Musings Of A Shliach From Montana
By: Rabbi Chaim Bruk
The Montana chevra listening to Reb Shlomo Bochner of Bonei Olam
The Montana chevra at the Rebbe’s Ohel in Queens
Two of the Montana chevra learning with a bachur at Oholei Torah
It’s one thing to talk about an idea, and a very different thing to make it happen. The conversation began last summer at one of our monthly Mensch Club meetings about doing a road trip together to New York. We chose dates, booked tickets, and then twelve guys from Bozeman, Montana—led by yours truly—headed off to New York for 54 hours of Jewish inspiration, education, enlightenment, and great food. Here’s a brief glimpse of our itinerary:
Sunday, November 1, 2026
We departed Bozeman at 6:00 a.m. on a Delta flight to New York via Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, where we davened Shacharis. We landed at LaGuardia at 1:45 p.m. and headed straight to the Soul House in Crown Heights, then out to the Ohel, the Rebbe’s resting place, where we ate lunch, davened Minchah, and merited to have a Hachanah program with Rabbi Shais Taub of Cedarhurst, author of “G-d of Our Understanding: Jewish Spirituality and Recovery from Addiction,” a world-renowned lecturer and Tanya teacher in the Five Towns, in preparation of going into the Ohel. He really helped the chevra understand what a Rebbe is and what energetics exist when visiting a Rebbe’s kever. We then prayed at the Ohel of the Rebbe and his father-in-law, the Frierdiker Rebbe, as well as the resting places of the Rebbetzins. We checked out the burial spot of our daughter Zeesy’s namesake, my Alter Bubbe Zisha Gordon, then headed straight to your neighborhood of Lawrence, New York.
In Lawrence we were hosted by our dear friends, Daniel and Estie Wolfson, where we enjoyed sushi and heard from Mr. Eli Rowe, one of the Rebbe’s caretakers in the hours after his 1992 stroke. He is also the founder and pilot of Hatzolah Air, an organization that brings medical miracles to many. Our chevra were truly mesmerized by what Eli and his team pull off for Klal Yisrael during their toughest times. We also heard about Jewish education and schooling from Rabbi Ephraim Blumenkrantz, who is the Executive Director of Bnos Bais Yaakov of Far Rockaway. The passion with which he shares about proper chinuch and working in unity with the other local schools was very helpful, even for me. We enjoyed dinner at Anju in Cedarhurst, visited the Minyan Factory, and headed to our Airbnb in Crown Heights.
Key lesson for my chevra: Don’t travel with me if you want to relax!
Monday, November 2, 2026
We joined the Shacharis Minyan at my childhood shul, the Agudah on Crown Street (Yes, there is an Agudah Shul in Crown Heights!). We enjoyed breakfast with our family friends Tobi, Avremel, and Nachman Lokshin, who shared with us what life was like growing up under Communism in the Republic of Georgia, and what their parents and grandparents did for the furtherance of Jewish life and the price they paid for their devotion. I think it’s hard to comprehend what our people dealt with behind the Iron Curtain just seven or eight decades ago, the harrowing mesirus nefesh. Hearing from people who lived through it is inspiring. We then checked out Judaica World, Kehot bookstore, and Bellissimo hats. After that we visited Oholei Torah, the flagship Crown Heights school where I studied from pre-school through 9th grade, and were welcomed by Rabbi Nosson Blumes, the school’s development director, who shared with us the history of the school, the history of the building (formerly the Brooklyn Jewish Center), and everything that takes place on-site from weddings to the elementary school to the Talmudical Seminary. We paired up members of the chevra with students in the yeshiva for a study session, to give them a taste of an authentic yeshiva experience.
We then visited Lahak, the place where the Rebbe’s Torah is analyzed, deciphered, and prepared for print to illuminate the world. My Uncle Reb Chaim Shaul (Yes, we have the same name) gave us a behind-the-scenes view of the operation to see all the tedious work that it entails. We enjoyed an incredible lunch at the home of Rabbi Shmaya and Rivkah Krinsky, where Reb Shmaya shared about his father, Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, who was a personal confidant of the Rebbe as well as his secretary and the one whom the Rebbe entrusted with leadership and with his most personal life matters. He also shared about his work as Executive Director of Machane Israel at Lubavitch World Headquarters, and Rivkah shared about her work as a matchmaker and her work with the Israeli soldiers and hostages.
