Four years after the dedication of Haditch’s new hospitality center its numbers are soaring sees 100 percent increase in Jewish traffic The early 90’s brought the fall of communism and the refurbishing of Judaism’s iconic sites in Eastern Ukraine the resting place of Chabad’s founder famously known for authoring Chabad’s foundational text It took years for the Haditch fever to catch a core group of about ten direct descendants of Rabbi Shneur Zalman began a twice-yearly pilgrimage to pay their respects “We stayed at the home of a local Haditch resident who we subsequently hired for the upkeep of the cemetery It was just us,” says Rabbi Shneur Zalman Deutch (Shushu) Chabad’s remote and semi-on-site program coordinator of Haditch activities chicken and other produce from Israel for the 200 people who were beginning to come to town semi annually,” recalls Deutch “We had to sit on a cardboard box and slide down an icy snowy hill to reach the resting place,” reminisces Rabbi Yechiel Levitansky George Rohr and local community members from Dnepropetrovsk that the number of visitors grew exponentially a group from Kiev’s Jewish community traveled a four-hour distance to visit the Alter Rebbe’s resting place The commemoration of special calendar dates brings the numbers in crowds the Hebrew date of passing of the Alter Rebbe Haditch hospitality staff are preparing accommodations for 2,500,” says Deutch the majority of these visitors are not affiliated with Chabad “They are Jews who feel connected to the Alter Rebbe They have studied the Tanya or Rabbi Shneur Zalman’s Code of Jewish Law Some have simply heard of the Alter Rebbe’s wisdom and loving-of-humankind persona and feel drawn to that,” Deutch says Chabad emissary Levitansky has observed the new center’s impact on the local Jewish community “a kind of spiritual oasis for the local Russo-Ukrainian Jewish population The new hospitality center caters to many groups that arrange weekend getaways for their local communities as well as to the mass pilgrimages on special occasions It is also open to the individual Jew who seeks a solitary weekend to connect to this giant of a man Deutch monitors the foot traffic which fluctuates and this coming Shabbos we are having full accommodations for four people.” One man from Sumy made a daunting resolution after an inspiring Shabbaton in Haditch that Rabbi Levitansky wasn’t prepared for “I was so moved after spending Shabbos at the Alter Rebbe’s resting place,” says Alexander Baruch Baguta “that I decided to have a bris in the new building in Haditch.” the Haditch hospitality center will play host to thousands of visitors this week A contingent of women from nearby Sumy traveled to Haditch this year to pray where the founder of Chabad is buried Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value"