It may be a long way from the busy streets of Brooklyn, New York, to the streets of Bega, but two newly ordained rabbis are used to a life of travel.
Twenty-two-year old Shmuel Hurwitz and 21-year-old Menachem Schmukler are in Australia working with not-for-profit organisation Chabad of Rural and Regional Australians caring for the needs of Jewish men, women and children living outside populated metropolitan centres.
“We grew up in a Jewish community, it was our lifestyle, so we feel it is the right religion and the right way,” Rabbi Hurwitz said as the pair took a break under a tree in Littleton Gardens.
“We want to share what we know with the world and the best way to do that is to be a rabbi.”
The duo who come from a long line of rabbis have just completed their arduous seven years of study, made a stop in Bega on Friday as they travel from Melbourne to the Queensland city of Toowoomba.
Chabad Lubavitch is a 200 year old Chassidic movement originating from the Russian city of Lubavitch, over time becoming the largest Jewish outreach organization in the world.
Read the story by Alasdair McDonald in the Bega District News.