(Courtesy of Bris Avrohom) A group of college students gathered at Chabad of Midtown with Rabbi Mordechai Kanelsky and Rabbi Avremy Kanelsky to discuss the upcoming holiday of Pesach and Jewish values. This began a new initiative for young students to discuss and learn about all the Jewish holidays.

At the first gathering last week, the holiday of Pesach was discussed. Topics included the significance of the holiday, the reason we celebrate, how we identify with our ancestors who left Egypt, what the holiday symbolizes to each person, and the importance of eating matzah and drinking wine. A roundtable Q&A followed, where the students asked and the rabbis responded. The students enjoyed a lavish dinner as they learned. After four hours of animated discussion, the students sold their chametz and they all received a box of hand-made shmura matzah from Israel. They also received a bilingual Hagaddah Shel Pesach.

The parents of the students who attended the event were former students of Rabbi Mordechai and Shterney Kanelsky when they arrived from Russia and attended Rogosin High School in Jersey City. It was both emotional and gratifying for the Kanelskys to work with the third generation: the first of which they introduced to Yiddishkeit and performed chuppahs for many of them, the second of which they taught in yeshiva, and now they are teaching the next generation of proud Jews who continue the legacy of their ancestors.