Musings Of A Shliach From Montana

Rabbi Mendel laying Tefillin with Benjy, who built the new playground and community garden for the Chabad Center

The two pairs of tefillin upon their arrival in Bozeman

There are popular Chassidic personalities who make it into the Jewish news, and then there are the unsung heroes who do the holy work according to Shulchan Aruch, embodying all that Chassidus teaches, yet no one knows. Hatznea leches im Hashem Elokecha: they serve Hashem without any fanfare.

Elul is the acronym for “Ani Ledodi Vedodi Li,” which represents the work every Jew does in Elul to connect with their beloved Creator through introspection and hard work. And the return of “Vedodi Li” that comes in Tishrei when Hashem reciprocates the love that is shared with Him.

There are those among us who serve without any recognition, who could care less about fanfare, who don’t worry about their status on the street. They have only one “Achat Sha’alti” in mind: “Shivti beveit Hashem kol yemei chayai”—Let me dwell with Hashem, with Elokus, with G-dliness, with Rebbe-centricity, my entire life.”

One such Jew was Reb Yonah Pruss of London. He spent years serving the Jewish communities of Russia and Ukraine, giving thousands of shiurim in Chassidus in London, which you can watch on his YouTube channel @ChassidusWellsprings. He did clandestine work to support many mosdos and people who needed financial support and he did so quietly, with no awards, no PR. I’m pretty knowledgeable about the Chabad world, and I barely heard of him until one day when I was trying to put together funds for one of my children’s medical needs and I reached out to him with a cold call, hoping for some support. The warmth I received on the other end of the line was out of this world.

He didn’t make me feel like a nebach. He didn’t make me beg. He helped and helped repeatedly. Even when he could not help, he sent so much warmth and love that it gave me real chizuk during some trying times. One day I was in New York, probably to take one of my kids to summer camp, and he called. It was Yud Beis Tammuz, the yom tov when we celebrate the liberation of the Friediker Rebbe, Reb Yosef Yitzchak, from Soviet imprisonment. It was already nightfall in London, and he must have had a good l’chaim or two. He said, “Chaim Shaul, zug l’chaim…” I told him I was on Kingston Avenue, so he said: “Go stand on a corner and we’ll sing a niggun together.” I’ll admit I was too embarrassed to sing in the middle of the street, so I told him. He didn’t relent. He kept trying, but I’m stubborn too, and I was not ready to sing in the middle of the street.

We joked about it for years that I still owe him a niggun.

I think about Yonah a lot, not because of what he did for me, but because of how he did it. You see, Yonah passed away two years ago at the young age of 59, and I always felt like I wanted to give him a goodbye hug to tell him how much he meant to me and my family in faraway Montana, but I never had the chance.

Then, two weeks ago, two bachurim reached out and said they were visiting Yellowstone and wanted to join us for Shabbos. One of the bachurim who reached out to me via WhatsApp said his name was Pruss and my soul was elevated. I asked him if he was Yonah’s son and he confirmed he was.

I was ecstatic. I was finally able to reciprocate Yonah for his kindness.

During Shabbos, I was able to share with this fine young man how much I cherished his dad. I showed him some special emails that his father had sent me over the years, and I encouraged him to share my gratitude with his mom as well. Hakarat Hatov is such a vital aspect of being a Yid, but sometimes it’s hard to express for a variety of reasons. I’m so grateful to Hashem that He orchestrated that this bachur from London should land in Bozeman so I could express my gratitude to his father for all the things he did for me and others.

In this week’s parashah, Ki Savo, we read about the mitzvah of Bikkurim, bringing the first fruit to the Beis HaMikdash in Jerusalem and giving them to the Kohen. It’s a mitzvah that is permeated with the idea of gratitude. So, while Bikkurim is about gratitude to Hashem, it’s my understanding that gratitude towards our fellow man and Hashem are interconnected. Those who are constantly seeking to express gratitude will do so for Hashem and for Hashem’s messengers who help us in this physical world.

