Chabad Lubavitch of Caribbean
Chabad-Lubavitch in the Caribbean: emissary centres in Puerto Rico (since 1999), the US Virgin Islands, the Dominican Republic, the Cayman Islands, Aruba, Grenada, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Curaçao, Barbados, St Lucia, Turks and Caicos and Martinique
| Chabad Lubavitch of Caribbean
| |
|---|---|
| Type | Jewish religious organisations (Chabad-Lubavitch) |
| Founded | January 1999 (arrival of Rabbi Mendel Zarchi in Puerto Rico) |
| Headquarters | No single headquarters |
| Area served | Caribbean |
| Key people | Mendel Zarchi (Puerto Rico), Asher Federman (US Virgin Islands), Shimon Pelman (Dominican Republic) |
| Website | https://www.jewishpuertorico.com |
Chabad Lubavitch of Caribbean describes the Chabad-Lubavitch emissary centres in the Caribbean, which Chabad's world headquarters groups together in its directory. Each island's centre is run by its own emissary couple and, where an entity has been identified, its own legal entity. The oldest of the present centres is Chabad of Puerto Rico, founded by Rabbi Mendel and Rachel Zarchi in January 1999; most of the others were opened between 2007 and 2019 and serve small resident Jewish communities, tourists, cruise passengers and, in Grenada, medical students.[1][2]
History
Chabad's present network began with Puerto Rico in 1999; the Forward described Chabad of Barbados, opened in 2017, as the eleventh Chabad centre in the Caribbean.[2][3]
Puerto Rico
Mendel and Rachel Zarchi came to Puerto Rico in January 1999 and began from their small beach-front condominium, holding services in a hotel conference room. In 2000 the businessman David Efron gave Chabad its first permanent centre. Chabad broke ground in 2013 on a 12,000-square-foot centre one block from the sea, completed in 2016, with a synagogue, kosher dining hall, classrooms and the island's first mikveh. After Hurricane Maria in 2017 and Hurricane Fiona in 2022 Chabad distributed generators and aid. At its 25th-anniversary gala at the Fairmont El San Juan Hotel on 19 Kislev (13 December 2022), Joseph Lipsey IV announced a US$10 million matching grant from the Lipsey Family Foundation for a planned expansion, and Rabbi Levi and Mushkie Zarchi joined the organisation, with plans for a Jewish Youth Center and a welcome centre for cruise passengers in Old San Juan.[2]
US Virgin Islands
Rabbi Asher and Henya Federman lead Chabad Lubavitch of the Virgin Islands in St. Thomas. When Hurricane Irma struck on 6 September 2017 their Chabad house was damaged, the downtown synagogue flooded and the roof of their school partly torn off; Chabad organised welfare calls, evacuations, supplies from Florida and Puerto Rico and generators sold at cost.[4]
According to the centre's website, the Federmans moved to the Virgin Islands in 2005. It describes the centre's aim as serving all Jews throughout the territory, through education, through hospitality for Jewish visitors, who are invited to "vacation Jewishly", and through work with the local community.[5]
The website says that Rabbi Asher Federman grew up in Los Angeles, studied at Yeshivas Lubavitch in Oak Park, Michigan, and gained a BA in religious studies from the Rabbinical College of America in Morristown, New Jersey. In 2001, while studying at Tomchei Tmimim in Kfar Chabad, he founded Israel's annual national youth convention for the children of Chabad emissaries. He also studied at the Michigan Jewish Institute, taught Talmud and Hasidic philosophy, and was learning director and head counsellor at a summer camp in Safed. Henya Federman grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where her parents direct Chabad's statewide activities. She studied at the Beis Chaya Mushka high school in Oak Park and the Bais Chana teachers' seminary in Safed, and was head counsellor of Camp Gan Israel in Milwaukee and a youth director. After their marriage in New York, Asher Federman taught at Ohel Chabad and Henya Federman taught at the Gan Chabad Preschool in Greenwich, Connecticut. The couple co-directed the annual International Shluchim Youth Convention, with about 600 participants, and a winter camp in Arizona. They have twelve children.[5]
Dominican Republic
