Grenada Gets Permanent Rabbi, Enhancing the Flavor of the ‘Spice Islands’

Maria Abramov is a busy second-year medical student in St. George’s University on the tropical island of Grenada, more than 2,000 miles away from her home community in New Jersey. Yet, she says, her Jewish life in the “Spice Islands” has become enriched over the past few months thanks to the presence of Rabbi Boruch and Chaya Rozmarin, who moved to the island in December to start the Chabad Jewish Center of Grenada.

“They immediately created a strong sense of Jewish community,” she says. “Jewish students feel more at home on campus, and Shabbat and holiday celebrations have become much bigger and much more established.”

The Rozmarins came to the island to serve the 500 (predominantly American) Jewish students at St. George’s University, including both the medical and veterinary schools. Originally from Israel, the rabbi grew up in Lakewood, N.J.; Chaya Rozmarin is from Ramat Gan, Israel.

As with many of the nine Caribbean islands with a permanent Chabad presence, the current development comes after decades of regular visits from “Roving Rabbis,” who would help the students celebrate the High Holidays and Passover.

“Every year, the young rabbis would return from Grenada with glowing reports of seders, holiday services and festivals held in conjunction with the Jewish students on the island,” says Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky—vice chairman of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, the educational arm of Chabad-Lubavitch—who oversees the “Roving Rabbis” program.

The rabbi gets kosher-for-Passover items shipped and ready for the upcoming holiday.

“The very fact that dozens of Jews gathered to perform mitzvahs and celebrate their identity is itself gratifying—and for that we would say dayenu, it’s enough,” he continues. “But it is very special for us to see the seeds that were planted over the years grow and mature into a permanent Chabad presence that will serve as a bastion of Torah learning and Jewish growth for the hundreds of Jewish students on a constant basis.”

Chabad’s involvement in the Caribbean dates back nearly 60 years to 1957, when Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, now the chairman of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, and the late Rabbi Leibel Raskin, who went on to serve as a shaliach in Morocco, were sent by the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—to travel from island to island, bringing Torah literature and a connection to the outside Jewish community to Jewish people in Puerto Rico, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic.

A little more than 25 years later, after the Grenadian government was overthrown in 1983 as part of a military coup and Communist elements seized control, President Ronald Reagan initiated Operation Urgent Fury, where the U.S. Armed Forces entered Grenada, in part to protect the lives of the American medical students at St. George’s.

A group of students and faculty gathered in the office of St. George's University Chancellor Charles Mordica learn that Rozmarin now has a national post. (Photo: Naum Shamilov)

The Rebbe instructed Col. Jacob Goldstein—an Army Reserve chaplain and Chassidic Jew, who had been deployed to Grenada to help the soldiers celebrate Chanukah—to find out how the Jewish residents of Grenada were faring. He was also encouraged to make an effort to lay tefillin on every Jewish soldier and, if possible, give customary Chanukah gelt (money gifts) to the soldiers.

Peace was soon restored to the island, and “Roving Rabbis” started visiting the Jewish students on a regular basis.

A Dream Come True

Rabbi Mendel Zarchi, director of Chabad of Puerto Rico, who serves as point man for Jewish life on the Caribbean islands since his arrival in 1999, says the Rozmarins’ presence is like a dream come true.

“Throughout the years, we have always seen a consistent drive for Jewish life in Grenada—more than many other islands,” he says. “But to see a permanent Chabad presence in Grenada is something special—special because of the incredible spiritual connection and desire of the students who saw this through, and special because of the vision and philanthropy that enabled it to happen.”

In the four months since the Rozmarins arrived, they have been hosting regular Shabbat services and meals for between 50 and 70 students every week, raised the standard and consistency of kosher food on the island, and even helped arrange that the university accommodate Jewish students by allowing them not to take exams on Jewish holidays.

Standing, from left, are Rozmarin, Grenada's Foreign Affairs Minister Nickolaus Steele, Melnicke and Friday.

Much of the current state of affairs can be credited to Grenadian ambassador-at-large Michael Melnicke, who also happens to be an ordained rabbi and a member of the Gerrer Chassidic group living in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Melnicke, who has been involved in the island’s economic development for many years and who has served as an ambassador for nearly a decade, says he first became acquainted with Jewish medical students there when they helped him form a minyan (a prayer quorum of 10 men) so he could say the kaddish memorial prayer for his mother 10 years ago.

“I asked them what they do for kosher food,” he explains. “One of the boys said that he is taking a break from Judaism now and plans to resume when he returns to the States. His words stabbed me like a knife. I took upon myself to talk to Prime Minister Keith Mitchell to allow me to bring in 25 pounds of kosher meat every month per student.”

In addition to food, he donated a Torah scroll, prayer books, prayer shawls, a shofar and everything else the students need to worship as Jews.

Melnicke formed a close alliance with Zarchi and Lubavitch World Headquarters, helping to facilitate a regular stream of rabbinical students to visit Grenada.

A major step in the right direction was the opening of New York Kosher Bagel by New York businessman Ezra Shalom. While the actual restaurant was not originally under supervision, it did import kosher staples. With Melnicke’s help, Shalom opened a branch of the shop right on campus.

A Shabbat table set and ready for guests at the Chabad House. The Rozmarins have been hosting an average of 60 people a week.

Now that the Rozmarins are permanently stationed on the island, Melnicke and Shalom asked the rabbi to supervise the eatery, ensuring that everything is up to the highest standard of kashrut for the benefit of students and visitors.

At a recent meeting with Mitchell, Melnicke formally requested that Rozmarin be recognized as the chief rabbi of the country. Also present were Dr. Angus Friday, Grenada's ambassador to the United States; Grenada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Nickolas Steele; Stephen Greenwald, director of film and media initiatives at Wagner College in Staten Island, N.Y.; and St. George’s chancellor, Charles Mordica. For its part, the university committed to supplying Chabad with a permanent room on campus to be used for prayer, classes or a talk with the rabbi in a Jewish atmosphere. They have also undertaken to support a portion of Chabad’s expenses.

In the kitchen back in 2006, students helped "Roving Rabbis" cook more than 100 Passover meals in a motel kitchenette for students in Grenada.

Later that day in Mordica’s office, the news was shared with a group of Jewish students and faculty, including professor Dr. Fred Jacobs, that their rabbi now had a national post.

Melnicke credits the breakthrough to goodwill and cooperation at the highest echelons of Grenada’s government, which he describes as commited to allowing people to live and worship freely. He says that the upsurge of Jewish life was facilitated by Chancellor Mordica’s working closely with government representatives, including the prime minister; Denis G. Antoine, Grenada’s representative to the United Nations; Friday; Steele; and former Foreign Affairs Minister Elvin G. Nimrod.

Despite his intimate involvement, Melnicke is quick to express his admiration to the Rozmarins, who last month had a baby boy.

“For a young couple from Israel to decide to live the rest of their lives on a faraway island is just mind-boggling,” he says. “It is something that only the Lubavitcher Rebbe, with tremendous Divine intervention, could have inspired.”

"Roving Rabbis" (and writer) Menachem Posner, center, and Schneur Lifshitz, right, with students in 2006