The Alshich explains that while Bikkurim doesn’t show up for most of us as a “top ten” mitzvah, the Midrash explains that when Hashem created the world during “Bereishis,” it was for the three “Reishis,” which includes the Reishis of Bikkurim. The Alshich goes on to explain that hakarat hatov is fundamental to being a human being. It’s so important that the creation of the entire world was actualized just for this mitzvah of expressing gratitude for our new fruit.

It says in Pirkei D’Rabbi Eliezer that “there is nothing harder for Hashem to live with (Kavayachol) than an ungrateful person. The reason Adam HaRishon was exiled from Gan Eden was due to his lack of gratitude. His sin was not merely eating from the Tree of Knowledge. For that sin alone, perhaps he could have remained in the Garden of Eden. The straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak, was the fact that in response to Hashem’s question as to why he ate from the Etz Hadaas, Adam said, “The woman you gave me, she gave me the fruit, and I ate it.” Adam was being ungrateful. G-d presented him with Chava as a gift and Adam complained that she caused him to sin.”

The Rebbe, zt’l, addresses the proclamation that a Jew makes when bringing Bikkurim in which they say: “You must raise your voice and say before G-d, your G-d: ‘An Aramean sought to be the destroyer of my forefather. He went down to Egypt and sojourned there with his family, a small number of people, and he became a great, mighty, and populous nation there.” Why does the Jew only mention Yaakov being saved from Lavan and Jewry being redeemed from Egypt? Why not all the other miracles that they experienced before they arrived in Israel, such as when Yaakov and his family were saved from Esav, the manna in the desert, the well of Miriam, etc.?

The Rebbe explained that Bikkurim is not just about thanking Hashem for the fruit, but also for being able to live with stability in Israel, planting and growing fruit and enjoying it. So, the two miracles mentioned are the ones that occurred when we lived in locations for lengthy periods of time without the ability to eat fresh fruit calmly and safely without worrying about our basic wellbeing.

So, we are expressing our gratitude for leaving a really bad place, both Egypt and Charan, to a place that we can be free and safe to work the land and enjoy its fruit. The other miracles were in temporary situations like in the desert or even the short visit with Esav en-route to Israel. These two represent the transitions from a permanent state of fear and angst to a permanent state of goodness and safety for which we should be tremendously grateful.

Rav Yissachar Frand once shared a remarkable story about Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt’l. Many years ago, Rav Moshe went to a wedding and gave the chassan an envelope with a wedding present. After the sheva brachos, the chassan and kallah opened their envelopes and found a check from Rav Moshe for $500. When this story took place, $500 was an enormous sum of money for a wedding gift. The chassan told his father that he thought Rav Moshe must have added an extra zero at the end by mistake. Together, the father, the chassan, and the kallah went to Rav Moshe’s apartment and asked him whether he had in fact added an extra zero to the check by mistake. Rav Moshe said, “If I could, I would give you a check for $5,000! Your grandfather, Rav Pesach Prushkin, learned with me. I felt such gratitude toward your Zayde that I wanted to give you a big present. Unfortunately, I can’t afford to give you more than $500.”

My heart is full knowing that I was able to express my hakaras hatov to Yonah. As I told his son: “I know from on high he’s smiling that his kid ended up in Bozeman for Shabbos…I just know it.”

On a side note: a few weeks ago, I posted on my WhatsApp that I needed two new pairs of tefillin for our shul. One for the bimah whenever a visitor comes and one for my fellow shliach, Rabbi Mendel, to take with him wherever he goes. Within minutes, Reb Avraham Goldwag reached out with a founding donation to open the pathways of tzedakah for this cause, followed by Dov and Sara Hershberg of Los Angeles, who donated the first pair in honor of a refuah shleimah for Levi Halevi ben Leah, and the second one was donated by Yanky and Naomi Zissy Salamon in honor of their son Eliyahu Levi’s bar mitzvah.

This is, of course, in addition to the many pairs of tefillin we’ve sent to soldiers in Eretz Yisrael with funds donated from the amazing readers of this column.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 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 [email protected] or visit JewishMontana.com/Donate.