16 | JULY 4 • 2024 
J
N

it’s that the Rebbe’s guiding us 
through his lessons and his teach-
ings.
”
Grossbaum’s spent time in 
India helping smaller commu-
nities of Israelis get kosher food 
and celebrate Shabbat, been to 
the remote jungles of Jamaica 
meeting area Jews, and he and his 
wife spent the winter running the 
Chabad house in St. Thomas, he 
recounts. 
“The Rebbe’s whole idea was 
that you should reach out to each 
and every Jew. There’s no such 
thing as someone that doesn’t 
matter; each and every Jew is 
important for the full picture of 
the Jewish community.
”
Hours north, Rabbi Laibel 
Shemtov, co-director of the 
Jewish Community Center of 
Traverse City with his wife, 
Chaya Shemtov, is also fairly new. 
Opened in February 2023, the 
son of West Bloomfield emis-
saries Bassie and Levi Shemtov, 
founders and co-directors 
of Friendship Circle in West 

Bloomfield, says he and his wife 
moved without knowing anyone 
and have found more than 150 
Jews who live locally. 
The Chabad offers Friday night 
dinners, Shabbat services, one-
on-one conversations and weekly 
classes, and Laibel Shemtov 
says he goes around downtown 
looking to meet other Jewish res-
idents, so that he can in the spirit 
of the Rebbe remind them, too, 
of their roots and help them add 
one more good deed. They’ve got 
a new 6,000-square-foot building 
with a big menorah out front 
that will have a grand opening in 
August, where he says they plan 
to also have a Judaica store and 
offer kosher food. They currently 
sell challah at the farmers’ market 
every week. 
“We grew up learning the 
Rebbe’s teachings and watching 
the Rebbe on video and seeing 
my parents do the Rebbe’s work 
— there’s nothing else I’
d rather 
do,
” he says.
Benji Rosenzweig of West 

Celebrating the opening of the new Chabad Center in Troy

Thousands converge in 
Downtown Detroit for 
the annual Menorah in 
the D.

OUR COMMUNITY

Women of Chabad attend a 
“Wellness Summit” focused 
on providing mental health 
resources to the Jewish 
community. 

continued from page 14

