Netanyahu announces Chabad Heritage Center on Rebbe's birthday

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved the building of a heritage center for the Chabad movement in Kfar Chabad in memory of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

Heritage Minister Rabbi Amichai Eliyahu (Otzma Yehudit) noted at the Sunday cabinet meeting that it is the anniversary of 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 the announcement of the establishment of the center, to be headed by 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,” he wrote.

Netanyahu asked that in the upcoming weeks, the professional staff at the Heritage Ministry begin to examine the contents of the center and its location. A government decision will be issued at a future point on the issue.

A great privilege 

Eliyahu said that “as someone who had the privilege of being educated in the 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 Sephardi chief rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu. “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.”

Eliyahu recently visited Chabad headquarters in Brooklyn, as well as the grave of the Rebbe, called the “Ohel,” last month. Other MKs and Religious Zionist Party ministers visited the Chabad headquarters as well.