Tuesday, December 06, 2011

Visiting the LubavitcherORebbe: The Ohel


After visiting 770, I took a trip to visit the Ohel, "The Tent," where the Lubavitcher Rebbe is buried next to the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, his father in law.

A Chabad-run bus stops in front of 770 and delivers Hassidim to the Ohel, with a screen playing videos of the Rebbe giving his sermons on the way over.


The bus from 770 to the Ohel

Visiting the Ohel
Chabad purchased a house abutting the cemetery.

Lubavitchers milling about at the entrance to the Ohel
When the Rebbe was alive, it was customary to write him for advice or guidance on personal matters. Upon his passing, the custom continued.  Letters are written in the house and then brought out his grave site.

Writing Letters to the Rebbe
One of the ways I studied Hebrew was by reading middle school-level books about the Rebbe.  From these books, I got to know the names of many of the people surrounding the Rebbe, so it's fascinating to walk through the cemetary and see many of the graves of those about whom I read.


Rabbi Chodakov, the Rebbe's Secretary

The Grave of Chayya Mushke, the Rebbe's Wife
When I entered the Ohel, many people were deep in prayer, and I decided that it would be inappropriate to start snapping photographs and possibly disrupt their concentration.  After all, a cemetery isn't a tourist site.

The Ohel is the stone structure up ahead