It starts in April. As the Pesach festivities come to a close, the first calls come in to the office of Chabad of Manchester, New Hampshire. From then, it picks up speed and becomes emails, Whatsapp messages, and phones ringing off the hook. What are all these people looking for? The southern N.H. Chabad house has become the first point of contact for frum travelers looking to visit the Granite state.
As vacationers from all over the east coast and Canada think about their upcoming summer travels, New Hampshire’s scenic White Mountains have become a popular destination with a record number of visitors in recent years. The mountains are full of beautiful hiking trails and thrilling activities such as alpine sliding. Quaint attractions like Clark’s Trading Post and natural wonders like Mount Washington are some of the top attractions that draw people to the area.
For the past five years, Rabbi Levi Krinsky of Chabad of NH has spent countless hours of his summer organizing and implementing minyanim for frum visitors coming to the area. Residing an hour or so from Lincoln and Bethlehem, the main attractions, Rabbi Krinsky works from afar, spending hours on his phone organizing people for each minyan. Chabad rents an entire event center for July and August equipped with Sifrei Torah, and many seforim of niglah and chassidus are provided along with hot and cold refreshments.
For logistical purposes the Shabbos minyanim are held at different locations, allowing families staying at various hotels in the area to have a shul nearby. This summer, following Tisha B’Av, Chabad organized ten Shabbos minyanim throughout the area. Each of them were well attended by visitors of all ages, backgrounds and origins.
With Camp Gan Izzy in full swing during the summer months, Rabbi Krinsky hires a young couple to reside in Lincoln during that time to deliver inspirational words of Chassidus between Mincha and Maariv every night. Although Chabad of Manchester is located about an hour south of this resort town, Rabbi Krinsky sees this as an extension of his shlichus. He believes that a shliach is required to greet every yid b’seiver panim yafois, which is of course included in the mitzvah of Hachnosas Orchim.
Although this endeavor has taken on a life of its own, taking up hours of his time each day, he believes it’s well worth it. Upstate New Hampshire may seem like a flourishing frum community during the summer months, but as school draws near the calls dwindle, allowing Chabad of New Hampshire to focus on its many other activities.
Rabbi Krinsky is able to pull off this remarkable feat with the invaluable help of Rabbi Yisroel and Chani Glick, Rabbi Yankel and Chaya Mushka Raskin, Rabbi Moshe Silver, Schneur Zalman Fellig and Dr. Barry Weissman. He is also fortunate to have Sifrei Torah loaned to him over the summer for these minyanim several nearby Shluchim and generous individuals, listed below.
Chabad of Hanover, NH – Rabbi Moshe Leib and Chani Grey
Chabad of UNH – Rabbi Berel and Rochy Slavaticki
Chabad of Andover, MA – Rabbi Asher and Faigy Bronstein.
Chabad of Brandeis – Rabbi Peretz and Chani Chein.
HaSofer of Brooklyn – Rabbi Moshe Klein.
Conference room shul – Rabbi Hillel Dovid Krinsky.
