Colel Chabad Opens New Israeli Soup Kitchen

Facing rising demand for services for the poor, the social welfare organization Colel Chabad opened a new soup kitchen in the southern Israeli city of Arad. Inaugurated by David and Eda Schottenstein, the center was named Shula’s Soup Kitchen in memory of Alte Shula Swerdlov, the three-year-old daughter of Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Yossi and Hindel Swerdlov who passed away in a traffic accident in 2009.

Founded by the first Chabad Rebbe, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, in 1788, Colel Chabad maintains a food distribution network and 19 soup kitchens throughout Israel.

A Torah scroll was also written in memory of Swerdlov. According to her father, who directs the Lubavitch Youth Organization of Israel’s Children of Chernobyl project, several Chabad Houses have started youth programs in her memory as well.