As part of a five-decade old program originally dubbed “the Jewish Peace Corp”, two Chabad Rabbinical students will be visiting Springfield, Jefferson City and Branson, Mo. this August as part of their community outreach training. The young Rabbis-in-training will be spending their summer on the road, sharing their passion for Jewish life and bringing Jewish awareness and practice wherever they go.

Chabad of Greater St. Louis is welcoming the pair, Chaim Landa and Mendy Turk, who will conduct their visits during the period of August 14-25. Young, passionate and communicative, they will be hauling suitcases loaded with Jewish books, educational material and religious paraphernalia. Throughout their two-week visit, Landa and Turk will be reaching out to members of the small Jewish communities in the region – most often in one-on-one home visitations – listening, talking and teaching as they seek to reinvigorate people’s Jewish connections.

For the rabbis-in-training this summer assignment will also provide an invaluable on-the-ground experience in Jewish outreach and the specific challenges of smaller Jewish communities, as well as a unique appreciation for the diverse composition and needs of the Jewish communities in America’s heartland.

Conceived by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, in the early 1950s, the visitation program has been credited with bolstering and rejuvenating countless Jewish communities and individuals around the world. Hundreds of rabbinical students participate in this program, annually visiting thousands of locations in Asia, Europe, the Americas and beyond. Their goal is to make Judaism accessible and relevant to every Jew, wherever they may be.

Contact the students by email at [email protected] or by phone at 314-725-0400.