Musings Of A Shliach From Montana
I hope all of you had an uplifting Pesach and are now celebrating Rosh Chodesh Iyar, the month of healing and radiance, opening yourselves up to the incredible berachos shining from above during this time.
It would be impossible to describe all the incredible events that transpired since I last wrote, but there were quite a few moments of Divine Providence, heartwarming examples of Jews coming home to their Father in Heaven—Souls on Fire! —and I would like to share with you some glimpses of our Pesach in the hope they will inspire you regarding the eternity and greatness of our people.
On Friday, April 19 (11 Nissan), Chavie and I welcomed Governor Greg Gianforte and First Lady Susan Gianforte for a special visit to our Chabad Center. Though they had to travel to Seattle to attend the adoption ceremony of two of their grandchildren (another life experience we share in common), they made the effort to visit us on the Rebbe’s zt’l 122nd birthday to sign a proclamation for “Education and Sharing Day Montana” in recognition of the Rebbe’s life work. In addition, we presented the Governor and his First Lady with a box of shemurah matzah from Israel and a beautiful Kol Menachem Haggadah. I read with them the liturgy of “Vehi Sheamda” about the eternity of the Jewish people and overcoming our enemies. They reaffirmed their support for the Jewish community and Israel and shared their visit on their social media platforms, reaching thousands of residents across Montana.
About eight months ago, I went into a local shoe store. The owners, a lovely couple, chatted with me while I tried on the various shoes, and the wife said, “You know rabbi, I’m Jewish.” I was stunned. Not because I don’t always meet new Jews wherever I go, but because this wasn’t the first time I had visited the store and she never mentioned she was Jewish before. She knew so little about her heritage that she asked me one of the sweetest questions ever, “Rabbi, if Judaism is matrilineal, does that mean only my daughter is Jewish, or is my son also Jewish?” It came from the heart, and naturally I explained to her that both her children were Jewish. They joined us at the Menorah lighting on Chanukah and we stayed in touch. A few days before Pesach, they received the matzah delivery at their house and when her non-Jewish husband texted me his gratitude, I invited them to the Seder. They showed up and it was the first time in her life that she remembered ever attending a Seder.
I sent Yeshiva students to visit hundreds of homes and I also visited thirty homes myself. Together with my daughter Chaya, we visited two Jewish, anti-Israel activists. Though I usually don’t debate such issues, at the end of the day, these are my Jewish sisters and if matzah is a mitzvah for every Jew and the Zohar says it’s the “bread of healing” and “bread of faith,” they should also receive their portion of matzah. I didn’t expect a response from them, but they wrote me a thank-you letter: “Dear Rabbi Bruk, thank you for your thoughtful gesture of sharing a box of matzah with us. We were touched by your kindness. Thank you so much for including us in your holiday! I was doing some research on the Chabad.org website, and was struck by the line: ‘Our Sages tell us that in every generation, every Jew must see himself as if he has been liberated from Egypt.’ It’s such a powerful sentiment, and one I hope to live by. May this year’s Seder be an inspiration for all of us in pursuit of liberation, and next year, may we celebrate our collective freedom!”
In addition to 160 locals who joined us for the Seders and services, we also hosted frum friends from Montreal, Boro Park, and Monsey. The Kiddush Hashem of having them with us was indescribable. Isaac, the 13-year-old son of our Montreal friend was the ba’al koreh who read beautifully from the Torah, and people couldn’t get enough of his youth and voice.
Before I continue with the remaining inspiring moments, I want to share with you a basic insight from our parashah, Kedoshim. The Torah tells us multiple times to “be holy.” Each command to be holy indicates another lesson in holiness, but the overall theme is that Jews must act in a holy manner since each act of kedushah has eternal value. We tend to judge things in the moment, and if we see someone behaving in an unholy manner, we judge them based on that behavior alone. But for Hashem, from His infinite perspective, though the sin or unholiness is real, the eternity and active state of yesterday’s holiness is still relevant and dynamic right now.
This idea is elucidated in Tanya, where the Alter Rebbe emphasizes that an act of kedushah isn’t outmaneuvered by unholiness. The battle of good and evil inside of us is real, but that does not erase the good we’ve done. If a Jew who sadly eats chametz during the last seven days of Pesach eats matzah, drinks four cups of wine, and reads the Haggadah at the Seder, it remains in his spiritual DNA forever. Not just in the realm of inspiration, but also in the realm of his holy, essential, being.
Now back to our recent inspirations.
