BROTHERHOOD!
New Chabad rabbis come to Pembroke Pines
By Phyllis Steinberg, Jewish Journal Staff Writer
Rabbi Pinny Andrusier came to Southwest Broward County 13 years ago and started Chabad of Southwest Broward.
His fledgling congregation moved several times before building its own 2,400 square-foot home at 10601 Stirling Road in Cooper City. The congregation now serves 150 families and hosted its first services there on the High Holidays last September.
“We began holding our services for the High Holidays, but now the landscaping is finally in and our center is finished,” Andrusier said.
Andrusier, happy with the growth of Chabad of Southwest Broward, was presented with a request for another Chabad from the members of the congregation who lived in Pembroke Pines.
“We had a large contingency of people coming to our shul in Cooper City from Pembroke Pines, and they asked if it would be possible to start a Chabad there so they wouldn’t have to travel so far for services and for the other religious services we offer,” Andrusier said.
But Andrusier didn’t have far to search for new rabbis.
Two of his brothers are rabbis. He called them and asked them if they were interested in starting the new congregation and they both were excited to come to this area to work.
Rabbi Huda Andrusier, 29, comes to South Florida from Australia, where Huda and his wife, Nachama, and two boys, Chaim, 3, and Ari, 18 months, were living.
“I am very excited to be back in South Florida,” Huda Andrusier said “I lived with my brother for four years in Florida before I got married and have met many people in the area. There is a tremendous potential for growth in the Jewish community in Pembroke Pines and this is a big opportunity to share in that.
“Rabbi Huda Adrusier and Rabbi Mordechai Andrusier, 23, will share duties at the new Chabad in Pembroke Pines,” Pinny Andrusier said.
Mordechai Andrusier, 23, graduated from the Chabad of Western Monmouth County in New Jersey. He is the youngest in the family of five brothers and the third to be serving as a rabbi.
“The area is growing and our goal is to reach out to every Jew around every corner,” Mordechai Andrusier said. “That was the vision of our founder and we are trying to fulfill that mission.
Mordechai Andrusier said he has come to the area many times and liked it here.
“I have been helping my brother in the Chabad of Southwest Broward since I was 13 years old,” he said. “I wanted to be a rabbi because I have always been able to connect to people. I knew this is what I should be doing. I want to reach out to every Jew and expand the rebbe’s teachings.”
Pinny Adrusier said they have yet to find a permanent home for the new congregation but will host its first event – Friday night services followed by dinner – on Aug. 27 at the Grand Palms Hotel and Country Club on Pines Boulevard just west of Interstate 75.
For more information about Chabad of Pembroke Pines, call 954-252-1770.
