What people are saying about Rabbi Lazer Gurkow.

 11 January 2007

 To whom it may concern

I am very glad to give this endorsement to Rabbi Lazer Gurkow, whom I have known for more than four years, and to whose sermons it is always a delight to listen.

Rabbi Gurkow draws out, in each Dvar Torah, a fascinating, wide ranging and profound perspective that never fails to stimulate thought, in the most constructive and spiritually uplifting way.

 Sir Martin Gilbert

 Yours sincerely, 

 (Sir) Martin Gilbert

 Lazer Gurkow may be a small town Rabbi,(currently serving in London Ontario) still, he has the charisma, humor, wit, and wisdom to impress and captivate the best and the biggest. Whether he is lecturing, addressing a formal dinner, or serving as a master of ceremonies, his delivery is smooth and seamless. On numerous occasions, he spoke on our behalf and left an indelible impression on the entire assembly.

Rabbi Zalman Aharon Grossbaum – Chabad Lubavitch of Southern Ontario

Rabbi Gurkow’s presentation is crisp, dynamic, and insightful. He masterfully engages his audience with impressive oratory and an impressive command of the language. Our community appreciated seeing a new face and hearing a fresh voice that was polishd and professional. I am sure yours will too!

Rabbi Mendel Kaplan – Chabad of Flamingo, Toronto, Ontario

Rabbi Lazer Gurkow has the unique ability to bring Chassidus to every level of understanding. Over the Shabobs that he spent with our community, everyone connected with him and was inspired.

Rabbi Yisroel Rosenfeld – Chabad of PIttsburgh

As someone who has experience on both sides of the podium – booking speakers and speaking for others, I believe Rabbi Gurkow will prove an effective choice to shluchim. Rabbi Gurkow is a speaker who can present core concepts and values of Yiddishkeit and Da’ach in ways the full spectrum of your communities will appreciate.

Rabbi Shlomo Yaffee – Congregation Agudas Achim, West Hartford Connecticut

I have known Rabbi Lazer for 10 years now. I first met him in Los Angeles, where I found him to be an engaging, entertaining, and knowledgeable lecturer. It came as no surprise to me that he began public speaking at the age of nine!
After spending Shabbat at his house innumerable times, it became clear to me that his knowledge of Judaic studies is immense. His web site does not do justice to the over 300 articles that he has personally penned, but this impressive number does clearly point to his extensive lecturing and public speaking ability.
As a teacher of Dentistry at UCLA, I am always impressed when I encounter someone who can engage others on any topic, especially one that is religious in nature. I always look forward to hearing Rabbi Lazer speak. I recommend him highly and full-heartedly!

Jay S. Grossman,DDS
Founder, Homeless Not Toothless
Private practice, Brentwood, CA
Lecturer, UCLA College of Dentistry, Residency Program

We hosted Rabbi Lazer Gurkow as our scholar-in-residence over the Yud Tes Kislev weekend here in Los Angeles and he was simply superb. He spoke, inspired, and touched the ‘pintele yid’ of most of our community. Highly recommended for a Shabbaton or a talk on a large variety of topics. A charming personality and easy to work with.

Beis Betzalel – Los Angeles, California

An articulate speaker, with many jokes and stories, and a man of fine character!

We hosted Rabbi Lazer Gurkow for a Shabbaton. He spoke 4 times over Shabbos. He was funny, engaging, thoughtful and articulate! Reb Lazer is a walking kiddush Lubavitch. A true mensch. And, he has a following. People knew him from his articles and audio classes on the internet. Two women came from the middle of the state to hear him.

Rabbis Yudi Shemtov and Aryeh Weinstein – Chabad of Bucks County, Pennsylvania

A big yashar koach to those, who referred me to Rabbi Lazer Gurkow and in so doing, allowed me to discover a great, and reasonably priced (and easy to work with) speaker.
Soft-spoken and smooth, Lazer is able to comfortably take intellectual ideas and ease them right into the minds of the entire cross-section of people that make up the typical Chabad House crowd.
His talk on Friday night had many people discussing the issue–until the farbrengen on Shabbos day, which was participatory, and the best we have had in the last 10 years. On Sunday, people were simply riveted to every word of his talk on the afterlife.

