Who We Are
Hi! Welcome to our website. If you are new here, allow us to introduce ourselves. We are Rabbi Tzvi and Fraidy Dubov, the directors of Chabad of Oviedo-Winter Springs. We are here to start a Jewish community that embraces all Jews regardless of their background, knowledge, or education. It is our goal to meet every Jew in Oviedo and Winter Springs. If you would like to get together feel free to message us, we'd love to hear from you!
You can read more about our vision over at the What We Do page.
Rabbi Tzvi was born and raised in Maitland, Florida. He learned the ropes of being a Chabad rabbi pretty early on watching his parents - who founded Chabad of Central Florida over 38 years ago. His official rabbinical training started at 14, when he went to Lubavitch Mesivta of Chicago. From there he continued his Yeshiva education in Israel, New York and South Africa. He received his Rabbinical Ordination from the West Coast Rabbinical Seminary in Los Angeles. After becoming a Rabbi, Tzvi got married and came back to work at Chabad of Greater Orlando as assistant Rabbi. Being involved in the community and seeing the need for a full time Chabad presence for the Jews of Oviedo and Winter Springs, Rabbi Tzviky set out to establish Chabad of Oviedo-Winter Springs, the 13th Chabad center in Central Florida.
Fraidy grew up in Monsey, New York and always loved teaching and working with people. She went to school in Monsey, and after graduating spent a year learning in Israel. Her love for wholesome education and giving to others propelled her to go back to her home school and work as a teacher and extra curricular director to connect with the students on a more personal level. She got married and moved with her husband, Rabbi Tzviky Dubov, to work as program director at Chabad of Greater Orlando. She is now invested in building the Chabad of Oviedo-Winter Springs community. She looks forward to creating a place where everyone feels at home and can connect to their Jewish heritage in a real and meaningful way.
We have two little girls, Batsheva and Esther - the cutest sidekicks and helpers at Chabad of Oviedo-Winter Springs
Our Family
The Philosophy
Chabad-Lubavitch is a philosophy, a movement, and an organization. It is considered to be the most dynamic force in Jewish life today.
The word “Chabad” is a Hebrew acronym for the three intellectual faculties of chochmah—wisdom, binah—comprehension and da’at—knowledge. The movement’s system of Jewish religious philosophy, the deepest dimension of G‑d’s Torah, teaches understanding and recognition of the Creator, the role and purpose of creation, and the importance and unique mission of each creature. This philosophy guides a person to refine and govern his or her every act and feeling through wisdom, comprehension and knowledge.
The word “Lubavitch” is the name of the town in White Russia where the movement was based for more than a century. Appropriately, the word Lubavitch in Russian means the “city of brotherly love.” The name Lubavitch conveys the essence of the responsibility and love engendered by the Chabad philosophy toward every single Jew.
Thousands of female Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries gather for their annual photo.
The Movement
Following its inception 250 years ago, the Chabad-Lubavitch movement—a branch of Hasidism—swept through Russia and spread in surrounding countries as well. It provided scholars with answers that eluded them, and simple farmers with a love that had been denied them. Eventually the philosophy of Chabad-Lubavitch and its adherents reached almost every corner of the world and affected almost every facet of Jewish life.
The Leadership
The Rebbe gives a young girl a coin so that she can donate it to charity (1980s).
The movement is guided by the teachings of its seven leaders (“Rebbes”), beginning with Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi of righteous memory (1745–1812). These leaders expounded upon the most refined and delicate aspects of Jewish mysticism, creating a corpus of study thousands of books strong. They personified the age-old Biblical qualities of piety and leadership. And they concerned themselves not only with Chabad-Lubavitch, but with the totality of Jewish life, spiritual and physical. No person or detail was too small or insignificant for their love and dedication.
In our generation, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson of righteous memory (1902–1994), known simply as “the Rebbe,” guided post-holocaust Jewry to safety from the ravages of that devastation.
The Organization
The origins of today’s Chabad-Lubavitch organization can be traced to the early 1940s, when the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn of righteous memory (1880–1950), appointed his son-in-law and later successor, Rabbi Menachem Mendel, to head the newly founded educational and social service arms of the movement.
Motivated by his profound love for every Jew and spurred by his boundless optimism and self-sacrifice, the Rebbe set into motion a dazzling array of programs, services and institutions to serve every Jew.
Today over 5,000 full-time emissary families (2,000 in the United States) apply 250-year-old principles and philosophy to direct more than 3,500 institutions (and a workforce that numbers in the tens of thousands) dedicated to the welfare of the Jewish people worldwide.
