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From far corners of the Jewish world, the women of Chabad gather in freezing Brooklyn
(JTA) — It was close to 90 degrees back home in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on Friday, but Chani Aziza said she was thrilled to be freezing on a sidewalk in Brooklyn.
Aziza was one of thousands of women affiliated with the Chabad-Lubavitch movement who gathered in Crown Heights this week for the movement’s annual gathering of female emissaries.
Aziza, who moved to Dar es Salaam with her husband and two children three years ago as Chabad’s first emissaries there, is used to cooking all of their center’s food from scratch. No kosher prepared foods are available in Tanzania.
Now, as she braved frosty temperatures to pose in Chabad’s signature group photos, she said she was looking forward to visiting the many kosher establishments in the area, including the sushi restaurant Noribar.
“My friend just told me, like, enjoy it, you can eat whatever you want,” said Aziza. But she said the gathering had a more serious upside, too: “It’s fun also to come here to take power, see all this amount of shluchos, everyone in different places and different challenges.”
The women in Crown Heights, hailing from over 100 countries where the Chabad movement maintains a presence, were taking a rare break from the front lines of serving as what is often the only Jewish presence in their communities. As their husbands fulfill rabbinic duties, female emissaries take on a wide range of responsibilities, from managing their Chabad centers’ educational programming to supporting community members through crisis to making sure Shabbat meals are prepared — often while raising their own families far from extended support networks.
“We give the entire year. Our lives are all about giving, and today it’s about filling up our cup to make sure that we are receiving,” said Dinie Rapoport, who serves on the executive committee for the conference. “The goal of this conference is for us to come and to be renewed and rejuvenated, to be able to continue this mission, spreading Judaism throughout the world.”
Beyond the host of programming offered during the conference, including a visit to the gravesite of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement’s late leader and several panels and workshops, many of the emissaries said they were excited for the chance to connect with peers.
“I was so looking forward to this year,” said Devorah Leah Kalmenson. “You get so much energy just from coming and just seeing people and, like, they take care of you.”
Kalmenson moved to Leeds, England, three years ago when she was 22 to help lead the Chabad center’s youth programs, including five day camp sessions per year.
“I have two boys, so a lot of times the hours end up being when my kids are sleeping and just getting the schedules out and the planning and registration,” she said.
The Chabad movement currently operates 500 Jewish day camps in locations around the world as well as six overnight camps. The camp sector of the Orthodox movement’s programming is expanding amid a push to engage more young families.
While Kalmenson said she had experience helping her parents run the Hebrew school and camps at the Chabad center in Vilnius, Lithuania, she said she had received training from CKids, the Chabad movement’s youth programming arm.
“I did a lot of different workshops and programs, and CKids is also very good with educating how to run things and how to work with kids, discipline, I did an early childhood course and things like that,” said Kalmenson.
Kalmenson said she had also often relied on the guidance of other female emissaries as she navigated the challenges of running childcare programming.
Perel Krasnjansky was 25 when she first moved to Honolulu in 1987 to serve Hawaii’s only Chabad center at the time. She quickly started a Hebrew school which currently has 45 students enrolled. She said she still works anywhere from 12 to 18 hours a day, seven days a week.
“It was like landing on the moon, and in 1987, don’t forget, there was no internet, there was no WhatsApp, there were none of these supportive networks,” said Krasnjansky. “I have to say it was extremely challenging, it was extremely lonely.”
But Krasnjansky said female Chabad emissaries today had access to a level of connection and support that simply didn’t exist when she first went out, a shift she said had transformed the experience of serving in far-flung communities.
“Today, the young girls that do go out as far out as they go, they don’t have that extreme sense of loneliness we did in the ‘90s, that sense of being cut off and unmoored from everything you’ve ever known and loved,” said Krasnjansky.
The gathering took place in the shadow of two recent Chabad traumas, coming just over a week after a man was arrested for ramming his car repeatedly into Chabad’s world headquarters, the backdrop of the group photograph at 770 Eastern Parkway. A month earlier, two gunmen had killed 15 people at a Chabad Hanukkah party in Sydney.
Rabbi Mendy Kotlarsky, the director of the International Conference of Shluchos, said Chabad had partnered with the NYPD and Counterterrorism Bureau to arrange security for the event, and had been “scouring social media” for “mischievous activity.”
“Obviously, in a year like this, the last few years, security is a top item across the board internationally for all of our events,” said Kotlarsky. “It’s a new reality that we live in.”
The danger, he said, “at the same time, recommits us to making sure that we give them the best experience when they come here, that these ladies can go back home to Bondi Beach or to the most remote places in the world, whether it’s Cambodia or Ghana, and be able to stand proud and share the Jewish message.”
Laya Slavin, co-founder of the Sydney-based nonprofit Our Big Kitchen, said many of the female emissaries from Sydney had not come to the Crown Heights gathering in the wake of the Bondi massacre because of the amount of work needed at home.
