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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