JERUSALEM—In her travels and work as a television presenter, radio host and one of Israel’s most well-known and admired journalists, Sivan Rahav-Meir has visited Chabad centers in far-flung locations around the world.
Personally inspired by the teachings and example of the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—Rahav-Meir is herself passionate about spreading the joy and light of Judaism. Every day, she sends out her “daily thought” with a Torah-inspired insight on current events to an audience of tens of thousands in 17 languages. Her love for sharing the weekly Torah portion with secular Israeli viewers is so popular that she’s been parodied for it on Israel TV’s leading satire show.
With all this in mind, it’s natural that she was asked to be a keynote speaker on Sunday, Feb. 12, at the International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Women Emissaries (Kinus Hashluchos) in Brooklyn, N.Y. Her speech at the event gala banquet is expected to have an in-room audience of more than 4,000 women and will be broadcast to hundreds of thousands more who will tune in worldwide to the webcast on Chabad.org.
“First of all, I’m really privileged,” Rahav-Meir tells Chabad.org. “I spoke in so many places and to so many types of people and audiences, including prime ministers and the heads of the IDF. But I’m more excited than ever because I think it’s like speaking to the Jewish world. It’s not just the 4,000 women in the hall; they represent millions of Jewish women throughout the world from Eilat to Alaska. So I truly feel it’s like giving a message to the whole Jewish world, which sometimes makes me anxious and nervous.”
But no matter how many people are reached, she says, it’s not enough. “There is a beautiful [quote from] the Rebbe which I really connected with,” she continues. “The Rebbe said: ‘I’m always happy, but I’m never satisfied.’ There is always optimism, but there is still so much to do. The conference banquet hall is huge! 4,000! But it’s not enough.”
“You need more,” she continues. “Not just more emissaries of Chabad; you need to make Chabad into something contagious. And we saw how viral things are when it comes to Covid. So now I believe Chabad should be the next truly global phenomenon.”
Inspired in Her Work
On her last trip to the United States, Rahav-Meir shared a photo with her social-media audience of herself at the Ohel in Queens, N.Y., the resting place of the Rebbe. In the caption, she explained that it’s always her first stop upon arrival in New York. When asked about it, she says “Yeah, my husband laughs at me. He says I only agree to be a scholar-in-residence in New York because I want to go to the Ohel.”
During Covid-19 lockdowns, she recalls people saying they missed visiting Italy or Mexico, but when asked, Rahav-Meir said she missed the Ohel and the holy connection felt there—a connection that she sees as a foundational strength of the Chabad emissaries wherever they go.
When facing any challenge, she perceives that this rooted connection and belief allows emissaries to keep calm and focused, and remember why they are where they are. “You’re talking about something eternal, you don’t need to get bothered by what is happening in the world,” she says.
Rahav-Meir and her husband, Yedidya Meir, also co-host a weekly radio show on Israel’s army radio and feel that the Rebbe’s vision has strongly reached them in that capacity.
“You know,” she says, “there’s a famous saying in Israel about the news—that every evening the radio host says “good evening,” and then they prove that it’s not a good one. So it’s already like the algorithm—the assumption that this is the way to be a reporter, to give negative news. But I disagree with that assumption. I think we can say good evening, and fill it with good news.”
Yedidya Meir is a journalist and radio anchor. For his birthday, he and Sivan designed a poster full of visionary quotes from the Rebbe and hung it up in his home studio. She shared some of the quotes they chose.
“Why was the radio created? The Rebbe explains that the radio was created in order to teach Torah,” she explains. “It’s true we use it for other purposes—to tell people the news, and sometimes for bad things, and then the content is not positive. But the tool is holy! We should use it for holiness.”
The couple make an effort to use the radio and other communications as a tool to share good with people around the world and hope that others will, too.
“You know, Rashi has no Facebook page. And Rambam, he didn’t upload a story for 800 years. So in a way, I feel we’re supposed to do it in their name. They’re not there. But the people are there on social media and they are interested, and want something short and accessible.”
