A metro Denver Jewish congregation is using the anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas as an opportunity for outreach.

Chabad South Metro Denver has grown from a congregation that began as a startup in 2004 to one anticipating 1,500 worshippers attending its High Holidays services at its two campuses in Greenwood Village and Lone Tree, according to Senior Rabbi Avraham Mintz.

This year, when the anniversary of the 2023 attack coincides with the Jewish New Year celebration, Chabad is marking the moment by starting an educational venture, Colorado Torah Institute.

Chabad has brought a third rabbi on board as the institute’s director to create its classes and programs.

“Oct. 7 was a painful day,” Mintz told The Denver Gazette.

The sense of tragedy was doubled, he noted, by the attack on a music festival where fans gathered for the event became some of the earliest victims and hostages.

“We’re going to share the light of uplifting and elevating all of God’s children, both Jew and non-Jew,” Mintz added. “We will dance again.”

The Chabad-Lubavitch movement — an 18th century Judaic movement that began in White Russia (now Belarus) and spread to Brooklyn in 1940 — is now the fastest growing Jewish organization in the world, according to Mintz.

Some of that increase is by attracting younger worshipers and families with children — something older Jewish congregations as well as Christian denominations have struggled with over recent decades and especially since the pandemic.

Chabad launched its Sunday school classes in 2004 with seven children.

“Four were mine,” Mintz quipped.

Now 160 kids attend, he said, while a preschool which opened in 2009 has become the largest Jewish preschool in metro Denver.

Planning for the new Torah Institute includes an emphasis on drawing those younger demographics.

“We want to partner with as many interests as possible in starting a young adult program,” said the institute’s newly recruited director, Rabbi Zusya Kreitenberg, who arrived with his wife Dini in time to set up some programs during the High Holidays.

Those began with a meal held on the eve of Rosh Hoshana, the Jewish New Year, targeted at a younger crowd. That will be followed by a “brisket and bourbon” event for a synagogue men’s club, and by the institute’s first classes — “Read it in Hebrew,” and another on emotional health.

Getting exact metrics on its growing membership is hard because Chabad’s success, Mintz said, owes in part to rejecting old-fashioned membership models in favor of newer forms created around changing demographics.

“A big part of it is love, taking away the red tape, and creating opportunities to join without any strings attached,” Mintz added. “Everyone is a member.”

Part of the goal is reaching those in the Jewish community who may know little about their own heritage.

“People don’t know how to explain to non-Jewish friends what’s going on in Israel,” he said. “We’re moving from ‘Let my people go,’ to ‘Let my people know.’”

Programs and classes will also welcome non-Jews.

“The word Chabad is an acronym about making a relationship with God meaningful, connecting with God,” he said. “Everyone has that spark, non-Jews as well. At Chabad our goal is to light that spark.”

The Colorado Torah Institute will operate from Chabad’s 5-acre campus on East Belleview Avenue west of Monaco Street.

“The idea to create the Torah Institute came in the wake of Oct. 7, when so many were silent following the worst anti-Semitic attack in memory,” Mintz said in a statement about the launch. Plans call for the website to go live soon.

The attack had been staged on the day when Jews celebrate Simchat Torah, when they conclude their annual reading of the first five books of the Bible and then begin the cycle again, starting with the first chapter of Genesis.

On Simchat Torah this year (Oct.25), the congregation plans to unveil a new alter cover for its sanctuary, Mintz said, embroidered with names of 1,200 victims murdered in the attack.

“We realized that to combat ignorance, apathy and misinformation, we need to educate and inspire this generation of Jews to be proud, knowledgeable, and courageous,” the statement continued.

Kreitenberg moved from Los Angeles, one of four Chabad sites where the Rabbi has taught since his ordination in 2020. His wife, Dini Kreitenberg, from Pittsburgh, has carried out leadership and teaching roles at several Chabad centers around the country.

Chabad South Metro Denver credits Mintz’s wife, Hindy Mintz, as having co-founded the congregation. Carrying on the tradition, Kreitenberg said his own wife’s involvement, including setting up a program for kids with special needs, will be key to the Institute’s success.

“It’s an old saying that there is no great rabbi without a great rebbetzin,” Kreitenberg said.