Chabad-Lubavitch officials in Montreal attribute record participation in dozens of events at its centers this year to direct outreach, otherwise known as the “personal touch.”
Case in point: Renzo Paredes was driving with a friend last Sunday on the Jewish holiday of Purim when a group of bearded young men dressed as clowns knocked on his window. Boisterously wishing him a “Happy Purim!,” they handed him a traditional Purim package – known as mishloach manot – containing a bottle of grape juice, some Purim pastries called hamantashen and a note from the Chabad-affiliated Montreal Torah Center.
“I was very surprised to see something like that,” said Paredes, a resident of Côte des Neiges. “It felt good. It felt very good to know that they want to share Purim with everybody.”
His experience was no exception.
According to Rabbi Berel Mockin, head of the Chabad Lubavitch Youth Organization in Montreal and its affiliated Chabad Houses, such interactions are key to Chabad’s outreach model. Mockin cited the 7,000 participants in nearly 30 large-scale Purim celebrations held throughout Montreal.
“We have big parties, megillah readings and programs in the established centers,” he said. “They have been steadily growing for years. But the real surprise this year is the sheer numbers that are coming out of our smaller centers serving less established communities. Places like Saint Lazare, Sherbrooke, Mount Tremblant, Brossard, Nuns’ Island and Old Montreal, where there were virtually nothing Jewish just a few years ago, now have regular programming and participation on par with the larger centers.”
Rabbi Leibel Fine of Dollard Chabad, who held five megillah readings during the holiday, attributes this success to one-on-one interaction. “We do not just put an ad in the paper and wait for people to come. Virtually every person at our events was a guest in our home at one time or another. For us, the Shabbat table is the most important way to connect.”
Rabbi Nachum Labkowski, spiritual leader of Chabad of Saint Lazare, concurs. “People are moving into town all the time, and many of them miss the sense of community they had on the island” of Montreal, he said. “We make sure to have families at our house every Shabbat, and they feel connected. In fact, I am beginning to hear that some of our Shabbat guests are inviting guests of their own, and that is very gratifying.”
Labkowski estimated that most of the nearly 100 people who attended his circus-themed Purim carnival, which featured crafts, balloon-making, face-painting and food, knew about it via word of mouth. “Some came from the ads we put in the papers, but face-to-face invitations were certainly what brought them through the door,” he said.
Rabbi Nissi Gansbourg of Chabad of Old Montreal, which serves the eclectic urbane community centered around the Old Port, said personal invites and social media helped bring more than 350 people to his Sunday afternoon event, featuring cocktails, an open bar and a DJ, along with the traditional Purim rituals. “We had a committee of eight organizers – dubbed the MTL Jew Crew – and they did a fantastic job at bringing people in.”
A similar mix of social media and word of mouth accounted for 600-plus people who filed into the iconic Chabad House on Peel Street, noted Rabbi Shmuli Weiss of Chabad-Lubavitch serving McGill University. Members of the Chabad student board also invited friends to the “Purim Around the World celebration” – and those friends brought even more friends.
The MADA Community Centre – Chabad’s humanitarian arm – reported an overflow crowd of 900 people, including MADA aid recipients and volunteers, filling two halls in the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue. Miriam Sebbag, event coordinator at Mada, said they made sure to tell people well in advance about the parties. “We encouraged our volunteers to spread the word among the people they help and to tell them that they would be there as well. That way, it was really a community-wide celebration, where everyone felt welcome and included,” she said.
Perhaps the strength of personal interaction was most evident in the two-month-old Chabad center in Lasalle, founded by Rabbi Chaim Brand and his wife, Chanie.
Held in a rented hall, their Purim celebration was their very first event, and they spared no effort to make sure that everyone was welcome. The Brands went door to door with mishloach manot and personally invited everyone they knew to their celebration. With 80 attendees, the rabbi was satisfied with the turnout.
“They knew that we really wanted them to come, and they came with their friends,” he said.
When asked about his next event, Brand was thoughtful: “We would really like to get a permanent building, but for now, I will be distributing matzahs for Passover.”
Start a Discussion