Rabbi Shimon Pelman, a younger brother of Rabbi Shalom Pelman of Chabad Lubavitch of Guatemala, and his wife Michal established Chabad of the Dominican Republic in Santo Domingo in 2007, after approaching Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky of Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch.[6][7] In 2009 the centre served an estimated 200 Jewish residents as well as business travellers and tourists, with kosher catering, a kindergarten and a Hebrew school.[8] In 2017 it completed the Mikvah Taharat EL in Santo Domingo, the first on the island, begun in 2013 on a property acquired by the Pelmans and dedicated to its initial donor, Leon Sragowicz; Chabad's headquarters linked it to requests by Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn in 1940 and Menachem Mendel Schneerson decades later for a mikveh in the country.[7] A second centre, Chabad North Coast in Puerto Plata, is led by Rabbi Daniel and Esther Silco.[1]
Other islands
- Cayman Islands: in 2013 a group of local Jewish residents led by the businessman Steve Cummins invited Rabbi Berel and Rikal Pewzner to lead the Cayman Islands Jewish Community. They founded the Cayman Hebrew School, dedicated the islands' first Jewish cemetery and in May 2018 opened the Chabad Cayman Jewish Community Center near Seven Mile Beach.[9]
- Grenada: Rabbi Baruch (Boruch) and Chaya Rozmarin arrived in December 2013 to open a Jewish student centre for the at least 500 Jewish students at St. George's University, with the help of its chancellor, Charles Modica, and of Rabbi Michael Melnick, Grenada's ambassador-at-large. Rozmarin said Prime Minister Keith Mitchell had named him Grenada's chief rabbi and had undertaken to secure a property for the centre and the country's first synagogue.[10]
- Aruba: Rabbi Ahron and Chaya Blasberg arrived in December 2013; in December 2021 the centre dedicated its first commissioned Torah scroll, donated by the New York financier Philippe Heilberg.[11]
- Jamaica: Rabbi Yaakov and Mushkee Raskin, described as the first permanent Chabad emissaries to Jamaica, arrived in Montego Bay in September 2014, before Rosh Hashanah. They serve Jewish tourists – Raskin estimated 100,000 a year – and the country's roughly 200 permanent Jewish residents, most of whom live in Kingston.[12] The Jewish Press, by contrast, reported in June 2015 that the Raskins had opened a Chabad House in Montego Bay, beside the main hotel strip, in July 2014. Raskin told the paper that his grandfather had become the first rabbi posted to the Caribbean, in 1957, and that this had settled the couple's choice of Jamaica. He said that running a kosher kitchen meant ordering 400 pounds of meat every two months and paying 100% import duties on it. Over Chanukah, Chabad put up six bamboo menorahs around the island, held a Chanukah party at the Bamboo Beach Club in Ocho Rios and set up menorahs in hotel lobbies; Raskin said that more than 1,000 Jewish visitors had contacted Chabad since it opened. Ainsley Henriques, Honorary Secretary of the United Congregation of Israelites (Shaare Shalom) in Kingston, told the paper that although not everyone in Jamaica was used to Chabad, Raskin was a decent man who was providing services and facilities and had had real successes.[13]
- Bahamas: Rabbi Sholom Bluming first visited in August 2010 at the direction of Chabad's headquarters and soon established a permanent presence;[14] JTA described him and his wife Sheera as the islands' first Jewish clergy. After Hurricane Dorian in 2019 they coordinated hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from Jewish individuals and organisations for relief.[15]
- Curaçao: Rabbi Refoel and Chani Silver moved to Curaçao in September 2017 to establish Chabad of Curaçao and serve as rabbi and rebbetzin of the Shaarei Tsedek congregation.[16]
- Barbados: Rabbi Eli and Sterna Chaikin have run a Chabad house in Worthing, Barbados, since 2017, described by the Forward as the eleventh Chabad centre in the Caribbean.[3]
- St Lucia, Turks and Caicos and Martinique: Chabad's world headquarters lists centres at Rodney Bay, Gros Islet (Rabbi Avraham and Sternie Super), Grace Bay, Providenciales (Rabbi Shmulik and Chaya Berkowitz) and Schoelcher (Rabbi Reouven and Chaya Naparstek).[1]
Organisation and key people
There is no regional Chabad body for the Caribbean in the sources found; each centre is listed separately by Chabad's world headquarters with its own emissaries.[1] Mendel Zarchi of Puerto Rico accompanied Shimon Pelman to his 2009 meeting with the Dominican president.[8]
Institutions
Chabad's world headquarters lists the following centres:[1]
- Aruba: Chabad Aruba, Salina Cerca 31C, Noord (Rabbis Ahron Blasberg and Levi Bisk).
