At the Bris Avrohom gala dinner honoring Simon and Lina Garber, from left, Rabbi Yossi Kanelsky and his father, Rabbi Mordechai Kanelsky, present the Garbers with a framed certificate as Shterney Kanelsky, and her daughter-in-law, Dina Kanelsky, look on.
Photos by Elaine Durbach
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Bridal couples and their witnesses and rabbis gather under the huppas at the 24th annual mass wedding hosted by Bris Avrohom.
September 23, 2009
Having grown up in Russia at a time when Judaism was under constant attack, Rabbi Mordechai Kanelsky and his wife, Shterney, have made its continuity their life work. To that end, they share with their community every possible opportunity for celebration.
On Sunday, Sept. 13, at the Sheraton Hotel in Parsippany, they marked the 30th anniversary of Bris Avrohom, the organization through which they help immigrants from the former Soviet Union reclaim the Jewish lives denied them in their youth.
The anniversary celebration started with their 24th annual mass wedding of Russian immigrant couples — nine this time, mostly long married but going through a traditional Jewish ceremony, conducted by a rabbi under a huppa, for the first time.
A gala dinner that followed honored the bridal couples and two of Bris Avrohom’s staunchest supporters, Simon and Lina Garber.
Bris Avrohom was founded in 1979 by the Lubavitcher rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson. Kanelsky, then barely out of his teens, was soon chosen to head up the organization in New Jersey. In addition to his headquarters in Hillside, it now has branches in Jersey City, Fair Lawn, and Old Bridge.
The Garbers, who live in Colts Neck, were teenagers and recent immigrants from Russia when they came to the center in Hillside to study Hebrew and learn about Judaism with the rabbi and his wife, both just a few years their senior. They met at the center and married a few years later and have stayed as close as family to the Kanelskys.
Simon Garber joked that he and the rabbi have always been very competitive with each other, but the rabbi has outstripped him with the number of branches he has established — versus Garber’s transportation business, and with the number of children — the Kanelskys’ eight to the Garbers’ five.
Generosity and support
But turning more serious, he said, “Mordechai taught me appreciation of God and the Jewish family. From him I learned how to give charity, and that a Jewish man takes care of his family, his friends, his synagogue, and his religion.”
Taking the microphone, Lina Garber added that they learned the joy of charitable giving from the rabbi and his wife.
Mordechai Kanelsky paid tribute to the Garbers’ generosity and support. What has delighted him, he said, is that they had those five children — more than most Russian-Jewish families.
A video was screened showing milestones and celebrations at Bris Avrohom’s branches, from the preschool in Hillside to the summer camp in Fair Lawn.
Probably the most emotional moment of the evening for both the rabbi and his wife came when the master of ceremonies, their eldest son, Rabbi Yossi Kanelsky, who heads up the Old Bridge center and serves as the organization’s outreach director, paid tribute to his parents.
He said that this “one-man band” has grown to have a staff of “50 dedicated individuals.” He grew up seeing how his parents and their staff and their supporters transcended the roadblocks and challenges that faced them, “united as one, to make their vision a reality.”
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