Before Yom Kippur in the year 1993, Mendel received the blessing and consent of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson to accept the position of Rabbi for the Jewish Community of Tijuana, making him the first official Shliach (representative) of the Chabad movement, in Mexico.A few months later he received a second blessing, to marry Nechama Dina, daughter of Rabbi Shmuel Hakohen Rodal, one of the most prominent Rabbis in Italy. To date they have five beautiful children.Rabbi Polichenco’s dedication to the Community has given a lift up to Judaism in Tijuana. Since his arrival the installations have gone through a total makeover. He founded the first and only Jewish Day School in the state, opened a Mikve, a Kosher restaurant, bakery and catering service.His stamina, upright personality and oratory skills have taken him across Latin America, U.S.A. and Europe.Back home, he leads the Adult Education Program, Daily Services, Special Holiday Programs, Overnight Summer Camp, Bar and Bat Mitzva Group, Bikur Cholim Society and Chevra Kadisha, Youth Group and Welcome Committee for Immigrants from South America. He volunteers as a counselor in a Rehabilitation Clinic for addictions.Currently Rabbi Polichenco is the director and founder of Chabad Without Borders, based in Carmel Valley, CA where he serves as Rabbi and Educational Director and overseeing the branches that he opened in Mexico and California. He is also the only representative of the Jewish Agency for northwest Mexico. He is a certified Birthright guide, one of his passions is taking groups to Israel.
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on the 3rd of January (16th of Tevet) in 1972.
His parents, Rabbi Engineer Abraham Yosef and Professor Yehudit Polichenco, also Argentinean, had only one daughter, Naomi. 13 years later they received a unexpected blessing from Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson and a son was born whom they called Menachem Mendel Yakov.
EDUCATION:
Mendel’s formal Jewish education began in 1975. His father, unsatisfied with the existing standards of the other Jewish schools, founded Oholei Chinuch.
1985 – Yeshiva Ghedola – Buenos Aires.
1988 – Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim – Kiryat Gat, Israel.
1990 – Rabbinical College of America – Morristown, New Jersey
1992 – Graduates as a Bachelor on Rabbinics – RCA.
1993 – Receives Rabbinical ordination – Kfar Chabad, Israel.
2001 – Masters in Organizational Development, Ibero Americana University – México.
Before Yom Kippur in the year 1993, Mendel received the blessing and consent of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson to accept the position of Rabbi for the Jewish Community of Tijuana, making him the first official Shliach (representative) of the Chabad movement, in Mexico.
A few months later he received a second blessing, to marry Nechama Dina, daughter of Rabbi Shmuel Hakohen Rodal, one of the most prominent Rabbis in Italy. To date they have five beautiful children.
Rabbi Polichenco’s dedication to the Community has given a lift up to Judaism in Tijuana. Since his arrival the installations have gone through a total makeover. He founded the first and only Jewish Day School in the state, opened a Mikve, a Kosher restaurant, bakery and catering service.
His stamina, upright personality and oratory skills have taken him across Latin America, U.S.A. and Europe.
Back home, he leads the Adult Education Program, Daily Services, Special Holiday Programs, Overnight Summer Camp, Bar and Bat Mitzva Group, Bikur Cholim Society and Chevra Kadisha, Youth Group and Welcome Committee for Immigrants from South America. He volunteers as a counselor in a Rehabilitation Clinic for addictions
Currently Rabbi Polichenco is the director and founder of Chabad Without Borders, based in Carmel Valley, CA where he serves as Rabbi and Educational Director and overseeing the branches that he opened in Mexico and California. He is also the only representative of the Jewish Agency for northwest Mexico. He is a certified Birthright guide, one of his passions is taking groups to Israel.
Mendel keeps healthy by following a daily routine of swimming in the ocean, working out and running in the beach, biking to Shul, the occasional spear gun fishing and practicing Krav Maga.
He is fluent in Spanish, English and Hebrew.