Chabad Houses globally expect thousands for dinner

Think preparing Rosh Hashana dinner for your extended family is a headache? Try making food for 1,500 guests.

By GIL STERN STERN SHEFLER
Chabad House Thailand 311 (photo credit: Chabad.org)
Chabad House Thailand 311
(photo credit: Chabad.org)
Think preparing Rosh Hashana dinner for your extended family is a headache? Try making food for 1,500 guests.
That’s the number of Israeli and Jewish backpackers Rabbi Menachem Goldschmid and his wife Sara Hinda Goldschmid, who run the Chabad House in Kosomoi, Thailand, are expecting to visit the beach resort’s Jewish center for Rosh Hashana dinner.
In order to be able to feed so many mouths, Chabad’s central kitchen in Bangkok has made 9,200 matza balls, 3,200 honey cakes, and 7,400 halla rolls for Chabad Houses around the country.
“Spirits are high as our centers fill up with throngs of young Jews looking forward to celebrate the upcoming Rosh Hashana together with friends at Chabad of Thailand,” Rabbi Yosef Chaim Kantor, director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Thailand, said Tuesday.
Elsewhere around the world, Chabad rabbis are preparing for Rosh Hashana feasts of similar proportions.
About 1,000 are expected to visit the Chabad House in Bangkok, Thailand. The Chabad House in Katmandu, Nepal, is preparing for 500 people, and in the former Incan capital of Cusco, Peru, the local Chabad emissary is setting tables for 350 Jewish guests.
Rabbi Chanoch Gechtman, Chabad’s emissary in Mumbai, India, said he would be hosting dozens of guests at the center which was attacked by terrorists in 2008.
“In Mumbai, you cannot know how many people will come. Everyone is welcome at the Chabad House,” he was quoted on Chabad’s Web site as saying. “We want to share the warmth of the holiday with everyone.”
Meanwhile, Chabad launched a directory of free holiday services providing readers with information on services in 479 cities in 42 countries in places like Phnom Penh in Cambodia; Bangkok, Thailand; the Ivory Coast; Sierra Leone; Vietnam; and Ghana.