About us

Beit Chabad, K'far V'radim

Established in 2003 by Chabad emissaries Rabbi Amichai and Rabbanit Geula Merinovsky, Beit Chabad in K'far V'radim seeks to reach every Jewish home in the village of approximately 2,200 households and the surrounding area to endear Torah values and Mitzvot through love and devotion… with much dedicated hard work.

As soon as they settled in K’far V’radim, Rabbi Amichai and Rabbanit Geula established well attended weekly Torah studies for men and women. Over these many years, they have provided essential religious services to the residents of the village previously unavailable: personal consultations concerning issues related to Halacha and custom, mourning and burial and ritual, and conducting Shabbat and holiday services throughout the year. Services usually associated with Chabad Houses throughout Israel and the world such as inspecting and providing Kosher Tefillin and Mezzuzot, conducting Bar/Bat Mitzvah lessons and adult education courses are all conducted on a regular basis.

The Chabad House of K’far V’radim, despite limited physical space in its current temporary site has expanded activities including special children’s programming. A two summer camp, Lag B'Omer Parade and other children’s activities surrounding the holidays have become popular well attended events in the village.

During the lengthy periods of quarantine due to COVID Beit Chabad created special programming for children on ZOOM, allowing children to participate in weekly afternoon programs that are both entertaining and educational. Women's activities have greatly expanded over the years and include special programs on Rosh Chodesh, and popular weekly classes in Chassidut.

For the past 18 years Beit Chabad House has not had a permanent home and has been limited by a lack of sufficient space for its growing numbers of users. The time has come to build a permanent home for Beit Chabad in K’far V’radim.

We turn to all our Beit Chabad friends and the many who enjoy Beit Chabad activities here and around the world to contribute generously to building a Beit Chabad that can contain all activities and allow Beit Chabad to expand the services it so uniquely provides the residents of K’far V’radim and the surrounding communities.

About K’far V’radim:

K’far V’radim is a local council in the Western Galilee, several kilometers from the regional center, Ma'alot and approximately twenty minutes from the Mediterranean.  The village was established in 1984, along with other new settlements throughout the Galilee to insure the Galilee’s demographic makeup. K’far V’radim proudly defines itself as Jewish, Zionist and pluralistic and its youth continue to maintain rates of induction far higher than the national average into IDF elite combat units. Today the village is home to approximately 6,500 people.

K’far V’radim is located in the Western Galilee, a region of great strategic importance to the State of Israel.  According to the latest Ministry of Interior statistics the percentage of Jews in the region is now but 29%. This demographic imbalance is cause for great concern as Jewish communities throughout the area become “mixed”. We have all watched with great concern as “mixed” communities, Yaffo, Acco, Lod, Ramle, Nof HaGalil were all subjected to massive riots and prolonged shutdown this past summer, the pogroms against Jews unabated for two weeks.

This past year almost 50% of all second hand home purchases in K’far V’radim have been to non-Jews. At the current trend K’far V’radim will have a non-Jewish majority within a decade.  What has been described as the diamond in the crown of Jewish settlement of the Western Galilee may cease to have a clear Jewish majority.

While the majority of K’far V’radim residents of the village define themselves as secular, there is a large and growing part of the population that defines itself as traditional or orthodox. The growing religious community of the village spans all levels of observance and customs.

The reassuring presence of Beit Chabad has been a central factor in orthodox families from France and the US having joined the community with olim arriving from Paris, Dallas, Houston, and the New York metropolitan area.

A strong, well established, large Chabad House is one of the best anchors in maintaining the Jewish nature of the village and area, as proven time and time again in other neighborhoods and villages. An effective center for expanding Jewish identity, a permanent home for Beit Chabad is central to encouraging other young Jewish families to join the community and to maintain its Jewish majority.