Musings Of A Shliach From Montana
Gal and his sons Ilai and Eden at Sushi and Scotch in the Sukkah
It’s early Sunday morning, two hours before sunrise, and the house is quiet, which is a novelty. The sukkah is down, the blankets that keep our guests warm in the sukkah are packed away, our wonderful guests from Teaneck are back in New Jersey, and we just wrapped up an incredible Tishrei with Shabbos Bereishisbeing the clincher, with forty Yidden in shul.
It turns out that one can be simultaneously exhausted and inspired.
Inspired because we hosted over 250 guests in our sukkah this month. Inspired because Chavie cooked and served over 500 meals this yom tov. Inspired because Souls are on Fire to connect with their heritage and their Father in Heaven and I have the zechus to be a part of so many journeys. Yet, we are exhausted for all the above-mentioned reasons, plus twelve sermons, 16 divrei Torah, 15 minyanim, organizing countless sets of lulavim and esrogim for the community, and teaching 100 of my fellow Jews how to perform the mitzvah of shaking the lulav and esrog at our “Sushi and Scotch in the Sukkah” event, including many for the first time in their lives. As well as singing and farbrenging throughout the yom tov, leining all the Torah readings, and so much more.
It’s a lot, baruch Hashem!
Amid all the yom tov excitement, we had our collective Hoshanah Rabbah miracle this year when our brothers were freed from captivity in Gaza. While there was so much discussion about Trump and Bibi and the “ceasefire” itself, I just kept thinking about those men and their families. Seeing those clips of the reunions with their relatives is a testament to who we are as a people and why we are unbreakable.
I sat on Hoshanah Rabbah morning, skimming through the clips with tears rolling down my cheeks. My two youngest, Menny and Chana Laya, sat beside me, watching it too. While I generally try to protect them from the evils of the world, they are sadly quite familiar with Hamas and their barbarism, so I had no issue with allowing them to see the reunions…not to mention seeing their own father cry a few tears of joy.
I’ve stated before that I think the entire October 7th reality and its aftermath has awakened a sleeping Jewish lion and Jews are not asleep anymore. They are seeking, they are learning, they are asking, they are observing, they are defending, they are opposing, but they aren’t asleep. Jewish apathy ended on Simchas Torah two years ago. Over Tishrei, I felt that strongly, especially on Simchas Torah, and I’ll explain to you why. Let me fill you in on a secret: Simchas Torah is a hard yom tov for shluchim serving smaller communities in rural areas. Dancing hakafos, singing, and saying l’chaim does really well when you have a sizable crowd where you create a thrilling, joyous atmosphere. But in smaller communities, with Jews who have never experienced a traditional Simchas Torah, getting them to dance and sing is not easy. We’ve always had a few diehard members. Sometimes we get two dozen men, women, and children in the room for hakafos. But the celebration usually lasted an hour and I would huff and puff like a big bad wolf.
Yet, for reasons that are not exactly clear, this year forty or more Jews showed up for hakafos and the room was electrifying. Jews of all flavors arrived: doctors, college students, Israeli tourists, white collar, blue collar, Sephardim, Ashkenazim, Orthodox, and unaffiliated all danced together with great simcha. It was something I’ve never seen before in Bozeman. The joy, the Jewish pride, the brotherhood and sisterhood felt in the air, were heartwarming and beautiful.
From Dovid Melech Yisroel and Am Yisroel Chai, which many of the participants knew, to Hashem Yisborach Tamid Ohev Oti to Toras Hashem Temima, which many didn’t know. It rocked and rocked some more. The genuine happiness of being part of Klal Yisrael was palpable. The women danced with Chavie and the girls, and I danced with Menny and the men and you see the simchas haTorah when they danced with—and kissed—the Torah. That feeling of simcha stayed with us until Simchas Torah day and even on to Shabbos Bereishis, when our shul was full again. In this week’s parashah, Noach, we read about one man who was entrusted by Hashem to be a shining light in a dark generation. In a world of spiritual chaos, uncontrolled anarchy, and pervasive corruption, both spiritual and material, one man stood strong and practical and built the ark while warning people of the impending flood. It’s not easy to go it alone, but when you are following the path of Hashem, you are never alone, and we are obligated to be the sole voice of reason, the beacon of light, the role model of sanity when all of society has gone off the deep end.
The verse tells us that “Noach found favor in the eyes of Hashem,” not because he was perfect (he certainly wasn’t when compared to someone like Avraham Avinu, as Rashi says), but he was authentic and did not get sucked into the temptations and peer pressures of his time. It’s a tough nisayon, a daunting task, to stand up to the entirety of the world, but when following in Noach’s footsteps, we can all do that.
On Hoshanah Rabbah, Menny’s school football team was having their last game of the season at 5:30 in the afternoon, when licht bentching was at 6:23. Menny, as #90, did not want to miss his last game as a kicker who plays as a Defensive Linebacker, so a family friend, Mick, who was attending the game, would bring Menny straight from the game to shul for Maariv and Shemini Atzeres hakafos. Before heading out to the stadium, he came down with his black paint that he puts on for the game, and for the first time, he painted a Magen David on his cheeks. I complimented him and he loved the idea of showing up to the game as a proud Jew. Did it have to do with seeing the video of the hostages returning to their families? I don’t know. Did it have to do with seeing 100 Jews in his home making a berachah on the lulav and esrog in the sukkah? I don’t know. Was it just his inner neshamah shining in that moment? I don’t know.
What I do know is that it looked awesome and there is no greater berachah for parents than having children who are proud of their Jewishness. Hashem loves it when His children are proud of their Yiddishkeit and so do I. 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.