She said she had debated making the trip herself before eventually deciding to come, saying she had taken inspiration from Rabbi Eli Schlanger, the emissary in charge of Chabad of Bondi who was killed during the attack.
“I had missed my flight, and I said to my husband, that’s it, I missed my flight, I’m not coming, I’m not meant to be here,” said Slavin. “There is so much to do in Sydney. I mean, as I was flying, we have 50 volunteers baking 500 challahs to deliver out on Bondi Beach. I’m like, what am I doing here? I need to be in Sydney. But then again, you have that message from Rabbi Eli.”
The post From far corners of the Jewish world, the women of Chabad gather in freezing Brooklyn appeared first on The Forward.
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Hezbollah Pays Steep Price in Battle to Reverse Its Fortunes
Workers remove a coffin with a body from temporary graves and prepare for transport for a funeral ceremony of four Hezbollah fighters and two civilians, amid a temporary ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, in Tyre, southern Lebanon, April 26, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Marko Djurica/File Photo
Hezbollah has paid a heavy price for going to war with Israel on March 2: Israel has occupied a chunk of southern Lebanon, displaced hundreds of thousands of its Shi’ite Muslim constituents and killed as many as several thousand of its fighters, according to previously unreported casualty estimates from within the group.
The move has brought severe political consequences, too. In Beirut, opposition has hardened to its status as an armed group, which domestic rivals see as exposing Lebanon to repeated wars with Israel.
In April, Lebanon’s government held face-to-face talks with Israel for the first time in decades, a decision Hezbollah firmly opposed.
However, more than a dozen Hezbollah officials told Reuters they see a chance to reverse deteriorating fortunes by aligning with Tehran in its war with Israel and the United States. The group, founded by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in 1982, opened fire two days into the conflict, which began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.
The group’s calculations are based on the assessment that its participation would force Lebanon onto the agenda of U.S.-Iranian negotiations, and that Iranian pressure can secure a more robust ceasefire than one that took effect in November 2024 following a conflict sparked by the war in Gaza, the officials said.
Hezbollah was mauled in the last war, which killed its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, along with some 5,000 fighters, and weakened its long-dominant hold over the Lebanese state.
Rearmed with Iranian help, it has used new tactics and drones, surprising many with its capabilities after a fragile 15-month truce during which Hezbollah held fire, even as Israel continued to kill its members.
Hezbollah lawmaker Ibrahim al-Moussawi denied the group was acting on Iran’s behalf when it resumed hostilities, as alleged by opponents. He told Reuters Hezbollah saw a window to “break this vicious cycle … where the Israelis can target, assassinate, bombard, kill, without any revenge.”
He acknowledged losses and damage in southern Lebanon but said “you don’t go into making calculations of how many are going to be killed” when “pride and sovereignty and independence” are at stake.
Hezbollah’s media office said the figure of several thousand fighters killed in the present war was false.
While a US-mediated ceasefire that took effect on April 16 has led to a significant reduction in hostilities, Israel and Hezbollah have continued to trade blows in the south, where Israel maintains troops in a self-declared “buffer zone.”
Yezid Sayigh, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, said Hezbollah had “shown more resilience than many thought possible, but that was not a strategic gain in itself.”
“The only thing that will contain Israel is a comprehensive US-Iran deal,” he said. “Without a deal, there’s going to be a lot of pain for everyone. At best, a hurting stalemate.”
GRAVES FRESHLY DUG, AND QUICKLY FILLED
More than 2,600 people have been killed since March 2, around a fifth of them women, children and medics, Lebanon’s health ministry has reported. Its toll does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Three sources, two of them Hezbollah officials, said the ministry’s figures do not include many of the group’s casualties. They said several thousand Hezbollah fighters have been killed, though the group does not have the full picture yet.
In a statement to Reuters, Hezbollah’s media office denied the figures cited by the sources, and that the numbers published by Lebanon’s health ministry included its members killed in Israeli strikes.
One source, a Hezbollah commander, said scores of fighters had gone to the frontline towns of Bint Jbeil and Khiyam intending to fight to the death. Their bodies have yet to be recovered.
In the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut, more than two dozen freshly dug graves were quickly filled with fighters’ bodies in the days after the ceasefire took hold. Simple marble tombstones identify some as commanders, others as fighters.
In one southern village alone, Yater, the council recorded the deaths of 34 Hezbollah fighters.
Lebanon’s Shi’ite Muslim community has borne the brunt of Israel’s attacks, forced to flee into Christian, Druze and other areas, where many blame Hezbollah for starting the war.
Israel has been entrenching its hold over a security zone stretching as far as 10 km (6 miles) into Lebanon and demolishing villages, saying it aims to shield northern Israel from attacks by Hezbollah militants embedded in civilian areas.
An Israeli government official said Hezbollah had abrogated the November 2024 ceasefire by firing on Israeli citizens on March 2. The threat to northern Israel would be eradicated, the official said, adding thousands of Hezbollah militants had been killed, and Israel was steadily destroying the group’s infrastructure.
The Israeli military says Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel since March 2. Israel has announced 17 soldiers killed in southern Lebanon, along with two civilians in northern Israel.
