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Thirty years ago, Rabbi Mordechai Kanelsky, who himself emigrated from the Soviet Union to the United States in 1970, realized that the needs of the Russian Jewish immigrant community in the area were not being met.

"I started to visit with people. To visit their homes and communities and asked what is it that they really need?" Kanelsky recalled. "And after visiting people for half a year throughout New Jersey, I realized they needed everything."

So in 1979, Bris Avrohom, the Chabad-affiliated organization, was born. On Sept. 13, Bris Avrohom will celebrate its 30-year anniversary at the Sheraton Parsippany Hotel in Parsippany. The anniversary celebration will commemorate three decades of outreach to the Russian Jewish immigrant community throughout the state.

Kanelsky, the executive director of Bris Avrohom, explained how much the organization has grown and expanded since he founded it 30 years ago.

When Bris Avrohom was first founded in 1979, its goal was to support Jewish life among the Russian immigrant community, including encouraging the circumcision of young boys, the enrollment of children into yeshivas, and the observance of Jewish ritual.

In 1980, for example, Bris Avrohom helped 126 Russian Jewish children join a yeshiva high school in Jersey City.

Alumni of the school have reconvened once a month for the last 30 years, without interruption, to study Torah together, said Kanelsky.

In 1989, Bris Avrohom moved from Jersey City to its current headquarters in Hillside, though the Jersey City branch remains. These centers were followed by the Fair Lawn branch in 1992 and the Old Bridge branch in 2003.

The centers not only provide opportunities for Jewish life to immigrants from the former Soviet Union, but also help them adjust to their new lives in the United States, Kanelsky said.

"We have a minyan three times a day; lessons for young adults, adult education where people can learn about their Judaism; classes for people to learn English; we help them to become American citizens; and we visit people in hospitals," Kanelsky said. "To summarize, Bris Avrohom is serving over 10,000 families throughout New Jersey."

In addition to the three New Jersey centers, Bris Avrohom also has centers in Brooklyn; St. Louis Park, Minn.; and Zhitomer, Ukraine.

Bris Avrohom also aids the community by providing life-cycle events including brissin, bar mitzvahs, and weddings.

In 1986, Bris Avrohom first began holding mass weddings, where an average of 10 couples a year are married according to the Jewish law, after previously having only civil weddings.

At the anniversary celebration on Sunday, Bris Avrohom's annual mass wedding will take place with 10 couples to be married.

The Fair Lawn Branch also operates a Sunday school where more than 100 children attend and a day care center for more than 200 children. In 2000, Bris Avrohom opened the Yaldei Menachem Cheder at the Hillside headquarters that serves young children through kindergarten.

"We've also translated over 20 books with Russians translations including siddurim, Chumash, Tehillim, etc. etc," Kanelsky added.

Kanelsky expressed enthusiasm that the center has been able to provide opportunities for Jewish life to the immigrant community for the past three decades.

"As a person from the former Soviet Union, it gives me great pride that people are coming back to become leaders of the Jewish community," Kanelsky said.

Kanelsky described how when developing the organization Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, personally encouraged him and his wife, Shterney, in their pursuit and provided them advice on how to proceed.

"I will be successful because I have the blessing of the Rebbe with me, and I have been," Kanelsky said. "With the blessing it feels like I'm not alone -- that there [are] people helping me."