Musings Of A Shliach From Montana
By: Rabbi Chaim Bruk
Rabbi Chaim with Rabbi Shmuel Kaminezki of Dnipro, Ukraine, who serves with mesirus nefesh despite the war
Rabbi Gabi and Rivky’s picture is always visible in Rabbi Chaim’s Bozeman Chabad office
This week, thousands of shluchim from around the world will gather in New York for the annual conference of shluchim. Though I won’t be there in person (it’s hard to get away), many of our Montana shluchim will be there to spend a weekend contemplating and celebrating the role and the sacrifice that we, the Rebbe’s shluchim, undertake when we wake up each day with a mission to bring Moshiach.
Since 2008, there has been a picture of Mumbai’s shluchim, Reb Gabi and Rivky Holtzberg, Hy’d, displayed in my office. I think about them often and about their son Moshe, who is currently around 20 years old, and how they paid the ultimate price with mesiras nefesh to bring the Rebbe’s message, a message of ahavas Hashem, ahavas haTorah, and ahavas Yisroel to India. In addition, our friends Barry and Lainie Klein of Efrat memorialized them in our mikveh back in 2008, so every time I enter the mikveh, I am reminded of their sacrifice.
This week, on the 20th of Cheshvan, I will be adding another picture to my office to remember Reb Tzvi Kogan, Tzvi Ben Alexander HaKohen who was gruesomely murdered by Islamists while serving Klal Yisrael in the UAE. On Tzvi’s first yahrzeit, I will place his picture alongside the Holtzbergs so that I don’t forget.
Yet, despite the sadness of the Holtzbergs and Kogans, the average shlichus struggle is more mundane and practical and, baruch Hashem, not connected to fear of terrorists and threats on our lives. How will we cover our mortgage? How do we ensure the chinuch of our children? How do we care for our wives and ensure they don’t get burned out from cooking for thousands? How do we find novel ways within halachah to reach more Jews and excite them about their heritage? How do we make sure the latkes and matzah arrive on time? How do we give our children social skills while living in a gentile community?
But it’s more than just the practical.
There is also the sacrifice that a life of shlichus entails in the mental and emotional arena, with having our homes filled with people 24/7, dealing with unstable Jews who need therapists and even psychiatrists, which can become a big burden of harassment in the life of a shliach, knowing how to create healthy boundaries, dealing with donors trying to push their agenda that contradicts halachah or Chabad hashkafah, the loneliness of the shliach’s family in remote areas. There is a lot on our plates. And most shluchim don’t talk about it because we aren’t the type to kvetch, but it’s real and it’s hard and it’s worth it.
Worth it? Why is it worth it?
Some would say “if you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen.” If you can’t handle the challenges of shlichus, go back home to Crown Heights and stop kvetching. So, let’s be clear: I’m not kvetching. I’m sharing. Avraham Avinu had many nisyonos, many real challenges in his vital work, but he didn’t quit, he simply realized that he had to move ahead with the mission to shine G-dly values on a pagan world and suck up the challenges. Yitzchak didn’t have it easy with Esav; Yaakov Avinu didn’t have a picnic with Lavan; Moshe didn’t have it easy with Dasan and Aviram; Dovid Hamelech didn’t have an easy time with anyone, yet none of them quit. They recognized that their role was G-d given and the Jewish world needed them, so they moved forward.
We can talk about the hardships and still believe in the mission.
Go back to Crown Heights? Who will care for the future of Klal Yisrael? Who will care for the 2,000 Jewish students who attended the Chabad on Campus conference this past week in New York? Who will care for the young boy from Lakewood or young girl from Cleveland who is struggling and is roaming Wyoming or Eastern Washington and comes to spend Shabbos at Chabad because their neshamah is yearning? Who will ensure that the woman in Alaska merits to use a mikveh? The sacrifice of my colleagues is real, more than they will ever admit, but it’s the fire that our Rebbe ignited in us, encouraging us to fight for every neshamah. We can’t afford to lose even one of Hashem’s “only children.”
The Gemara in Sotah shares that Avraham Avinu didn’t only feed his guests, he planted fruit trees to ensure that they had dessert in the desert. He didn’t suffice with a good meal, a cool drink, and a place for lodging, but he insisted on giving his guests the self-esteem and self-worth boost by going above and beyond by giving them dessert. In this week’s parashah, Chayei Sarah, we read about Rivkah Imeinu’s kindness in offering Eliezer water to drink and offering to water his camels. When we look at our Avos and Imahos, we see an unyielding devotion, perhaps even an obsession, with kindness. Too often our Cheder teachers make it sound like our matriarchs and patriarchs loved kindness and that it was always a piece of cake; in truth, it wasn’t always easy and that is the beauty of it because they didn’t only do it when it was easy. They did it through thick and thin because they believed in it.
When you roll into a Chabad Center for a business trip or a family vacation, and you’re greeted by a sweet shliach and his even sweeter Rebbetzin who offer you a meal, help arrange a minyan for yahrzeit, give you some advice when your car is having issues, or perhaps host you for a Shabbos, please remember that the couple are pillars of Yiddishkeit, embodiments of kindness, heroes and heroines of Klal Yisrael, and chances are high that they are struggling with balancing all of their responsibilities, so give them a generous donation if you can, and more importantly, compliment them for their service, as it’s always nice to hear that all of Klal Yisraelrecognizes what they are doing.
As the shluchim are gathered in New York, I salute my Montana colleagues who inspire me every day. Rabbi Chezky Vogel in Missoula who, together with Rochi, are doing incredible work with the education of children of Western Montana. Rabbi Shneur and Chana Wolf, who not only service the Jews visiting Glacier and their local community, but cater to children in youth treatment centers in Eureka on the Canadian border. To Rabbi Shaul and Mushky Shkedi in Billings, who in a short three years, have already inspired multiple Jews to be Shomer Shabbos and to fast on Yom Kippur. To Rabbi Mendel and Devorah Leah Spiero, who care for their small community with heart and soul but also for the U.S. Airmen serving at Malmstrom Air Force Base, and to Rabbi Mendel and Brocha Backman, who are part of our Bozeman team, who do wonderful children’s programs and MSU student programs, while also reaching many more Yidden with steadfast limud haTorah throughout the day.
It’s been a few years since I shared my favorite quote attributed to Dr. Seuss, which fits perfect with today’s theme: “Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets. So, love the people who treat you right, forgive the ones who don’t, and believe that everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said it would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it.”
Finally, this weekend is a great time for Klal Yisrael to raise a glass of l’chaim to the Rebbe, zt’l, for caring more about the Jewish people than about filling his pews in 770, sending his beloved students, despite the complications, to every corner of the globe to ensure a bright future for Am Yisrael and inspiring them to do so more than thirty years after his passing.
L’chaim!
In the words of our shlichus anthem of old:
From 770 we’re marching out,
On to victory without a doubt,
From corners four we’re marching happily,
Nation after nation we are conquering-
Hashem’s shluchim to bring Mashiach Tzidkeinu!
Tomorrow there’ll be galus no more,
And we’ll win this galus war!
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.