Citing ongoing Israeli strikes, Hezbollah has called the April ceasefire meaningless and continued to attack.
IRAN ‘WILL NOT SELL’ THEIR FRIENDS
A diplomat who has contact with Hezbollah described its decision to enter the war as a big gamble and a survival strategy, saying it felt it needed to be part of the problem so it could be part of an eventual regional solution.
It has yet to be seen if the gamble will pay off.
Tehran has demanded that Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah be included in any deal on the wider war. But US President Donald Trump said last month that any deal Washington reaches with Tehran “is in no way subject to Lebanon.”
A spokesperson for Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, Tahir Andrabi, referred Reuters to an April 16 statement in which he said peace in Lebanon was essential to the talks it is mediating between the U.S. and Iran.
A Western official said they saw a possibility the US and Iran might eventually reach a settlement that does not address the war in Lebanon.
Asked about this, the US State Department, Iran’s mission to the United Nations in Geneva and Lebanon’s government did not immediately comment.
Hezbollah’s Moussawi said a ceasefire in Lebanon continues to be a top priority for Iran, adding Tehran shares Lebanon’s objectives, including that Israel halt attacks and withdraw from Lebanon. Hezbollah has “full trust in Iran – that the Iranians will not sell their own friends”, he said.
The State Department referred Reuters to an April 27 interview Secretary of State Marco Rubio did with Fox News, in which he said Israel had a right to defend itself against Hezbollah’s attacks, and that he didn’t think Israel wanted to maintain its buffer zone in Lebanon indefinitely.
The United States has urged Israel “to make sure their responses are proportional and targeted,” he said.
When the April 16 ceasefire was announced, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hezbollah’s disarmament would be a fundamental demand in peace talks with Lebanon.
Hezbollah has ruled out disarmament, saying the matter of its weapons is a topic for a national dialogue. Any move by Lebanon to disarm the group by force would risk igniting conflict in a country shattered by civil war from 1975 to 1990.
Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam have sought Hezbollah’s peaceful disarmament since last year. On March 2, the government banned the group’s military activities.
Hezbollah has demanded the government cancel that decision and end its direct talks with Israel.
Lebanese officials have told Reuters they believe direct talks with Israel under the auspices of the US are the best way to secure a lasting ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli troops, as only Washington has enough leverage with Israel to achieve those aims.
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US President Trump Tells Israeli Media: ‘I Studied Iran’s New Proposal, It Is Not Acceptable to Me’
US President Donald Trump arrives to award the medal of honor to Master Sgt. Roderick ‘Roddie’ W. Edmonds, Staff Sgt. Michael H. Ollis, and retired Command Sgt. Maj. Terry P. Richardson during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 02 March 2026.
US President Donald Trump said he has reviewed Iran’s latest proposal and described it as “unacceptable” in an interview with Israeli broadcaster Kan News on Sunday. Trump added that ongoing efforts related to the conflict are “progressing very well,” without providing further details. He also renewed his call for clemency for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, arguing that Israel needs a leader focused on wartime priorities rather than legal matters.
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Israel Court Extends Detention of Gaza Flotilla Activists
Activist Saif Abu Keshek, a member of the Global Sumud Flotilla detained by Israel, sits at a magistrate’s court for a detention extension hearing in Ashkelon, southern Israel, May 3, 2026. REUTERS/Amir Cohen
An Israeli court has extended by two days the detention of two activists arrested aboard a Gaza-bound flotilla that was intercepted by Israeli forces in international waters near Greece, their lawyer said on Sunday.
Saif Abu Keshek, a Spanish national, and Brazilian Thiago Avila were detained by Israeli authorities late on Wednesday and brought to Israel, while more than 100 other pro-Palestinian activists aboard the boats were taken to the Greek island of Crete.
A court spokesperson confirmed that their remand had been extended until May 5.
The governments of Spain and Brazil issued a joint statement on Friday calling their detention illegal.
The activists were part of a second Global Sumud flotilla, launched in an attempt to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza by delivering humanitarian assistance. The ships had set sail from Barcelona on April 12.
Israeli authorities requested a four-day extension of their arrest on suspicion of offenses that include assisting the enemy during wartime, contact with a foreign agent, membership in and providing services to a terrorist organization, and the transfer of property for a terrorist organization, said rights group Adalah, which is assisting in the activists’ defense.
Hadeel Abu Salih, the men’s attorney, said that the two deny the allegations. Their arrest was unlawful due to a lack of jurisdiction, she told Reuters at the Ashkelon Magistrate’s Court after the hearing, adding that the mission was meant to provide aid to civilians in Gaza, not to any militant group.
Abu Salih said that Abu Keshek and Avila were subjected to violence en route to Israel and kept handcuffed and blindfolded until Thursday morning.
Asked for comment, the Israeli military referred Reuters to the Israeli foreign ministry, which said that staff were compelled to act to stop what it described as violent physical obstruction by Abu Keshek and Avila. All measures taken were lawful, it said.