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Feb. 27-March 5, 2026 10 Adar 5786 Tetzaveh • Shabbos Zachor Vol. 25, No. 6 Reach the Star: Editor@TheJewishStar.com 516-622-7461 x291
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2,000 teens stranded after joining 4,500 at Chabad NYC event
By Debra Nussbaum Cohen, JNS The 4,500 Jewish teenagers from throughout the world — from Australia to Slovakia to Singapore to Brazil to France to Los Angeles — came to Brooklyn for an extended
weekend of inspiration and learning through the Chabad movement, intending to head home on Sunday. The blizzard that paralyzed the city had other ideas. Instead, teens who had never
seen snow before had friendly snowball fights outside 770 Eastern Parkway, headquarters of the international movement, and competed in teams to see who could shovel the most snow off of Crown Heights
sidewalks and crosswalks on Monday. Two feet of heavy snow had fallen on New York City. Local Lubavitchers, who had opened their homes to the teens, extended their
Ah freilichen Purim! (But it’s not all fun and games)
P. 17: Reclaiming Purim’s sacred purpose (Rabbi Berlin) • Purim prelude (Rabbi Weinreb) P. 16: Kosher Bookwork (Alan Gerber) • P. 12: A remarkable, tasty Purim (Ethel Hofman)
stays, and thousands more meals were quickly organized to feed the 2,000 stranded teens, who ate in shifts at Beth Rivkah, the neighborhood’s girls school. They had come for the 18th annual CTeen Shabbaton, which began with just 18 teens in the living room of Rabbi Mendy Kotlarsky’s parents. CTeen runs year-round programming worldwide, in addition to the Shabbaton. The unexpected extension has added about $500,000 in expenses to the already-budgeted $4 million event, Rabbi Kotlarsky, chairman of CTeen International, told JNS. What had been planned to last from Thursday to Sunday night had to be quickly extended to last a week. “It’s turned into a full on retreat experience,” he said. To cover the unplanned costs, “I opened my prayerbook and am calling our donors,” added Rabbi Kotlarsky, who has several leadership roles at Chabad’s central office, including organizing the annual Crown Heights gathering of thousands of emissaries. The CTeen program included a Times Square takeover after Shabbat ended on Saturday night, with Israeli musicians and thousands of Jewish teens singing and dancing. It concluded at the Nassau Coliseum — more than 100 buses were rented to convey the kids to the arena — which drew 8,000 people, including locals. Teens from Sydney, who experienced the Bondi Beach Chanukah attack, were honored, as were teens who did exceptional things. “We highlighted teens, who had faced challenges without compromising their identity,” Avi Winner, a CTeen spokesman, said. One of those who was happily and temporarily stuck in Crown Heights was Jaxson Ignelzi, 15, of Port St. Lucie, Fla. He is one of just four Jewish kids in his public high school of 4,000 students, he said. See Chabad Teens on page 4