Hundreds of supporters of the Rebbe’s Shluchim in Eretz Yisroel, businessmen, senior leaders of the Israeli economy, dozens of mayors, ministers, and MKs participated Monday night in “The Banquet” – an annual event saluting the thousands of Shluchim and Shluchos all across the country.

The event was honored by the presence of the members of the Beis Din Rabbonei Chabad as well as distinguished guests from Israel and abroad.

The powerful event, organized by Tzeirei Agudas Chabad (Tzach) in Eretz Yisroel, took place for the first time in Kfar Chabad, in a giant hangar that was built and brought especially from abroad for the event. Among the largest in the country, the hangar covered an area of over 32,000 square feet and rose 50 feet high.

The ceremony opened with the moving news of the locating of the body of Ran Gvili HYD, the last hostage who remained in Gaza. 

In the original program, Itzik Gvili, Rani’s father, was supposed to ascend the stage to recite Tehillim with the crowd for his son’s return; however, in light of the unexpected news, Rabbi Shneur Kurtz – the Rebbe’s Shliach in Meitar, where the Gvili family resides – said the Tehillim in his place in Ran’s memory.

Another moving and powerful moment occurred when Daniel Weiss, the young singer who lost his parents on October 7th in Kibbutz Be’eri, appeared on the screens sharing the stories of the horrors they experienced on that terrible day, until the finding of his dear mother’s body in the tunnels of Gaza and her bringing to a kevuras yisroel. 

Daniel also shared from the special journey to daven at the Rebbe’s Ohel in New York, in which he participated with his brother about a month after the massacre, and the special prayer he requested for his mother that was answered upon his return to Israel.

As the screens dimmed, Daniel appeared on stage and, to the applause of thousands, began to sing with a tremor “Shir LaMa’alot” and the Rebbe’s niggun “Tzama Lecha Nafshi.”

On the giant screens at the event, the Rebbe’s Shluchim from various places across the country were seen sharing moving and special stories of shlichus, alongside the stories of those who discovered a new Jewish world through their acquaintance with the Rebbe’s Shluchim and the array of shiurim in Torah and Chassidus.

Throughout the evening, participants enjoyed an artistic musical program conducted by Naor Carmi and his expanded orchestra, together with singer Simcha Friedman and the “Panasaim” choir.

Rabbi Naftali Lipsker, director of the Branches Department of Tzach, announced the number of Shluchim families in Eretz Yisroel, which reached a new record this year of 1,400 families in more than a thousand Chabad Houses located in almost every point across the country. 

Following him, businessman Adv. Yair Balchovsky spoke on behalf of the supporters of the Shluchim.

Head Shliach of the Rebbe to Argentina, Rabbi Tzvi Grunblatt, addressed the Shluchim with powerful words urging them to recommit to the Rebbe’s shlichus with determination. 

The event concluded with the chairman of Tzach, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Aharonov, saluting the Shluchim and Shluchos who gave up a comfortable life in a natural community and went out to all ends of the country to fulfill the vision and will of the Rebbe.

Photos: Chaim Tuito