Rabbi Falik Schtroks – Center for Judaism, Surrey, British Columbia

The youthful, humorous and naturally charming demeanor of Rabbi Eliezer Gurkow belies an intelligence, depth, and sense of purpose that characterize a wonderfully unique and gifted speaking persona. Keenly alert to both audience and event theme, Rabbi Gurkow inspires as he communicates, engagingly threading insight with humor and anecdote to maintain a purposeful and meaningful command.
He is at once respectful and lively, polished and haimish, sensitive and articulate, endearing, and charismatic.  Refreshingly bright, personable, and quick-witted, he embraces change of pace or new material with grace and adeptness. The audience welcomes his authority, instruction and most of all await the wisdom that is quickly established to be at the core of his personality.
Rabbi Gurkow’s name will deservingly become one of those distinguished and sought after for integrity and command, and as an inspiring and engaging presence in the world of social/spiritual gatherings.

Rabbi Yisroel Landa – Chabad Israeli Community Center – Toronto, Ontario

We were very fortunate to bring in Rabbi Lazer Gurkow from London, Ontario. He was wonderful and easy to work with! His honorarium is very reasonable.

Rabbi Gurkow first spoke to the students in the Day school. He was able to engage and interest them in everything he spoke about. He made the story of 19 Kislev come alive in their minds. He then spoke to an audience of about 90 adults. He has a great sense of humor, a lot of toichen and his talk was just fantastic!

Everyone went home very inspired.

Mrs. Devora Caytak – Jewish Youth Library, Ottawa Ontario

When I heard that the intent was to bring out a lecturer who would speak, first, to a group of children and later to a mixed audience of adults, I was skeptical. An appropriate speaker for young children was unlikely to be right for a sophisticated group of adults.
Rabbi Lazer proved me wrong. Not only did he hold the children’s attention completely-he also read the grown-up audience and adjusted his talk to effectively reach every element of the audience. Later he surprised me, yet again, by sitting down to farbreng with a smaller group late into the night. This was notwithstanding an early flight out the next morning.
If you are looking for a versatile, moving speaker who will work with you toward the success of your event and mosed (as opposed to behaving like hired-help), I cannot recommend Rabbi Gurkow strongly enough.

Rabbi Yehoshua Botnick – Chabad Ottowa Ontario

Ordinarily, I would refrain from posting a promotion for my brother – Lazer Gurkow – at the risk of being accused of pushing an agenda. But he was way too good to overlook. At an excellent lecture last night he amazed our crowd (of a very beginner level) as he weaved his talk with depth, clarity, and practical application. Everyone felt fully rewarded.  (As a brother he did offer me a generous discount which I will graciously reject – He was worth every penny.)

Rabbi Zalman Gurkow – Chabad, Nashoba Valley, Mass

 I would like to recommend a very good speaker. Rabbi Lazer Gurkow from London Ontario spoke for us at a shabbaton. He was really good.  He spoke on two different topics and they were both very good, he’s very knowledgeable, friendly, lebedik, and has a good command of the language. He was very easy to work with; no demands & affordable.

Rabbi Leibel Baumgarten – Chabad of East Hampton NY

This past Shabbos we had our annual Shabbaton.  Due to economy the response was smaller then we had hoped for.  the saving grace was that Lazer Gurkow was awesome. His delivery was of great quality, he was available the entire Shabbos to any community member that wanted to schmooze. He spoke 5 times over Shabbos and treated each talk as if he was speaking to a crowd of a couple hundred!

Rabbi Eliyahu Schuterman – In Town Jewish Academy, Atlanta Georgia

We recently hosted Rabbi Lazer Gurkow in Kingston, NY, for a Shabbaton and he was amazing. He spoke on Friday night and on Shabbos day. He then sat and farbrenged with the community until maariv. He spoke pure Chassidus the whole time in words they could relate to. He’s definitely someone you want to bring to your community. The people loved him. And no I’m not related to him; I’m just a happy customer.