After lunch, we visited WLCC where Reb Chaim Boruch Halberstam spoke about how the live broadcasts would work on the many phone lines, as the Rebbe’s talks were being shared LIVE in hundreds of communities around the world. We also saw some of his ancient equipment used to record and preserve those events. It took an innovator like Reb Chaim Boruch to do something that was unheard of at that time, making live phone broadcasts available all over the world.
Off to HaSofer, where Rabbi Zalman Schapiro gave us a crash course on the production of Torah scrolls, mezuzos, and tefillin. At the same time, my uncle Rabbi Moshe Klein, who is a mohel, sofer, and shochet, shared with us about a two-week visit to Russia he took in 1987 and how he trained the Yidden under Communism to do their work with halachic precision. After Minchah at Getzel’s shul, we were off to the Rebbe’s home on President Street, where Rabbi Mendy Krinsky gave us some insight into how the home operated and what each room represented, including how things changed after the Rebbetzin passed away in 1988. We then left for Boro Park, to tour the brand-new 45,000 square foot HASC facility for people with special needs. Hearing about HASC’s work from Mr. Abe Eisner, Chairman of the Board, and Mr. Avi Sacks, COO, was truly awe-inspiring, and a reminder that there is no one like Am Yisrael. We also visited one of their forty group homes for adults with special needs and met with a few residents and the Uzbeki Jew named Gavriel who cares for them.
Dinner was at the world-famous “The Loft” restaurant, where we enjoyed gourmet kosher fare while hearing from Rabbi Shlomo Bochner, Founder of Bonei Olam, a worldwide organization that supports Jews in innumerable ways on the journey to creating a family. We also heard from Reb Moshe Weissmandel, a member of Hatzalah in Boro Park, and family friend (and restaurant owner) Yossi Glick, who is a sweet and dear friend of my brother, Yochanan. Back to Crown Heights for some shut-eye since tomorrow is another big day.
Tuesday, November 3, 2026
Bright and early, we visited the Rebbe’s study at 770 where we learned the history of the room and all that transpired in that sacred office. We checked out the main shul at 770 where the Rebbe would farbreng and daven, and I shared with the boys my amazing childhood experiences in that place. We walked to East Flatbush to my sister Mushkie and her husband Chanochie’s home to have breakfast with my dad, who was visiting from Israel.
After that, we were off to JEM (Jewish Educational Media) where we heard from Rabbi Memke Schmukler about how the recordings of the Rebbe’s 42 years of inspiration and guidance are being developed today, which includes the introduction of AI and Face Recognition. I thought I’d seen all the pics of the Rebbe and me, but with Face Recognition, right in front of all the guys, we discovered about ten new pics of me with the Rebbe. Then we headed to Williamsburg for a unique tour of the Satmar Matzah Bakery, an experience like no other. We enjoyed a late lunch at Gottlieb’s world-famous delicatessen, then we departed back home.
Just a quick glimpse of the parashah for a minute. In Toldos, we read about the differences between Esav and Yaakov, twin brothers who couldn’t have been more different. While Yaakov’s life was undoubtedly harder than Esav’s wild and immoral life, it was worth the hardship to be a patriarch of the Jewish people and a carrier of the torch of Avraham and Yitzchak. Judaism doesn’t mean easy. It never was, but it does equal value and meaning. As we toured New York and saw all the investment of Jewish leaders and activists to keep our people, our Torah, and our nation strong and growing, it was clear that we are a different being, willing to do the hard work and not willing to sell our birthright for a pot of lentils.
Before we left New York, I stopped by the resting places of my mother and my maternal grandparents, then headed to JFK to catch a flight to Austin. Why Austin? Because Chavie and the kids met me there to celebrate the bar mitzvah of my nephew, Matti Weingarten, whose parents, Rabbi Ari and Chaya Mushka (Chavie’s sister) and their children are the Shluchim in San Marcos, between San Antonio and Austin. It was a beautiful simcha, and on Friday night, it was so inspiring to see nine college students from Texas State University, as well as twelve local Jews, join the family for Shabbos dinner. I kept observing the table of college kids and recognizing that without the Rebbe, zt’l, and without the Weingartens, these precious neshamos would never get to see what it’s like to live as a Yaakov and might potentially be seduced by Esav’s pot of lentils.
Glad to be on the team that shines the light of Torah wherever we go.
Rabbi Chaim Bruk is co-CEO of Chabad Lubavitch of Montana and spiritual leader of The Shul of Bozeman. For comments or to partner in our holy work, e-mail [email protected] or visit JewishMontana.com/Donate.
