DECEMBER 17 • 2020 | 25

W

hat began as a virtual
Melaveh Malka, the
traditional com-
munal meal held at the close of
Shabbat, ended up as possibly the
world’s longest Zoom meeting.
The call, part of November’s
International Conference of
Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries,
was only supposed to last a day.
Due to the pandemic, for the
first time in 40 years, the con-
ference was held virtually and
included 5,000 rabbis tuning in
from more than 100 countries.

The call began after Shabbat
ended in Melbourne, Australia,
and continued with Chabad-
Lubavitch emissaries tuning in
to speakers all the way from
Bangkok to Jerusalem and
London to Los Angeles, culmi-
nating with the end of Shabbat
in Hawaii, when the Chabad
emissary in Honolulu joined 24
hours later. As the time zones
rotated and rabbis joined and
left the call, the Zoom continued
well after Shabbat had ended in
Hawaii and into the next after-

noon in Australia. Anywhere
between 200 to 1,000 rabbis were
on the call at any given moment.
Rabbi Moishie Glitsenstein,
co-director of the Royal Oak
Jewish Center, joined the virtual
event for a few hours each day.
Glitsenstein said the histo-
ry-making event was reflective of
the Jewish people’s values and the
message of Judaism to find the
good in every situation in times
of hardship. “I believe this Zoom
meeting was an example of how
we could take this pandemic
time and turn it into something
meaningful,
” Glitsenstein said.
Gaining momentum, the
Zoom event continued for days
and lasted a total of 136 hours
and 45 minutes, according to
Glitsenstein. The overlapping
time zones allowed the rabbis to
not violate Shabbat law, with each
time zone initially joining the
Zoom event once Shabbat ended
in their respective locations.
The conversations and cele-

brations had among the rabbis
over the nearly weeklong event
included the sharing of inspi-
ration and ideas in how to lead
one’s community during the pan-
demic, as well as spreading words
of Torah while sharing song,
food and drinks.
The Jewish values that
Glitsenstein believes allowed
for history like this to happen
are also values the Rebbe, Rabbi
Menachem M. Schneerson, sub-
scribed to, the Royal Oak-based
rabbi said.
“I think it’s something the
Rebbe was also very into — that
any situation we have, if it’s good
or bad, to find out how to live in
every situation and use it as an
opportunity,
” Glitsenstein said.
“It’s not, ‘Oh, a pandemic,
everything is stopped.
’ No, we
have to recreate it and see how
in these times we can have com-
munity and everything we had
before and even better, just in a
creative and safe way.
”

JOHN HARDWICK/MYJEWISHDETROIT

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER
Zoom World Record

Rabbi Moishie

and Mushky

Glitsenstein.

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