Rabbi Yitzchok Hecht – Congregation Agudas Achim and Chabad of Ulster County

Rabbi Lazer Gurkow from London Ontario spoke for our community on Yud Aleph Nissan. He was absolutely superb. Spoke about the afterlife in an incredible down to earth and in an impactful way. I highly recommend him.
Lazer conveyed the concept of a Rebbe and his relationship to our generation in a truly uplifting manner.  He was able to bring his audience from a complete unawareness of the Rebbe to a closeness and affinity for the Rebbe. It was truly refreshing. The audience was blown away. Not one person fell asleep. . .
P.S. He went out of his way to make it as easy as possible to host him!

Rabbis Yaakov Sacks and Avraham Lerr – The Chai Center Dix Hills, NY

I had the great pleasure of having Lazer Gurkow as our guest speaker at a recent Shabbaton at our Chabad House in Montreal. We were extremely impressed with him, and the Shabbaton was a tremendous success!
As a speaker, he is top-notch. He is eloquent, toichendik, and is able to mix a bit of humor into a serious topic. He is able to take a lofty idea and bring it into simple understandable terms. He held everyone’s attention – they could not wait to hear what was next. In addition, he is very personable. He took a personal interest in our mekuravim, and was on a first-name basis with many right away. He took time to listen to individuals’ questions, and to talk to them at length.
He is also a geshmake person for any Shliach to spend time with. I think he would be good for any type of crowd. I highly recommend him to any and all Chabad Houses.

Rabbi Ronnie Fine – Chabad of Queen Mary, Montreal, QC

We hosted Rabbi Lazer Gurkow at Chabad of the North Shore. He spoke very well, was very eloquent and informative, and the audience really enjoyed it.
What many people found particularly good was to hear different angles that they had not been exposed to, whilst it was a farbrengen, it was not “all the usual stuff” repeated, he was not just inspiring, he was also factually informative.
In addition, he presents himself very well. I highly recommend him

Rabbi Nochum Shapiro – Chabad of the North Shore, Sydney Australia

On the recommendations of many Shluchim we brought Lazer Gurkow to Sydney, Australia, for a speaking tour. He was absolutely brilliant.
He spoke at many venues including Chabad of Double Bay where he lectured on “love.” His talk was full of toichen; deep and yet so accessible for people to understand. The audience loved his style and wit.
I can sincerely recommend him to fellow Shluchim.

Rabbi YAnky Berger – Chabad of Double Bay, Sydney Australia.

I want to take a moment to let you know about a great speaker, whom we just hosted for a shabbaton, Rabbi Lazer Gurkow. I watched Lazer this past shabbos speak to 3 different types of audiences (fremdeh, Chabad house regulars, and a group
of frum/anash) and he did great with all of them. He was easy to listen to, entertaining, and inspiring. He related very well to his audience, was really enjoyed by all and he stayed on topic. He is very nice to work with and very affordable.

Rabbi Mendel Blum – Chabad of Ottawa Ontario

FROM RABBI ASHER BRONSTEIN

We recently hosted Rabbi Lazer Gurkow for a Shabbaton and he was wonderful. On Friday night his talk was moving and inspirational – it brought people to tears. On shabbos afternoon he led a chassidishe farbrengen, which the oilom enjoyed for hours. On Sunday we had a Torah dedication and Lazer brought a whole new chayos to the event.

Although I may be biased, as his brother in law, I strongly recommend Lazer as a speaker for your next lecture or shabbaton.  He is charismatic and humorous and delivers the topic of discussion and in a clear, captivating way.  He connects with the people and leaves them with a positive impression. If you are looking for a speaker at your next shabbaton or lecture, give Laizer a call. He is a mentch and easy to deal with. He makes himself available.

Rabbi Asher Bronstein – Chabad of Marrimack Valley, Mass

We recently hosted Rabbi Lazer Gurkow from London Ontario for a Shabbos. He spoke on relationships, but, in fact, has a broad list of topics. He was very personable. He spoke at our Friday night dinner and many people came back Shabbat day to hear him again. He went out of his way to make it as easy as possible to host him!