A Personal Journey to Jewish Observance
Rahav-Meir gave her own story as an example of how a person can be impacted for good. Sivan grew up in Israel, and was a child TV sensation who began working as a journalist when she was only 6 years old. By the time she was 15, she had already interviewed many people and had a busy career, but she had not met anyone who kept kosher or Shabbat. That’s when she was invited by three traditional Sephardi families to join them for a Shabbat experience—an experience that left a strong impression on the young teen.
“It changed my life. I am who I am thanks to them,” she says. “They were just caring Jews; they cared about me. They invited me to see what Shabbat is all about. But then I fell in love.”
Soon after that, the young Rahav-Meir stopped appearing on TV on Shabbat and began discovering her love for Torah and mitzvahs—a love and joy she wants to share even more widely.
“We have 14 million Jews. We have 4,000 shluchot. It’s not enough. You cannot do it by yourself,” she passionately explains. “Emissaries need to make emissaries. All your communities, they’re not just communities—give them missions, tasks, things to do, make them active. As I said, I’m here today because of three families that cared about me that were my shluchim.”
In all her travels, Rahav-Meir says, she sees that people are thirsty and hungry for meaning—and meaning isn’t just learning, it’s also giving. As soon as a person knows the letter alef, they can teach alef. If they know how to put on tefillin, they can put tefillin on others. And that’s what she loves seeing at Chabad centers around the world; communities where everyone is involved in teaching others and helping them do mitzvot.
In Israel, It’s More Challenging
She’s a well-known media personality in Israel, but Sivan Rahav-Meir has traveled extensively for her work. In 2017, was chosen by Globes magazine as the most popular female media personality in the state, and in 2019, she was appointed as the World Mizrachi representative to North America, where she lectured in various Jewish communities, including many Chabad centers.
Does she think there’s a difference between journalism in Israel and outside of Israel?
“There’s something really easy in Israel because we’re all connected to the same story, the same roots,” Sivan answers. “It’s fun when Chanukah is the main headline, or Passover, or when the main thing people talk about is Rosh Hashanah. The pulse is right. Then we lived in the States for a year, and saw how there was Halloween and Christmas, and it’s not your party. You don’t feel like you belong.”
Rahav-Meir observed that outside of Israel a much stronger effort has to be made to stand out and bring awareness to Jewish holidays, compared to Israel where it’s what everyone is doing anyway.
“But in a way, in Israel it’s more challenging,” she says. “Like Rabbi Jonathan Sacks said, sometimes being rich is the test, not being poor. When you have everything, you don’t feel you need to work hard, and then sometimes you don’t work at all. Sometimes, we take it for granted. People say, ‘It’s a Jewish state, why should I make an effort to act Jewish?’ We already speak Hebrew and celebrate the holidays, it can feel like it’s good enough.”
In this respect, the keynote speaker is looking forward to using the banquet as an opportunity to thank the Israeli emissaries in particular.
“You can grow up in Israel and not meet someone who keeps kosher and Shabbat until you’re 15. Sometimes, we underestimate the effort needed here. We do not appreciate the Israeli shluchot enough. That’s how I feel.”
There’s another thing about the Chabad emissaries that Rahav-Meir deeply admires, and she feels it was learned from the Rebbe’s own example.
“When you’re really connected to the Rebbe, to the Torah, to the truth,” she continues, “I think you don’t have to be so nervous. The truth at the end of the day is we know Redemption will come. We’re connected to something eternal.”
Address to Focus on Real-Life Examples
In her keynote speech, she plans to share six uplifting stories she experienced around the world—five of success and one of failure, which she thinks is the most important one. “We all became addicted to Hollywood stories, viral stories, perfect stories and life. You know, what you see on the feed of every person. That’s not real life.”
Sivan Rahav-Meir hopes these stories and her talk around them will leave her audience feeling both inspired and motivated to accomplish more, without fear.
“But I want to tell you something. I know I’m the keynote speaker, but I come there to listen. I come there to recharge, to get energy. I’ve been doing this in the past as a journalist, as a guest. I covered it for Israeli TV. And it’s a really uplifting evening. It gives you energy for the whole year.”
The grand banquet of the International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Women Emissaries will be webcast live on Chabad.org on Sunday, Feb. 23 at 4:30 p.m.
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