good and share with your neighbors, this is something that we teach to everybody."

As part of the rabbi's mission and that of the Brooklyn-based Chabad-Lubavitch movement, the public menorah lighting brings the Jewish traditions of Hanukkah into the public eye, making the holiday accessible to those who might not have gotten the chance otherwise. Events like this, Rabbi Eber said, are for Jews and non-Jews alike.

"We repair the world with small steps, light by light," he said during the event. As he spoke, his 5-year-old son Tzvi clung to the podium beneath him.

The event drew nearly 200 people from west and central Pasco.

U.S. Rep. Mike Bilirakis lit the central shamash candle using a large torch and a step stool. "I wish the world could take heed to your words," he told the rabbi. Children from the community helped light the other five candles.

"That was the most colossal experience," 8-year-old Abby Brazier said. A student at Fox Hollow Elementary, she wore a Jewish star on each cheek. The face painting, children's craft table, and a clown making balloon animals all added to the festivities.

Rochelle Gianino was excited to have a chance to get to know people in the community.

"You know God but you don't know your neighbors," said Gianino, 65, who is in hospice care and gets regular visits from Rabbi Eber.

"He's done wonderful things for the community," said Shelley Schneider, Gianino's case worker with Gulfside Regional Hospice in New Port Richey.

Tuesday's event included a joyous celebration with live music from the Mike Eisenstadt Band, potato latkes, and chocolate Hanukkah "gelt" - gold foil-covered candy often used as a prize during the dreidel game.

Rabbi Eber sent invitations to about 275 people, and estimates the number of Jews in the area could be as high as 4,000, many of them intermarried, unaffiliated, or both.

The 250-year-old Chabad movement has more than 3,800 emissary couples like the Ebers stationed in 45 U.S. states and 61 foreign countries.

Rabbi Eber moved to the area earlier this year with his wife, Dina, 26, and their three young children. They've since had child No. 4.

"It's a full-time, 24-7 job," he said of his work as a rabbi. "You live it."

They practice a traditional yet mystical form of Hasidic Judaism, searching out non-practicing Jews, inviting them into their homes for Shabbat meals, teaching classes and building an easygoing community with no membership roster or annual dues.

"There are so many different ways we connect," he said.

For several days before the event, the menorah was perched in front of Trinity Memorial Gardens Jewish cemetery overlooking State Road 54.

"People saw the menorah on 54 and sent me e-mails and said they were touched," he said. "You suddenly feel closer to yourself, closer to your religion. It's beautiful."

[Last modified December 20, 2006, 07:12:25]