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Dear ,Chabad of Florida is celebrating 50 years!
The Head Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries of Florida, Rabbi Abraham and Rebbetzin Rivka Korf, are celebrating the 50th year of their Jewish revolution!
When the Korfs arrived in Miami Beach in 1960, they found themselves in a Jewish dessert, void of spiritual life.
Today, there are hundreds of mikvahs, schools and synagogues at 145 Chabad centers that the Korfs have championed across Florida.
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The
Florida Jewish Community
is invited for a
Chassidic celebration
Tomorrow
February 22
9th of Adar 5770
in honor of
Florida's Founding Lamplighters
Rabbi Abraham &
Rebetzin Rivka Korf
for 50 years of dedicated and noble service as
Head Shluchim of the Lubavitcher Rebbe to the State of Florida
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Abraham Korf
Born in 1932, in Charkov, Ukraine, Abraham was a young newly-wed Rabbi in 1960 when he arrived with his bride in Miami Beach, Florida, to begin his shlichus (mission) as Head Shliach of the Lubavitcher Rebbe to the State of Florida. |
Rabbi Abraham &
Rebbetzin Rivka Korf
Avraham Korf and
Rivka Eichenbaum
were married by the
Lubavitcher Rebbe
Rabbi Menachem
Mendel Schneerson
of righteous memory
on a Tuesday evening
the 13th of Shvat, 5720
February 11th, 1960 | |
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Rivka Eichenbaum
A talented girl from the Breslev branch of Chassidim, Rivka was a Beis Yaakov student boarding at a match-maker's home in Crown Heights, New York when she was introduced to her chassan (bridegroom).
Rivka had a bubbly personality, intelligence, and refined speaking skills that hinted at her sensitivity for others. | |
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Marriage
On his 27th birthday, during yechidus [a private audience with the Lubavitcher Rebbe] Rabbi Abraham Korf received a blessing to be successful in his search for a soulmate. That same year, he married Rivka Eichenbaum, Rebbetzin Rivka Korf. 
L to R
Moishe Chaim Eichenbaum Abraham Korf and Yehoshua Korf on the way to the chupah 
L to R Chaya Rivka Korf Rivka Eichenbaum and Sara Basya Eichenbaum on their way to the chupah
13th of Shvat, 5720 [February 11th, 1960]
Abraham (the chassan/groom) and
Rivka (the kallah/bride) under
the chupah (marriage canopy)
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Under the harsh rulership of Stalin, working long hours at an early age to help his family survive, life for young Abraham Korf in hunger-stricken Communist Russia was fraught with struggle.
Throughout the long and cold winter nights, Abraham wished in his heart of hearts to be sent to Yeshiva (Rabbinical Academy or College) to study Torah.
When the opportunity arose for Abraham and his brothers to study in a secret underground Yeshiva, their first lesson was to lay low and out of sight in order to avoid detection by the Communist government.
Though religious freedom was written into the USSR's constitution, citizens caught teaching or learning the Torah were often sentenced to years of hard labor in Siberia.
Undeterred by the threat, Abraham and his brothers excelled in their studies; Abraham especially advanced at lightning speed through the older grades. |
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The Great Escape
As threats to their safety escalated, the Korf family began to materialize their escape. Nights of strategic planning led to the day in 1946 when it came time to up and move.
Armed with fake Polish passports - though they didn't actually speak a word of Polish - and a bottle of vodka, the Korf family caravan inched its way passed the tipsy guard who smiled as he waved them across the border.
Heartfelt praises to G-d were raised up to heaven out of the cold parched lips stinging the ragged group of immigrants that set out into the night.
Propelled by giddy dreams of hope and freedom, relief was once again cut short during their detention at a series of displaced persons camps across war-ravaged Europe. |
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A Taste of Religious Freedom
At Yeshiva in Brunoy, a small suburb in France, the immigrant teen's dreams finally began to unfold.
For the first time in his life, Abraham tasted religious freedom.
Able to study uninterrupted, he began to seriously excel in all areas, from Talmudic Studies and Religious Law to esoteric concepts of the Torah.
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Learning with The Rebbe
At the age of 19, with his dream to learn in Yeshiva fulfilled, Abraham looked further, towards New York, where he would be able to see the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Abraham arrived in America in 1953.
An accelerated over-achiever, with added resolve to make up for the lost years in Russia, Rabbi Korf earned his shechita [ritual slaughter] certification in 1954, and went on to receive his Ph.D in Rabbinic studies, with honors in the fields of Rabbinic Law and Talmudic Studies.