Rabbi Elly Andrusier – Chabad of Irvine, CA

Lazer Gurkow from London Ontario lectured for us and was absolutely phenomenal. He really kept everyone interested in what he had to say which was also delivered very well. One thing which I really liked which I have never seen before was when he incorporated a song into his speech, having the crowd sing along and pausing between paragraphs to continue speaking. I highly recommend Lazer as a speaker. You can find a list of many of his articles at www.innerstream.org

Rabbi Chanoch Rosenfeld – Chabad of Hamilton, Ontario

On Leil Yud Tes Kislev, we hosted our first ever community farbrengen. We were fortunate to have Rabbi Lazer Gurkow  of London, Ontario join us to lead the Farbrengen.

With a crowd of middle-aged, intelligent, professional balei batim that have never in their lives participated in a Farbrengen of any kind, he succeeded in holding their attention for three hours straight, conveying some of the richest and deepest ideas of Chassidus, and was entertaining, funny and inspiring in the process. Everyone had terrific things to say about it and IYH he has helped us start a trend here.
If you can bring him to your community, your community will almost certainly be uplifted as only gedichteh chassidishe farbrengens can uplift, people will love you for it, and you may also be inspired yourself. Make sure he teaches them his bagels niggun :).

Rabbi Moshy Goldman – Chabad of Waterloo, Ontario

Last Shabbos, we had the pleasure of having Rabbi Lazer Gurkow by us and needless to say, he was unbelievable! Besides for that fact that his speaking is exquisite, he is truly a pleasure to work with. Right away, it is clear that he does not come as an outsider just coming to speak, but he is there on Shlichus and will do whatever is necessary to have a real effect on the community. This manifests itself in many ways:

• He speaks whenever the Shliach wants him to. By us, he spoke during Friday night dinner, he gave a Chasidus shiur before Shacharis, he gave the Drasha before Musaf, he spoke at lunch, and he farbrenged Motzei Shabbos. When he speaks, it is from the heart, and as we all know, “Words from the heart…”
• He really connects with individual members of the community and in a very gentle, loving way, he makes practical suggestions as to how to improve in learning and Avodas Hashem. He will take his time to speak to people 1-on-1 in between his public talks.
• In terms of speaking, his toichen is incredible and he brings it down in a clear, entertaining, palatable way that anybody can relate to. He has many relevant topics to choose from and is happy to speak about any of them.

Members of the community were inspired and are already speaking about bringing him back. To say the least, the Shabbaton was a success and we would not hesitate to have R’ Gurkow in Delaware again!
Thanks again, Lazer!

Rabbi Motti Flikshtein – Chabad Of Deleware

We just had a very successful One Shabbat One World dinner.  We brought
Rabbi Lazer Gurkow to speak, and he didn’t disappoint us.  Lazer delivered a
speech with a powerful message, that at essence, every created thing is an
extension of the Aibershter.  There were chasidisher vertlach and stories,
anecdotes, jokes to support the theme.
Lazer offered to speak as many times over Shabbos as we wanted.  We had him
speak to our middle school students Friday before dismissal, he spoke from
the bima before musaf, and he farbrenged Shabbos afternoon several hours.
He is sincere, knowledgeable, and is full of toichen.
He connected with our community and made a strong impact on it.  Our
community ranges from kapotes and shaitels to little observance, Lazer
connected with all.

From Rabbi Noach Kosofski – Chabad of Springfield

A few weeks ago we had Lazer Gurkow join our Chabad House for a community Shabbaton.  He was totally devoted to do whatever it takes to make our shabbaton a success, speaking and farbrenging with our community again and again. I sent out a survey email and got lots of good response from people that were there. He is ready and open to be there for whatever is needed and very tuned in to the needs and sensitivities of the local place. He is also a great articulate speaker!

