Followers of Babov 45 in London concluded several days of celebration and spiritual uplift with the end of the Rebbe’s visit to the city. The trip centered on the groundbreaking for the community’s new and larger central study hall, which is meant to serve as a beacon of Torah and Hasidic life for the growing local congregation.
The Rebbe arrived at Heathrow Airport, where leaders of the building fund committee greeted him and presented the final plans. He then went directly to Golders Green, where he immersed in a mikveh at the home of David Halperin. On his first morning, he prayed Shacharit at his lodging with the Donner family, including Gershon Donner, and during the visit he served as sandek at a brit for one follower’s son and attended a wedding for the son of Ben Zion Goldstein.
Much of the trip was devoted to visits with London rabbis and fundraising for the building fund. The Rebbe met Shmuel Binyamin Krois, Yechezkel Rappaport, the Sadigura Rebbe of London, and the donor Ben Zion Frischwasser. He also visited Baruch Chana Greenfeld, the Babov-45 judge in London, and wished him a full recovery. Fundraising gatherings were held at the homes of David Stern, rabbi of Ohel Moshe and a grandson of the Kedushas Tzion of Bobov, as well as at the homes of Shalom Kahn and Mendl Landau. He also visited Yosef Goldstein and his son Shlomo Goldstein.
At his second lodging, with the Biala rabbi who purchased the naming right for the building name, the Rebbe prayed Mincha. Students from the London Talmud Torah welcomed him with flags and singing, and he later joined a reception and prize-giving ceremony for yeshiva students at the Sadigura synagogue. On the second day he prayed at Babov-45’s own synagogue, put on tefillin with several bar-mitzvah-age boys, and at noon attended the formal cornerstone-laying ceremony with all of the city’s Hasidic leaders and rabbis.
