Musings Of A Shliach From Montana

The Hatzolah Air plane after landing in New York

Chavie Bruk speaking at Chabad of Central Boca

Have you ever shared good news, excited to shine a positive light on someone or something, only to have someone else try to dampen your happiness?

Last week, I wrote about David, who was hospitalized in Bozeman due to a skiing accident, which caused him to have a punctured lung. On Monday, David and his family decided to bring him to New York so they could figure out why his lungs aren’t healing. Hatzolah Air kicked in immediately and took David to Columbia Presbyterian where he is, Baruch Hashem, healing beautifully. I posted the following words on my social media accounts on Tuesday along with a picture of the Hatzolah plane:

I’m in awe.

Bozeman isn’t Miami or Chicago. This wasn’t an emergency at a Pesach program or a situation with a Yeshiva student studying overseas.

It was a Jew skiing in Montana who had an accident and after five days at our local hospital, he needed to get to New York to complete his recovery at a “home of healing” that has medical capabilities that Montana doesn’t offer.

Hatzolah Air didn’t need them to beg, no need for connections; there was a need, and they flew out to Bozeman and hand-delivered our Yid to New York.

Eli Rowe and his team are special Jews, and we are blessed to be part of Klal Yisroel, a nation that takes care of each other with love.

The post went viral. Klal Yisroel loves good news, positivity, so it excited the masses. 234K views on X, 86K views on Facebook, 65K impressions on LinkedIn, 13.5K views on Instagram, and then there was WhatsApp and email of course. 95% of the comments and private messages were full of gratitude, joy, and awe for what we Jews are willing to do for each other. Even many gentiles were uplifted and inspired with how our Jewish family takes care of each other.

However, on X, there was the built-in 4% of antisemites and losers who hate themselves and anything Jewish. And then there was the 1%.

Yes, I want to talk about the 1%, who are Jewish and frum.

From them I received comments like: “Oh really? How much did they charge?” and “I find it hard to believe you didn’t pull major strings” and “Is it your connection at the local airport?” and “They didn’t put the picture and name of the patient on their website?”

These comments came from a small number of people, but I was genuinely baffled.

I don’t know exactly how it works at Hatzolah Air or other major chesed organizations, but why the cynicism? When Chavie and I underwent infertility treatment with Bonei Olam in 2008, Reb Shlomo Bochner, the tzaddik of the Jewish world, covered almost all the expenses, but his office asked us if we felt like we’d be able to put together some funding from friends and family toward the treatment too. We didn’t feel slighted or that they were misrepresenting themselves. It doesn’t say in the “Chessed book” that you can’t ask the recipient to help pay some of it if they’re able. Perhaps Hatzolah Air tries to get it covered by insurance, or if the patient can afford it to have them pay for the flight, or at least part of it. But does that take away from the amazing berachah when a Jewish organization with pilots and nurses and doctors are willing to fly after work hours from New York to Montana to bring a Jew back for treatment?

It’s at least a four-hour flight each way, and they landed back in New York at 2 or 3 a.m. Who are we to judge the system?

I don’t know. Maybe I’m naive. Maybe I live in Montana and I’m so grateful when Jews show up to support other Jews. I don’t take any of these incredible Jewish organizations for granted. I don’t have Hatzalah, Chaveirim, Misaskim, Shomrim, Bikur Cholim, ATIME, and so many others around the corner. I think Klal Yisroel is awesome. Maybe it takes a guy living in Montana for almost nineteen years to see the beauty as it’s observed from the outside. Do we really need to be cynical about all these great organizations? Can’t we just celebrate the incredible nation that we are?

The Haftorah of Parashas Terumah is read from Sefer Melachim, the Book of Kings, about the building of the Beis HaMikdash. The passuk says: “And he made for the house windows broad without and narrow within.” Rashi explains that these windows were constructed in a way that the opening was wider on the outside and narrower on the inside. This was not in the usual manner of all windows which are made expressly for illumination.

The message of the Beis HaMikdash was clear: We don’t need the light to come in from the outside; we don’t need to be dependent on outside sources for our holiness and goodness; we are the ones, our holy life and activities, that are illuminating the outside, brightening the darkness of the entire world around us. Hatzolah Air, to me, is one of the ways we shine our light and it should be celebrated. Ask a rural gentile, what would happen if their local surgeon couldn’t find the tiny hole in their lung and you’ll find out it could take weeks or months, with potentially life-threatening realities, before they can have a chance at healing and head home. And we? We fly home on the wings of eagles.

This week’s parashah is about the donations that Klal Yisroel contributed to build a home for Hashem, to make His glory shine. I am in awe of all those who make Klal Yisroel shine. Those who do the work, those who sponsor the organizations doing the work, and I send my gratitude to Reb Eli Rowe for creating a new level of care for our nation when we are in trouble.

One more point: This beautiful Yiddishe family from New York and New Jersey made such a Kiddush Hashem at our local hospital, despite the complicated, agonizing circumstances. They exhibited to all the hospital employees what our values are and the middos tovos that guide us. Personally, I love seeing the good that Klal Yisroel does. Yeshivish, Chassidish, Modern Orthodox, Chabad, Breslov, Satmar and Litvish, neo-Chassidic, Syrian, Persian, or Moroccan, the Jewish people are just so awesome with holy Yidden ready to help with any situation, common or uncommon.

Last Wednesday, Chavie flew to Boca Raton to speak at Chabad of Central Boca’s women’s Garden Party Soiree. She spoke about our journey through infertility, adoption, raising kids with special needs, and other challenges that come with the territory. The reason she’s willing to shlepp across the country to share our story and be vulnerable is because the Jewish world needs to know that no matter what we may be experiencing, there’s always a good reason to persevere and be joyous. And even if the journey is hard, we are blessed to have an incredible Jewish village. And when “it takes a village,” our village shows up.

So, instead of being judgy and cranky, smile and remember Am Yisroel rocks to the core and there ain’t nothing, and I mean nothing, like us on earth. 

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.