- Bahamas: Chabad of Bahamas, Nassau (Rabbi Sholom Bluming).
- Barbados: Chabad Barbados, 40 Arica Drive, Holetown (Rabbi Eli Chaikin).
- Cayman Islands: Chabad Cayman, 215B West Bay Road, Grand Cayman KY1-1010 (Rabbi Berel Pewzner), with the Gan Eden Preschool.
- Curaçao: Chabad of Curaçao, Pos Cabai 2, Willemstad (Rabbi Refoel Silver), with the Shaarei Tsedek congregation.
- Dominican Republic: Chabad of the Dominican Republic, Calle 2B #8, Ensanche Paraíso, Santo Domingo (Rabbi Shimon Pelman), with a Hebrew school; Chabad North Coast, Playa Dorada Mall, Puerto Plata 57000 (Rabbi Daniel Silco).
- Grenada: Chabad Grenada, True Blue Road, St. George's (Rabbi Boruch Rozmarin), with Chabad on Campus.
- Jamaica: Chabad of Jamaica, 35 Springfarm Drive, Rose Hall, Montego Bay (Rabbi Yaakov Y. Raskin), with a weekday location and welcome centre.
- Martinique: Schoelcher 97233 (Rabbi Reouven Naparstek).
- Puerto Rico: Chabad of Puerto Rico, 18 Calle Rosa, Carolina 00979 (Rabbis Mendel and Levi Zarchi); a centre at 351 Calle Tetuán, San Juan 00901 (Rabbi Levi Zarchi); and a centre in Dorado.
- St Lucia: Chabad of St. Lucia, Rodney Bay, Gros Islet (Rabbi Avraham Super).
- Turks and Caicos: Grace Bay, Providenciales (Rabbi Shmulik Berkowitz).
- US Virgin Islands: Chabad Lubavitch of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas 00802 (Rabbi Asher Federman), with a mikveh.
Registered entities
The US Internal Revenue Service data published by ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer list:
- Chabad Lubavitch of Puerto Rico, Inc., EIN 66-0564786, Carolina, Puerto Rico, a 501(c)(3) organisation classified as a church, with a ruling date of August 2000.[17]
- Chabad Lubavitch of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Inc., EIN 66-0670212, 6501 Red Hook Plaza, Suite 201, St. Thomas 00802, a 501(c)(3) organisation classified as a church, with a ruling date of April 2009.[18]
As churches, neither is required to file annual Form 990 returns, and none are published. The registers of the other territories (including the Dominican Republic, the Cayman Islands, Aruba, Curaçao, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Barbados, Grenada, St Lucia, Turks and Caicos and France) were not queried, and the legal entities of the other centres have not been established.
Funding
- Puerto Rico: Zarchi has thanked Henry Orlinsky and the Rohr family as the community's founders and David Efron, Richard Cohen and Jack Katz as long-standing benefactors; the crypto-currency entrepreneur Brock Pierce praised Chabad's hurricane relief.[2] The Lipsey Family Foundation's announced US$10 million matching grant is the subject of the civil case described below.[2][19]
- Grenada: in 2014 the Rozmarins launched a US$2 million capital campaign.[10]
- Dominican Republic: the Santo Domingo mikveh was initially funded by Leon Sragowicz.[7]
- Cayman Islands: the emissaries were recruited by local residents who set a budget for the project.[9]
No published accounts were found for any of the centres.
