A Night of Gratitude, Growth, and Simcha: Chabad of South Broward Celebrates 46 Years

by A. Gordon

This past Monday night, on the evening of Chai Elul — the birthday of both the Baal Shem Tov and the Alter Rebbe — more than 300 members and friends of the South Broward Jewish community gathered at Turnberry Aventura Jewish Center to celebrate the 45th Annual Dinner of Congregation Levi Yitzchok-Lubavitch/Chabad of South Broward Headquarters. 

By every measure, it was one of the largest and most spirited dinners in the organization’s history, opening with an hour of cocktails and hors d’oeuvres before guests sat down to a seated dinner in a room glowing with warmth, unmistakable energy, and beautifully decorated by Thimble and Co.

Serving as Master of Ceremonies was Rabbi Mendel Goldman, who welcomed the crowd and made the surprising announcement that he looks forward to joining the team of Chabad of South Broward’s Shluchim in the near future. 

The evening carried real civic warmth as well, with Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper in attendance — a longtime, familiar friend to Chabad’s activities in the city — who was warmly welcomed by the room. The City is working very closely with Chabad in their Phase One Expansion that has recently begun.

The program opened on a note of unity, as Rabbi Mendy Levy led the room in the Rebbe’s Kapitel of Tehillim, with the community’s collective intentions directed toward those in need of blessings for children, shidduchim, parnassa, and health — for South Broward and for the safety and wellbeing of Jews everywhere, and especially in Eretz Yisroel. From there, guests rose for one of the dinner’s most powerful annual traditions: the reading of the Rebbe’s last signed letter. 

Read the letter here: https://www.chabad.org/therebbe/letters/default_cdo/aid/1919956/jewish/The-Last-Letter.htm

Delivered by Rabbi Mendy Tenenhaus, the letter — the very last one the Rebbe signed before his 1992 stroke — was written specifically for the Eleventh Annual Dinner of Congregation Levi Yitzchok – Lubavitch, and its blessing has echoed through this event ever since. The Rebbe blesses all those who attend and support the Annual dinner with tremendous Brachos. 

The evening’s keynote came from Rabbi Raphael Tenenhaus, Head Shliach of South Broward, who reflected on how dramatically the community has transformed — from a neighborhood once home primarily to Holocaust survivors and retirees into one of the youngest, fastest-growing Jewish communities in Florida. Speaking just days before Rosh Hashanah, Rabbi Tenenhaus centered his remarks on the Rebbe’s teaching that every Jew, not only the “official” shluchim, carries the responsibility to reach out: if you know Aleph, teach Aleph. He spoke movingly about the “October 8th Jew” — the surge of Jewish identity and pride that has emerged since October 7th — and challenged every person in the room to leave with one commitment: to stop being a bystander and bring at least one more Jew along on the journey, with Simcha Poretz Geder, joy that breaks through every boundary, that will hasten the imminent revelation of Moshiach.

Rabbi Moshe Schwartz, marking nearly 40 years as Chabad of South Broward’s administrator, offered a rare behind-the-scenes look at the sheer scope of what happens under the organization’s roof: the South Broward Shtiebelach, with 5-6 hours of Shachris Minyanim, the Mens’ Mikvah that opens at 5am, the Elana Leah Women’s Mikvah, overseen by his dedicated Rebbetzin, a preschool, a huge Camp Gan Israel, Hebrew school, Bar and Bat Mitzvah clubs, CTeen and CTeen Junior, the Friendship Circle, the Kollel D’Rav Pinchas Hirschprung, the Chaya Aydel Seminary – and — quietly, year-round — direct assistance to families facing financial hardship, totaling more than $250,000 distributed this year alone.

The night’s Award Ceremony recognized five honorees whose lives exemplify the community’s values: Shabsi and Shayna Kabatchnik received the Dugma Chaya – Living Example Award for the quiet, everyday example of their Chassidishe home; Rabbi Simcha and Sima Bart received the Mivtza Torah Award for the daily shiurim he delivers to the Centers’ kollel; Rabbi Zelig and Perla Katzman received the Young Leadership Award for inspiring the community’s growing population of young couples; Yossi and Shira Levitan received the Oiseh Chesed Award, celebrated for their quiet generosity — and, memorably, for Yossi’s insistence that no South Broward simcha is complete without a keg of beer; and Shlomi and Leah Nash received the Ahavas Chinam Award for their humble, behind-the-scenes kindness to families and institutions alike.

And then came the moment the room had been waiting for all night: Zusha took the stage, and the transformation was instant. Chairs emptied as the entire room (of men) rose to dance, singing along to the band’s best-known hits. In honor of Chai Elul, the Alter Rebbe’s birthday, Zusha wove in beloved Lubavitcher niggunim, with the singing of Daled Bavos as a true highlight of the evening — followed by an encore of their hit “Don’t Leave Me On My Own” that brought the crowd right back to its feet.

As guests made their way out, they took home more than memories: a new Chabad of South Broward calendar and a copy of “I Am Not Alone”, Riva Pomerantz’s gripping true story of a woman who lived her Judaism openly under Communist rule — a book Rabbi Tenenhaus credited with inspiring this year’s very special entertainment choice — as keepsakes of the evening. But what truly lingered was something harder to package — a packed room of over 300 people, three generations of shluchim families, and a community that spent one night looking back on 46 years of growth while committing, together, to build the next chapter with even more simcha, unity, and purpose.

A special thank you to all the Shluchim in South Broward who participated, including the Lifshitzs, the Kudans, the Schwartz’s, the Lebovics’s, the numerous Tennenhaus’s, the Barash’s, the Andrusier’s, the Feiners, the Phillips’s, the Levy’s, the Wolf’s and many more.  

The Dinner was another masterpiece produced by Reb Dovid Weinbaum, and assisted by Rabbi Moshe Schwartz, Rabbi Mordy Feiner and Reb Ari Portnoy.  

Featured Co-Chairmen for the 45th Annual Dinner were “MVP for Life” Reb Efraim Kaufman, Reb Meir Cohen, Reb Mendel Kotlarsky and Reb Yossi Dechter. 

All Dinner Participants are eagerly anticipating the 46th Annual Dinner, to be held G-d willing in Yerusholayim, with Moshiach, NOW!