On December 27, 2023, Hillel Fuld, a resident of Beit Shemesh and a prominent marketer and social media activist, posted a painting of himself praying, decked out in his tallit and tefillin, with a message: “I love the internet. Yesterday I received a message from an artist in Montana. Her name is Tania and she has a chicken coop with 13 hens and 5 roosters. Anyway, Tania felt strongly that she couldn’t be silent anymore and decided to speak up on the internet. A few days ago, she was scrolling through her feed and came across the picture of me praying. So, she decided to paint it. Mind-blown!”
This past Friday we had dinner at our shul to a packed crowd of locals and visitors in town for yeshiva week. One of our locals is an artist named Tania, who joined us for Shabbos dinner and Chavie’s Sunday Tanya class. I’ve known about Tania for almost two years, since her brother Mark used to daven in our shul when he lived in Bozeman, but I had never met Tania before. Now, thanks to Hillel Fuld’s post, Divine Providence, and the Jewish awakening after October 7, not only did she join us for Shabbos, she fit right in. We farbrenged and enjoyed her company immensely. The conversation that flowed was fun and spirited, and I’m certain that we will be seeing more of her, since she lives only an hour and fifteen minutes away, which in Montana is practically right next door.
The Jewish soul is always on fire, but the shock of the October 7 tragedy removed the stubbornness that blocked many Jews from shining as proud Jews. When a soul realizes that the façades are fading, and the haters are raising their ugly head, when assimilated Jews realize their lives are in jeopardy from those who would murder or maim them, they focus on their soul, which is untouchable, and it starts glowing. A Jew in Montana or Cambodia can no longer sit back and say “being Jewish doesn’t matter so much” or “I’m the type of Jew the world loves, unlike those religious Jews who always get on people’s nerves.” Yes, the outcome of October 7 is the truth that Hamas revealed: that a Jew is a Jew is a Jew. And when that truth sank in, Jews started to come alive.
It still takes a unique sensitivity to see through the outer layers to the neshamah beneath, but with a little dose of Jewish love, that neshamah becomes quickly visible. The Rebbe, zt’l, always had a way of dealing with a fellow human with a special sensitivity, and it rubbed off on his shluchim and shluchos. Just recently, on the weekly Living Torah video from JEM, we saw the history of the Aleph Institute founded by Rabbi Sholom Ber Lipskar of Bal Harbor, Florida, and the special instructions he received from the Rebbe on how to deal with those who are incarcerated, showing TLC even to those who have harmed society while on the road to their rehabilitation. The Rebbe didn’t discriminate; he felt that any human being that is alive and trying to be productive, to fix their past, do teshuvah, should be treated with warmth. I thought of this while learning the Gemara in Gittin a few weeks ago, where it talked about “Takonas Hashovim,” allowing certain thieves to return the value of the stolen goods instead of returning the item itself, since it opens the door for their repentance, which would be impossible if the thief felt a confession and change of heart would result in shaming and judging. It’s that sensitivity that makes all the difference in reaching a person.
In this week’s Torah portion, Yisro, we read about the greatest spiritual moment of all time, the giving of the Torah at Sinai. When Hashem commenced the Ten Commandments, He said the words: “Anochi Hashem Elokecha Asher Hotzaisicha M’Eretz Mitzrayim—I am the Lord your G-d who took you out of Egypt.” He didn’t say it in the plural, but in the singular, imparting an eternal lesson that it’s not just the collective who G-d cares for, but the individual. Our sages teach that every Jewish soul that ever existed was present at the revelation at Mount Sinai, experiencing the revelation and spiritual high that impacts them whenever their soul comes into a body and lives in this world as a Jew.
Think about that for a minute. Let’s internalize that.
Whenever you see a Jew, whether super-frum or barely identifiable, that Jew was at Mount Sinai along with Moshe Rabbeinu, hearing the Torah from Hashem and Moses. That person is a descendant of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, Sarah, Rivkah, Rochel, and Leah and should be welcomed as such. I know at times it’s hard if they do not represent our values, but just because something is hard doesn’t mean we shouldn’t endeavor to do it properly. On October 15, a local Jewess sent me a picture of her arm tattooed with Am Yisrael Chai in Hebrew. She described it as follows: “I know tattoos are against our religion, but I already have some and this felt necessary today.” Naturally, I wasn’t happy that a Jewish woman in her sixties felt it necessary to get a tattoo, which is against Hashem’s wishes in the Torah, but it was after the fact, and I remembered that she’s a soul that was at Sinai, inextricably connected to Hashem and Torah, and she was broken for her people, albeit expressing it incorrectly.