On Acharon Shel Pesach, we experienced a full-on winter blizzard. While most of the world was enjoying spring weather, Bozeman received 4 to 6 inches of snow, depending on one’s elevation. Yet, in addition to the in-house guests, six locals joined us for yom tov dinner (the first gebrukts meal for Lubavitchers) and stayed until 11 p.m. while enjoying good food, niggunim (including “It’s Geshmak to be a Yid,” a staple in our home), and an inspiring Chassidic story about Reb Itchele Vorker and Reb Mendel of Kotzk. Seeing neshamos enjoying yom tov, even towards the end, is awe-inspiring because the length of the chag can take a toll, even on seasoned, frum Jews. So, when you see a secular Jews still connected at the end, it lifts the soul.
For the second days we hosted the amazing Chabad couple Rabbi Shaul and Mushky Shkedi of Billings, who have been serving eastern Montana for about one and a half years. They joined us with their two girls, including a newborn. When hearing about their Pesach activities in Billings, my heart was warmed. Twenty Yidden joined us for the first Seder, one-hundred Jewish homes received shemurah matzah, and a Yid, a prominent Jewish doctor, joined us with his family for the second Seder and commented to Reb Shaul how much he enjoyed the Hallel sung in its entirety. We never know what will inspire a Yid!
When the yeshiva bachurim visited a certain home in Belgrade, they were expecting to meet Rebecca, a young woman who had lived there for many years. When they arrived, an Israeli was living there who had never met Rebecca, but he told us there were no other Jews there. We gave him some matzah and he put on tefillin, but though he wouldn’t give us his phone number, I’m sure we’ll find him soon enough. It turns out that Rebecca had moved, but we managed to track her down and send her some matzah too. In the meantime, Hashem ordained that we should go to her old house to mekarev this Israeli neshamah.
Yizkor was said on Tuesday, the last day of yom tov, and at this point the ice and snow from the night before was mostly melted and about eight Jews came to shul specifically for Yizkor. One of those people was Jane, who came to say Yizkor for her husband Fred. I love it when Jane comes around. She’s a very special 81-year-old lady who is always kind to me, Chavie, and the children. She is close to my daughter Chaya, and they love chatting with each other. I was so happy she joined us for Pesach lunch, and seeing her experiencing Pesach with joy made me happy. I know that Fred would be happy to see her with us because I promised him before he passed away that we would keep an eye on Jane, and we have.
As amazing as Pesach was, we haven’t had a moment to spare since Chanukah. Between the ongoing events, the Shulem Lemmer concert, Purim celebration, other new projects that will launch soon, Pre-Pesach and Pesach activities, and of course raising our children, Chavie and I have been constantly busy, and so on Isru Chag we decided to go away for Shabbos. We drove to Kalispell, in Montana’s picturesque Flathead Valley and spent Shabbos at the home of our colleagues, Rabbi Shneur and Chana Wolf and their children. Chana is one of Chavie’s seven sisters, so it’s natural to hang out with them. While there, they hosted a Shabbos morning service and Kiddush, which included a goodbye celebration for Shlomo, a young Jewish man from Kansas who’s been living in the area for over a year and is a regular at the Wolfs’ home. He is sweet, enjoys learning with Reb Shneur, and visits almost every Shabbos. He is now heading to Israel for Birthright and then to the renowned Chabad Mayanot Yeshiva in Yerushalayim. To see this young man walk for an hour to and from shul and hearing him speak about his Yiddishkeit was awe-inspiring to me. A young couple aged thirty and twenty-eight are guaranteeing the future of our people, one neshamah at a time near Glacier National Park.
On Thursday, just thirty-six hours after Pesach, twenty-five chevra joined us in shul to celebrate the bar mitzvah of Adam “Avrohom.” With his mom and sister at his side, he laid his new tefillin and tallis, and was later called to the Torah with his relatives watching from Recife, Brazil. We threw candies at him, lifted him up, and danced Siman Tov U’Mazal Tov, and gave this kid the bar mitzvah of a lifetime. Adam’s mother only decided to teach him about his heritage fifteen months before, and he has since undergone a bris at the age of twelve (I wrote about it at the time), and finally had his bar mitzvah. These aren’t fleeting moments; they are eternal and will reverberate with our people until Mashiach comes and even afterwards.
I have no doubt that as Hashem looked down on Montana this Pesach, He was impressed. Because I don’t think that even He would expect that after so many years of galus, dark exile, His people would still be rocking it in the Wild West—yet we are stronger than ever. If you know a Jew who needs meaning or inspiration, don’t withhold. Shower them with light, love, and depth, and if one drop enters their neshamah, it will be eternal. Guaranteed! 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.
