Chabad NSW
FOUNDING
The Yeshiva Centre was established in 1956 by Mr. Abraham Rabinovitch obm, as a Synagogue and centre of learning for the Sydney Jewish community. The spiritual leaders from 1956 to 1968 were Rabbi G. Herz and Rabbi C. E. Barzel. In 1968 the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, sent Rabbi and Rebbetzin Pinchus and Pnina Feldman as Shluchim (Emissaries) to Sydney with the task of organising a Chabad-Lubavitch presence in order to strengthen Jewish education and outreach throughout NSW. Greeted warmly by the community, Rabbi Feldman was appointed Dean and Spiritual Leader of the Yeshiva Centre.
GROWTH
Activities grew and in 1985 the building was expanded to include the Adler Building. Other projects included regular classes and meetings for men, women, young adults, retirees and Israeli expats. In addition the Yeshiva continued to offer adult education, regular publications, many youth activities most notably, day camps and overnight camps.
Over many years, Rabbi and Rebbetzin Feldman educated thousands of students and oversaw a vast expansion of Yeshiva College. In 2003, the college became independent and rebranded as Kesser Torah College. In the years following, Yeshiva College Bondi was established with a focus on developing future communal leaders and activists. Again over a short period of time, the new College also affectionately called Cheder Chabad, grew in number and size, producing fine young men and women prepared with a mission to change the world with one act of kindness at a time. In 2017 an independent board of directors was established and Yeshiva College Bondi also became an independent school.
During the 1980’s, the establishment of a Yeshiva Gedolah Rabbinical College was overseen and many hundreds of international and local students spent time in Sydney, studying for their Rabbinical Ordination and working in wide range of communal areas to help bring the joy and richness of Judaism to the Sydney Jewish community and beyond.
It was under their leadership that the activities of Chabad NSW thrived and significantly contributed to bring about the exponential growth of today’s Jewish Sydney.
NEW CENTRES
In 1987 Chabad-Lubavitch Bondi was established as the home for F.R.E.E. (Friends of Refugees of Eastern Europe) to cater for the influx of Russian Jewry emigrating to Sydney. This signified the beginning of the establishment of Chabad-Lubavitch centres throughout Sydney. Over the past 20 years, centres have been established in St Ives, Double Bay, Dover Heights, Rose Bay, Bondi Junction, Sydney CBD and Bondi.
COMMUNITY
Chabad NSW has played an integral role in the establishment of essential community organisations such as the NSW Kashrut Authority and the Jewish House Crisis Centre. The Centre's alumni and associates hold the pulpits in many of Orthodox Synagogues in Sydney. They play important roles in the Rabbinical Council of NSW and the Sydney Beth Din (religious court), serve as chaplains within the broader community; including the NSW Ambulance Service, Police, Corrective Services and State Emergency Services.
TODAY
Chabad NSW and its satellite Chabad centres around Sydney are focused on Chabad principles to enhance Jewish life, increase Torah knowledge - spiritual awareness and dedication to Judaism and encourage a strengthening of acts of goodness and kindness. In addition, the Rebbe spoke about the responsibility to communicate universal spiritual ideals, as expressed in the Seven Noahide Laws, to all humanity and to help prepare the world for the Messianic era, a time of global peace and harmony where the pursuit of mankind will be spirituel and pain and suffering shall be no more.