Rabbi Yanky and Shternie Bell
Rabbi Yanky Bell grew up in Leeds, UK. Rabbi Yanky was ordained as a Rabbi in Morristown, New Jersey. He has spent seven years in outreach, caring and volunteering for Jewish causes.
Shternie was raised in Montreal, Canada and is a graduate of Beth Chana Seminary in Milan, Italy. She has years of teaching experience and is well known for her passion and care for each individual student.
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Yanky and Shternie moved to California in November of 2016 to establish Chabad of El Cerrito. They welcomed their son Mendel in February 2017.
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Chabad Lubavitch
Chabad of El Cerrito is a home where everyone is welcome - regardless of affiliation, level of knowledge or observance.
We strive to create a warm, welcoming environment to explore and experience our heritage in a non-judgmental and inviting atmosphere.
We are founded on the principle that, while Jews embrace many levels of observance in their personal lives, there should be a place for all Jews - no labels, no affiliations - to develop a sense of community, to enhance the experience of being Jewish, to learn and to have fun.
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.
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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 4,500 full-time emissary families 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.
“Each individual has the capacity to build communities and endow communities with life… so that every community member becomes a source of inspiration”
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— The Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement