Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday approved building a heritage center for the Chabad movement in Kfar Chabad and in memory of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. As part of the weekly cabinet meeting, Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu (Otzma Yehudit), noted the birthday of the Lubavitcher Rebbe who was born 121 years ago, according to the Hebrew calendar.
“Today is the birthday of the Lubavitcher Rebbe who influenced me a lot and changed the Jewish world,” Netanyahu wrote on Facebook after the cabinet meeting. He added: “to this day I am happy to announce that we intend to establish the Chabad Heritage Center by the Heritage Ministry headed by Minister Amichai Eliyahu. The Chabad Heritage Center will tell the story of the Jewish people and will highlight the contribution of the Lubavitcher Rebbe who contributed so much to spreading Torah and multiplying the love of Israel, the unity of Israel according to the Torah of Israel.”
Netanyahu asked that in the upcoming weeks, the professional staff at the Heritage Ministry will begin to examine the contents of the heritage center and its location and a government decision will be issued on the matter.
A great privilege
Eliyahu said in a statement that “as someone who had the privilege of being educated in the educational institutions founded by the Rebbe with whom my late grandfather had a deep and special relationship, I feel a great privilege and an exciting closing of the circle in starting this important project.” Eliyahu’s late grandfather was the former Sephardic chief rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu.
Eliyahu recently visited Chabad headquarters in Brooklyn, as well as the grave of the Rebbe, called the Ohel.
“The Chabad movement is a movement that cares for every Jew, regardless of who he is,” Eliyahu added. He said that “the legacy of The Lubavitcher Rebbe lights the way for us, we are blessed today that his great light is spread everywhere in the world. Establishing a heritage center that will commemorate the tremendous enterprise he founded is a sacred duty for us.”