Case in point: Historically a Jew on the streets of Montana is more hesitant to put on tefillin in public, because it’s not like New York or Chicago where it’s done all the time. Yet, after October 7, I realized that even in Bozeman, where the chances are smaller, I need to be ready to lay tefillin in public as our people are deeply connected to their roots and opportunities may arise. So, three weeks ago, I posted on my WhatsApp status that I was looking for a sponsor and my dear friends, Hayim and Eliana Haboucha, accepted the zechus (merit). Now I wear a man-purse in the colors of our Chabad Lubavitch of Montana logo wherever I go in case I meet a Yid who wants to lay tefillin. At the supermarket, ski lodge, cleaners, school pickup, oil change, wherever I go, I have my tefillin around my shoulder, ready to roll, literally. In Montana, everyone is armed. We have all types of “carry” and now we’ve added the ultimate form of “carrying.”
Tomorrow is the 22nd of Shevat, the 36th yahrzeit of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, wife of the Rebbe and a regal woman in every sense of the word. Her sensitivity to all people was legendary and a reflection of her innate belief that every human is created in the image of G-d and every Jew is a soul who stood at Sinai. I recall hearing the following story told by Reb Chessed Halberstam (father of Ari Halberstam, Hy’d), who worked for the Rebbetzin and also served as her driver.
According to Reb Chessed, “The Rebbe requested that I try to see to it that the Rebbetzin gets out of the house every day for fresh air. Usually, we would drive out to a park in Long Island. In the years that my son, Ari was a young child, we would often drive by his school on Ocean Parkway to take him along; as the Rebbetzin enjoyed playing with him, pushing him on the swings in the park playground.
“One day, as we neared the park, we found our regular route closed off due to road work and were forced to proceed instead on a parallel street. As we drove along that street, we heard a woman screaming in Russian. When I stopped at the next traffic light, the Rebbetzin turned to me and said: ‘I heard a woman screaming. Can you go back and see what that was about?’”
“We drove back to the beginning of the street. There we saw a woman standing on the curb weeping, while nearby, workers were carrying furniture and household items from a house and loading them onto a truck belonging to the county marshal. At the Rebbetzin’s request, I parked behind the marshal’s truck and went to learn the details of what was going on. The marshal explained that the woman had not paid her rent for many months and was now being evicted from her home.
“When I reported back to the Rebbetzin, she asked me to go back and inquire from the marshal how much the woman owed, and if he would accept a personal check. She also asked that I not say anything to the family being evicted. At this point, I still did not realize where all this was leading, but I fulfilled the Rebbetzin’s request. The sum that the family owed was approximately $6,700. The marshal said he had no problem accepting a personal check, as long as he confirms with the bank that the check is covered. He also said that if he received the payment, his men would carry everything back into the house. When I informed the Rebbetzin of the details, she took out her checkbook and, to my amazement, wrote out a check for the full amount, and asked me to give it to the marshal.
“The marshal called the bank, and then instructed his workers to take everything back to the house. The Rebbetzin immediately urged me to quickly drive away before the woman realized what had transpired.
“I was completely amazed at what I had seen. Later, when we were in the park, I could not contain myself, and asked the Rebbetzin what had prompted her to give such a large sum to a total stranger.
“‘Do you really want to know?’” asked the Rebbetzin. “Yes, I do,” I replied.
“‘Then I’ll tell you. Once when I was a young girl, my father, the Friediker Rebbe, took me for a walk in the park. He sat me down on a bench and started to tell me about the idea of hashgachah pratis (Divine providence). He told me that every time something causes us to deviate from our normal routine, it is because of a divinely ordained reason. Every time we see something unusual, there is a purpose in why we’ve been shown this sight.’”
“‘Today,’ continued the Rebbetzin. ‘When I saw the Detour sign instructing us to deviate from our regular route, I remembered my father’s words and immediately thought to myself: Every day we drive by this street; suddenly the street’s closed off, and we’re sent to a different street. What is the purpose of this? How is this connected to me? Then I heard the sound of a woman crying and screaming and I realized I was sent for a Divine purpose.’”
The Rebbetzin saw the Divine Providence in the detour and I, a father of five, bli ayin hara, and community leader in Montana, see the incredible sensitivity of a refined woman who cared about a sister from Sinai. Similarly, I saw the sensitivity and deep concern in two other special Jews, Hillel Fuld and Tania. May we all merit to see the Divine purpose in our own missions. n
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 rabbi@jewishmontana.com or visit JewishMontana.com/Donate.
