What is Chabad of RARA?
Chabad = Jewish outreach movement
RARA = Rural and Regional Australia
Chabad of RARA provides Jewish connections to people living all over rural and regional Australia.
If you're somewhere in Australia and the only Jewish thing there is you, we'd love to get in touch and make a connection.
Chabad of Rural and Regional Australia (affectionately know as "Chabad of RARA") is committed to providing for the spiritual, emotional and material needs of Jewish people living away from Jewish centres.
One of the cardinal tenets of Judaism is that are all Jews are one regardless of geographic distance. Irrespective of ones background, standard of observance or depth of knowledge every Jew belongs to Am Yisrael, the Nation of Israel. Every individual has a right to learn and participate in their living heritage.
Chabad of RARA seeks to educate and demonstrate real Judaism; an unbroken chain of tradition going back three millenia. Bringing Judasim into the 21st century by the fusion of technology and religion, social media and Bible study, Sabbath dinner and science improves the rich traditions and modern behaviour alike. The young volunteers, often recently ordained rabbis, are equally proficient in ancient Jewish law and Twitter; they are open, understanding and wise beyond their years.
The fully equipped kosher campervan serves as a synagogue on wheels. It is a mobile library and bookstore stocked with all the traditional and recent Jewish books; it has a kosher kitchen and pantry and serves as the rabbis vehicle, home and meeting place while they are on the road.
If you see the decorated campervan on the run feel free to hail it down or give us call to arrange a visit.
Our services include:
- Visits to people living in rural and regional Australia
- Provision of Jewish books and media
- Holiday celebrations and events
- Passover Seders
- Provision of Mezuzahs, Teffillin, Shabbos candles and other Jewish items
- Seminars and lecture series in regional locations
- Circumcisions, Bar Mitzvahs, Weddings and Funerals
- RARA Jewish Mobile Public Library
- Educational resources for children and adults
- Information and arrangements for Kosher food
- Counseling and family services
- Emergency disaster releif
Use the "Contact Us" link above to get in touch and meet other Jews living in your rural neighborhood. Together the Jews in your area may chose to run holiday or Shabbos programs, social events, or just become friends! Shalom!
A Little History
Over forty-five years ago, three young rabbis spent their summer holidays travelling around Australia in a campervan equipped with nothing more than a couple of maps and a desire to meet the Jews of the outback. The trip was an incredible success and they met hundreds of people some of whom they still keep in contact.
Out of that trip long ago grew Chabad of RARA, a non profit organisation that caters to the 5,000 Jewish men, women and children living in remote, rural and regional areas. The RARA Mitzva Mobile Library, a specially fitted out motorhome, covers tens of thousands of kilometres a year, and our volunteers come from as far afield as the United States and Europe. The mobile home is equipped with everything one could need for a stint on the road.
The personnel may have changed and folded road maps given way to Google Maps, but the passion and love remains the same.
What is Chabad?
Chabad-Lubavitch is a major movement within mainstream Jewish tradition with its roots in the Chassidic movement of the 18th century. In Czarist and Communist Russia, the leaders of Chabad led the struggle for the survival of Torah Judaism, often facing imprisonment and relentless persecution for their activities. After the Holocaust, under the direction of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchaak Schneerson and his successor, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, Chabad became a worldwide movement, caring for the spiritual and material needs of all Jews, wherever they could be found.
Today, over 3,500 Chabad institutions are located in more than 85 countries. In South Africa, South America, Russia, Australia, Asia, the UK, and in every state of the USA, Chabad has become the most dynamic and dominant force within the Jewish community.
In Australia, Chabad Centers are located in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Cairns, the Sunshine Coast, Perth, Adelaide and the Gold Coast.