Controversies
Civil cases
On 20 February 2025 Chabad Lubavitch of Puerto Rico, Inc. sued Joseph Lipsey III, his wife Shira Lipsey and two companies, Isla-Mar Development Corporation and PLR Isla Verde, LLC, in the Carolina Superior Court (case CA2025CV00502). According to Noticel, the complaint alleged that Lipsey, a federal contractor and resident investor, had promised to buy and donate to Chabad five properties – four in Isla Verde next to Chabad's centre and one in Dorado – but had instead offered them for sale, and that he had not made pledged donations of US$360,000 and US$250,000 or the US$10 million matching grant. It also alleged that Lipsey had obtained his Act 60 tax decree "mediante declaraciones falsas", with the support of Rabbi Zarchi, after misdemeanour convictions in Colorado.[19]
Lipsey moved to dismiss for insufficient service, the companies moved to dismiss for failure to state a claim, and Shira Lipsey denied many of the allegations in her answer. On 14 November 2025 the Superior Court dismissed the case, without prejudice as against Joseph Lipsey and with prejudice as against the other defendants. On 19 February 2026 the Puerto Rico Court of Appeals (case TA2026AP00055) confirmed the dismissal.[20]
No criminal cases or other published allegations concerning Chabad's Caribbean institutions were found as of October 2026.
Politics and Israel links
On 3 Tammuz 2009 (25 June 2009) Shimon Pelman, accompanied by Mendel Zarchi and a group of American and Israeli businessmen, was formally welcomed by the Dominican president, Leonel Fernández, at the National Palace; Pelman said the president had provided a government liaison and that his official recognition as a spiritual leader entitled him to police protection on request.[8] In Grenada, Rozmarin said Prime Minister Keith Mitchell had named him chief rabbi.[10] In Jamaica, The Jewish Press published photographs of Raskin with the Mayor of Montego Bay and with the Minister of Justice, Mark Golding.[13] In Puerto Rico, Chabad's support for the tax-decree application of an Act 60 investor became the subject of litigation.[19]
See also
- Chabad-Lubavitch movement
- Chabad Lubavitch of Guatemala
- Chabad Lubavitch of Venezuela
- Chabad Lubavitch of Mexico
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Caribbean – Centers", Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters, accessed 25 October 2026, with the linked city and centre pages.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "Chabad of Puerto Rico Celebrates 25 Years", Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters, 24 January 2023, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "In Barbados, Chabad Turns To Local Cuisine", The Forward, 9 July 2018, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ "St. Thomas: Preparing for Rosh Hashana Amid Irma Recovery", Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters, 12 September 2017, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "About Us", Chabad-Lubavitch of the Virgin Islands, jewishvirginislands.com, text supplied by David Miller, accessed 28 October 2026.
- ↑ "Chasidic Family Heads Up Jewish Outreach in Dominican Republic", CrownHeights.info, undated, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "A Mikvah in the Dominican Republic—Seventy Years Later", Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters, 19 September 2017, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 "Dominican Republic Welcomes Chabad Rabbi", Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters, 29 June 2009, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Jewish Life Grows on the Cayman Islands", Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters, 12 June 2018, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 "Chabad Center Opens in Grenada", Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters, 20 March 2014, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ "There's a new Torah in Aruba—and it contains a special word courtesy of Canadians", The Canadian Jewish News, 27 December 2021, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ "Chabad Puts Down Roots in Laid-Back Jamaica", CrownHeights.info (excerpt from The Times of Israel), undated, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Rhona Lewis, "Stoking The Embers Of Jamaican Jewry", The Jewish Press, 30 June 2015, full text supplied by David Miller, accessed 28 October 2026.
- ↑ "Meet the Rabbi", Chabad of Bahamas, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ "After Hurricane Dorian, Chabad Rabbi Reiterates 'Nassau Is Open For Business'", New York Jewish Week (Jewish Telegraphic Agency), 23 October 2019, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ "Meet the Staff", Chabad of Curaçao, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ "Chabad Lubavitch Of Puerto Rico Inc", ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ "Chabad Lubavitch Of The U S Virgin Islands Inc", ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 "Grupo religioso judío demanda a inversionista residente que incumplió promesas de donativos", Noticel, 23 February 2025, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ Chabad Lubavitch of Puerto Rico, Inc. v. Joseph Lipsey III et al., TA2026AP00055, Tribunal de Apelaciones de Puerto Rico, Panel IV, judgment of 19 February 2026, accessed 25 October 2026.