I was happy to see the listing for services at the Chabad Center in Owings Mills in your expanded High Holiday calendar. Finding Chabad of Owings Mills, and more specifically Rabbi Nochum Katsenelenbogen and his wife, Chanie, has been a truly unexpected gift beyond words. A few years ago, when my dear friend, Jon Welfeld, told me that he had a special rabbi and shul he wanted me and my family to experience, I had no idea that he was sharing with me the gift of all gifts. It took 48 years for me to be able to say that I have a rabbi. My son, Brady, has a role model like no other. Hamish and welcoming, Rabbi K and Chanie have opened their hearts, home and shul to so many families in the past years that Chabad has found itself a home in Owings Mills.
My experience began with Brady starting Hebrew school at Chabad a few years ago. Now as he is into his fourth bar mitzvah lesson with the rabbi in order to prepare for next September, when he becomes a bar mitzvah, my heart is full. … The unexpected surprise is that I am learning so much, as well — both directly from Rabbi K and Chanie and from my 12-year-old. What could be more beautiful than a son teaching his mother about being Jewish and about stories of our ancestors that inspire him?
And then to attend High Holiday services led by Rabbi K, I was able to experience the holiday in a manner that I had not experienced before. I now have a place to go that feels like home.
Lisa Joy Greenberg
Owings Mills
Editor’s note: Read more about the Chabad Center of Owings Mills in “A Home in 21117”