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An Emissary of the Rebbe in Eretz Yisroel
In 1956, Rabbi Korf was selected by the Lubavitcher Rebbe to be one of ten outstanding young men to travel to Israel as the Rebbe's personal Emissaries. The group was directed to bring moral support and a message of unity from the worldwide Jewish community to the Jews in Israel who were reeling from the brutal terrorist attack that had left four Yeshiva students dead. Rabbi Korf and his band spent an uplifting month in Israel. They brought Jewish teachings and comfort to the communities, and granted interviews to the amazed secular press. |
Lag B'Omer 1957
In 1957, fueled with his previous experiences and blessed with a personality that does not register limitations or recognize failure, Rabbi Korf decided to organize the first ever Lag B'Omer parade in New York.
Schools from all over greater New York bused into Crown Heights bringing Jewish children from every walk of life to march proudly together in a spectacular Lag B'Omer parade.
The Rebbe looked on, beaming with pride, and then delivered a Chassidic discourse for the crowds assembled there.
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Shlichus [Mission]
Determined
to go out on Shlichus, the young couple didn't think of buying
furniture. Instead they borrowed what they could and eagerly awaited
their departure orders.
Less
than a year into their marriage, the call came. They had been chosen to
represent the Lubvitcher Rebbe as his Shluchim [Emissaries] for the
sunny state of Florida!
Unfazed
by Abraham's sparse and halting command of the English language, Rabbi
and Rebetzin Korf packed up and said goodbye to their family and
friends.
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The Rebbe's Gift to Florida
Immediately when they arrived in Florida, the newlyweds dove straight in to Florida life and were resourceful in accomplishing great things from the start. Even though money was extremely tight and their welcome wasn't always certain, the Rabbi and Rebbetzin viewed every obstacle as an opportunity and forged ahead.
With kosher products hard to come by at all in those days, cholov Yisroel dairy products were almost unheard of. Undaunted, Rabbi Korf headed out to the farms and milked the cows himself!
Fifty years later, the Korfs marvel at the thousands and thousands of kosher products available in Florida supermarkets. |
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Lubavitch Educational Center
Spurred on by their first-hand knowledge of the vitality of a Jewish education, as well as its critical importance for the survival and future of the Jewish nation, Rabbi and Mrs. Korf founded Landow Yeshiva in 1966.
 Director of the outreach and educational arm of Chabad-Lubavitch (Central Organization for Jewish Education) of Florida, Rabbi Korf is also the spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Hamedrash Levi Yitzchok on Alton Road in Miami Beach.
Over the years, Florida media have responded to Rabbi Korf's requests to help with appeals to the community during times of financial crises - when staff and teachers have worked for love, without pay.
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On Being a Shliach [Emissary]
Invite Rabbi Korf to sum up what it means to be a Shliach, and he'll tell you that:
"a Shliach is an Emissary,
drawing his strength and power to succeed
from his Rebbe"
"This honor that is being bestowed upon my wife and I, is in no way recognition of us personally," the Rabbi emphasizes. "As our father Jacob said, 'Kotainty mkol hachasodim imikol haemes, ki b'makly ovarti es hayardein haz'eh v'ata hoyisi l'shnei machanois." "I am humbled by all the kindness and truths that Hashem has done with His servant; for with my staff I crossed the Jordan and now I have become two camps."
"50 years ago, when we were sent by our Rebbe," Rabbi Korf remembers, "Florida was a place void of Judaism. Without resources of any kind we set out as directed.
"Today we oversee 145 outreach centers, with synagogues, day schools, mikvahs, services for the elderly, the infirm, the neglected and forgotten, with education programs for Florida Jews of all ages. With G-d's help we will reach each and every Jew, with the Rebbe's mission statement that 'No Jew Should Be Left Behind' continuing to blaze the trail for Moshiach's imminent arrival." |
Family
Rabbi Abraham and Rebetzin Rivka Korf
with their children [L to R]
Motti, Yossi, Mendy, Benjy & Zalman Korf
Rashi Raices, Shevi Sossonko, Leah Jacobson & Sari Korf
Rabbi & Rebbetzin Korf have
46 grandchildren
and 5 great-grandchildren
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Yosef Yitzchok Korf
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Rashe Chana Raices
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Bas Sheva Sossonko
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Bentzion Korf
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Leah Elka Jacobson
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Menachem Mendel Korf
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Mordechai Yehuda Leib Korf
Philanthropist with his wife Nechama Adina
Supporter of Chabad institutions worldwide
5 children
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Schneur Zalman Korf
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Sara Basya Korf
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The Jerusalem of Geulah
In sync with the Rebbe's directive in 1960 to "make Miami and all of Florida the Jerusalem of golus (exile) and lead the way to the Jerusalem of geulah (redemption)," Rabbi and Rebetzin Korf have championed the initiation and development of 145 Chabad centers that provide religious and social services for the Jewish people of Florida.
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