In Dallas, Hundreds of Young Jews Fill Synagogue Over Holiday Season
by Faygie Levy Holt – chabad.org
In a world in which Jewish non-profit professionals and consultants try to come up with all sorts of ways to attract young Jews, The Intown Chabad in Dallas, Tex., has been successfully doing just that.
The secret? Offering young Jews the opportunity to engage with authentic Judaism.
The success of Intown Chabad’s model was on display again over the week of Sukkot and Simchat Torah, when the center kept getting busier as the holiday went along.
“There are lots of companies moving here, and with them, many young Jews along with them, right into our neighborhood,” says Rabbi Mendy Plotkin, who leads the center alongside his wife Mushka. “I get four to five calls each week from the people on the East Coast relocating to Dallas, keen to hear about the local Jewish community. When new people come, they see the Shabbat dinners, classes, and programs and find new friends to socialize with, that’s really comforting.”
Zach Pokroy felt that welcome soon after he moved to Dallas. A friend of his sister’s invited him to a hockey game and mentioned he was also bringing a rabbi along. That rabbi was Plotkin, who, with his wife, had recently moved to Dallas to work with Rabbi Zvi and Aidy Drizin. Their job was to offer programs for the many young professionals moving to the city.
“I just vibed with Rabbi Mendy,” Pokroy recounts. “He told me about all the things he was planning, and I just got plugged right in. They have this go big or go home attitude and they do that very nicely.”
A Chabad Center for the Post-College Crowd
The history of The Intown Chabad dates back to the early 2000s, when Rabbi Mendel Dubrawsky, regional director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Dallas, began offering a weekly class for singles in the Uptown neighborhood. When the Drizins, Dubrawsky’s daughter and son-in-law, arrived in Dallas as emissaries in 2004, they began providing more programming to the young professionals living in the Uptown area, and moved there three years later, and so The Intown Chabad was born.
The Drizins invited the Plotkins to join them in their work in 2022, and have since started a Chabad on Campus at Southern Methodist University (SMU), just three miles away. They remain heavily involved with The Intown Chabad, serving as development directors among other roles.
The Plotkins offer the full range of programming found at any Chabad center, along with programs built for younger Jews. Intown’s ‘First Friday,’ held on the first Shabbat of each month, draws between 250 and 300 people. Most are singles, and new faces keep coming. The evening starts with Friday-night Shabbat prayers, followed by a dinner where people can spend time connecting and meeting each other.
To make their activities as successful as possible, and to make sure they meet the needs of the young people in their community, the Plotkins rely on a leadership team of young adults.
“We want to empower young adults to lead our community today,” Plotkin says. “We can’t wait until they are 40 or 50 years old to lead. Now is when they are choosing who to marry and how to raise a family and incorporate Judaism into their lives.”
‘We Can Have A Huge Impact’
Among The Intown Chabad’s young leaders is Chaia Geltser, a Denver native who says she grew up “disconnected” from her Judaism. She began to explore her Jewish identity as a student at Colorado State University, through the Chabad emissaries there. When she moved to Dallas for medical school, joining Intown Chabad was a no-brainer.
“I have picked up so many things in my Jewish practice because of Intown, whether that’s lighting Shabbat candles or hosting a Shabbat meal, studying Torah or learning more about the holidays or traditions,” she says.
“I think my life centers around Chabad and everyone I have met there. My closest friends are from Chabad, and I see them multiple times a week. We have dinner together. We travel together. We are friends for life. I go to as many Jewish educational events as I can, whether it’s a Tuesday night dinner or ‘Soul Talk’ with the rebbetzin on Shabbat. Intown Chabad is a place for me to learn, meet people and give back with Our Giving Kitchen.”
Our Giving Kitchen began as an initiative of Chabad in Pittsburgh, founded by Plotkin’s sister and brother-in-law, Rabbi Chezky and Bassie Rosenfeld. It has quickly become a signature program at The Intown Chabad, providing hundreds of meals to people in need.
“It’s really fulfilling to know that thanks to such a small Jewish community, relative to the rest of Dallas, we can have such a huge impact,” says Geltser. “And the fact that we can share Jewish values with other people, whether they know it or not, is gratifying.”
Geltser and Pokroy both lead fitness programs through the Chabad center. Pokroy organizes basketball, pickleball and golf tournaments, and Geltser leads a running club. They may not sound like typical Jewish events, but they give young Jewish professionals another way to build community and meet other Jews their own age.
“I think we are lucky in Dallas,” says Pokroy, “because if I didn’t have a Chabad center like this, I don’t know if I would be so set on staying here.”