From Rabbi Yitzchok Slavin – Chabad of Mississauga

We recently hosted Lazer Gurkow for Shabbos and recommend him highly. This is the second time we brought Lazer to our Chabad House and he was great.
On Friday night he kept a mixed crowd of seventy spellbound with pure Chassidus
and on Shabbos morning he took a much more intimate crowd on a tour of the
Parshah that provided numerous aha moments and take-home lessons for today’s
Balebatim.
The Kiddush became a Chassidishe farbrengen that lasted much of the afternoon.

From Rabbi Yitzcdhok Slavin – Chabad of Mississauga

I would like to publicly thank a fellow shliach for doing an outstanding
job. Rabbi Lazer Gurkow came as a scholar in residence this past Shabbos to our
Chabad House; he spoke multiple times over Shabbos and did a great job. He
was very well prepared, articulate, and very engaging. He had people sitting
all Shabbos afternoon fascinated by his talk on reincarnation. And of course
also a pleasure to deal with! To top it all off he also spent time with the
Lubavitcher teenagers who loved his talk as well.

From Rabbi Yisroel Altein – Chabad Outreach of Pittsburgh

We had Rabbi Lazer Gurkow speak for us over this past shabbos and I would highly recommend him. I was impressed by the spectrum of different people who really gained from his talks and kept on coming back for more. He is very well prepared, sophisticated, genuine, and knowledgeable and his presentation is engaging and pleasant. He spoke on a host of subjects from ‘what happens in Gan Eden?’ to ‘Is It Tolerance or Weakness’ etc he gives listeners real concrete clarity to leave with. He was a mechaye to work with and I’d highly recommend him for just about any crowd.

From Rabbi Mendel Bluming – Chabad of Potomac

We hosted Lazer Gurkow in Cincinnati last Thursday and he was superb. He spoke on the afterlife and the audience was spellbound for nearly an hour and a half. He connected with audience members individually, delivered substantive take-home material in a light and easily understood manner. His humor and down to earth approach made an otherwise heavy subject easy to follow. I recommend him highly for an evening lecture or Shabbaton. He is easy to work with and he delivers.

Rabbi Yisroel Mangel – Chabad of Blue Ash

Rabbi Lazer Gurkow captivated our crowd for hours! His listeners are charged by his clarity and sincerity. His message is filled with life, wisdom, and refined humor. His realism and colorful style talks to everyone alike, professionals, laymen, Rabbis, Shluchim and Bochurim. He leaves them wowed with lasting inspiration and direction.

Rabbi Chaim Brody – Chabad of North Miami Beach

Rabbi Gurkow is a powerful speaker. His talks ring loud and clear with Chassidishe toichen, his message is pragmatic and relatable. His humor fills the room with laughter, his content with wisdom. He captivates even the tough audiences; my entire Shull sat spell bound for hours and that is a huge achievement.

Rabbi Pinchas Ezagui – Chabad Daytona Beach

This past May we were extremely fortunate to host Rabbi Lazer Gurkow. He is a phenomenal speaker who is able to resonate and connect with his audience. Lazer was prepared, humorous, and was able to weave into his presentation amazing stories and anecdotes. Lazer was also capable to give over deep concepts in Chassidus in a way that a novice could truly appreciate its depth and profundity. I highly recommend Rabbi Lazer Gurkow for your next educational program.

Rabbi Dov Hilel Klein – Chabad House of Evanston and NorthWestern Jewish Center

Easygoing, punctual, and heartfelt. Rabbi Lazer Gurkov brought song, story, and wisdom to our Chabad house crowd but most of all he translated “the Rebbe” in an engaging, inspiring and practical way. The mixed crowd of regulars and newcomers all enjoyed as did the Shluchim and their wives. A good choice for your community. 

Rabbi Dov Drizin – Valley Chabad New Jersey

We had Rabbi Lazer Gurkov  for a Shabbaton at our shul and he  was
wonderful! It was a pleasure working with him and the community really
enjoyed all his lectures, he spoke Friday night by our  Shabbos dinner.

He spoke five times Shabbos by day and each topic was informative and
shared wonderful  insights of Chasidus in a fascinating way. I highly recommend him and I am sure you too will be very pleased with him.

Rabbi Levi ShemTov, Riverdale New York