Rabbi brings Chabad to Brattleboro

BRATTLEBORO -- Rabbi Avremy Raskin has studied in Chicago, New York and Israel, and he spent a year teaching in Russia.

But the Vermont native found his way back to his home state this summer. And he's hoping to establish a thriving Chabad Center in Brattleboro, where the Raskin family has found a welcome change of pace.

"People are very welcoming and friendly," Raskin said. "The pace is much slower -- more peaceful and relaxing."

Raskin, his wife, Chaya, and their infant daughter, Esther, arrived in Brattleboro from Brooklyn in early July. While Chaya Raskin is a New York native, Vermont is familiar ground for the rabbi.

In fact, his family established roots in the state nearly a century ago. Raskin's great-grandfather emigrated to New York after studying in Russia and, in 1914, took a job in Barre.

"There was a small Jewish community there in Barre and Montpelier," Raskin said, noting that his grandfather was born in Vermont in 1919 and had many "horse-and-buggy stories" from those days.  continue...