I’m exhausted yet invigorated. I’m half-asleep but writing this column because I want to share with you what I feel when I think about my love for our Jewish family.
Shir Hashirim, which is read by many on Pesach, is about the love of Hashem for Am Yisrael. Yet, for us in Bozeman over yom tov, we didn’t only read about the love, we helped manifest it. We were like the shadchanintroducing many of Hashem’s children to their beloved “dodi,” their beloved Father in Heaven, some for the first time.
It’s hard to describe what transpired during the last nine days since Erev Shabbos HaGadol. There is the joy of experiencing Pesach with family and friends, which is so special. There is the recitation of “Ma Nishtana” by our children that so warms our hearts. And there’s the delicious Pesach holiday food that comes to us courtesy of our wives and daughters. And there is the additional joy that came this Pesach from experiencing Jewish souls igniting as they returned to their roots by celebrating their heritage, some for the first time ever. Observing this “soul-revival” dozens of times over the last two weeks was amazing and awe-inspiring.
I’m not naïve. I know that Chavie and I, along with our colleagues around the world, service Klal Yisraelwith every fiber of our being, sometimes going above and beyond, leading to bodily collapse. I think about Chezki and Chani Lifshitz in Kathmandu, hosting 2,500 for the Seder, or Berl and Chani Goldman, the leaders of Gainesville Chabad at UF, who hosted Seders for over 1,000. Just thinking about it makes me tired. Yet, when the holiday is over and we meditate on what just transpired, it’s hard not to be excited about the next yom tov, our next big opportunity to help Hashem’s children come home.
This week’s Torah portion, Shemini, includes the laws of kosher consumption. I’ve been screaming from the hilltops for close to a decade that while kosher agencies do an incredible job of increasing the quality of kosher food available in America, we are all dropping the ball when it comes to increasing the quantity of kosher consumers. Sure, it’s super important to ensure that manufacturers, caterers, and restaurants are producing high-quality, Mehadrin kosher food, it’s also vital to internalize the Torah value that kosher is a spiritual diet for Jews, and every time a Jew consumes kosher food, it’s a gift to their soul and creates a bond with Hashem.
I’ve said this at the AKO (Association of Kashrus Organizations) conference more than once. If we took just 1% of the time we spend improving the quality of kosher food to increasing the quantity of kosher consumers, there would be hundreds of thousands of additional Jews keeping kosher.
How many Jews live in the Five Towns or work in the city with us, yet don’t keep kosher? What if our neighbors in our gated communities in Boca or Delray knew how easy it is to keep kosher in Florida and how many amazing options there are, including during Pesach? We can ignore the realities around us, but imagine the spiritual impact for the individual and for our collective Jewish nation if more of our brothers and sisters embraced kashrus? So many of us have co-workers and employees who are Jews but never learned about keeping kosher. If we made the effort to invite them to join us for a kosher lunch at the office, each time they consumed kosher would be an invaluable act of holiness.
It may be a shtikel headache, and you can say “I am not a shliach or Lubavitcher, so it’s not my thing,” but it is your thing because you are Jewish and they are Jewish and that’s all that matters.
Most secular Jews don’t know the ins and outs of keeping kosher. Some of them may know that “we don’t eat pork” or “we don’t eat shellfish” and yes, some of them may even be aware that “we don’t mix milk and meat,” but most of them don’t know how to check an item to see if it has a proper kosher symbol, don’t necessarily realize that kosher food could be just as, or more, delicious than non-kosher, and don’t grasp that in America keeping kosher is super doable, and when guided properly, easy. Most Jews think that kosher is about restrictions because no one ever took the time to tell them that every time they choose kosher over treif, every time they order from Moshe’s Falafel instead of White Castle, it’s a bond that’s being created between them and Hashem.
As I sit this Monday morning, with the snow blowing outside, and reflect on Pesach 2025, I realize that the exhaustion is a badge of honor because Chavie, the children, and I brought Pesach to so many Jews. I don’t feel haughty about it. I just feel like it’s a tremendous zechus, one that is also bestowed on those who make our work possible through their support. It’s not enough to teach our Yidden about Pesach and then let them figure it out on their own. We must make it accessible and cater to their kosher needs, which is what we do every day of the year. Before Purim, we let everyone know that they can order kosher food on our truck that comes from Minnesota, and this year Tali, who is enjoying her first year in Bozeman, decided to join the others and order Pesach provisions so she could celebrate Pesach at home.
Tali is one of the six hundred who received deliveries of handmade shmurah matzah to their home, in addition to the instructions we gave them on how much matzah to eat and when to eat it on both nights of the Seder.
In addition, we hosted a big public Seder with seventy-five attendees on the first night and over twenty on the second night. We hosted community meals on all five days of Shabbos and yom tov Pesach and on the last two nights of Shevi’i shel Pesach and Acharon Shel Pesach.
The holy Arizal says that being super careful about chametz on Pesach blesses the Jew to be sin-free all year round. The Zohar says that matzah is the bread of healing and the bread of faith, so giving Jews Pesach provisions is literally a berachah to each of them. Is the exhaustion not worth it? It’s not just the food; it’s also the yom tov experience. Seeing Jews singing Hallel for the first time in their life? Yizkor? Kriyas HaTorah? Reciting the Tal prayer for dew in English?
Howie and Judy were not too fond of the 9 p.m. start to the Seder, but these recent transplants from the East Coast stayed with us until after we sang “One Is Hashem” which I lead with humor and oomph at the end of the Seder. Daniel is an MSU student who served in the IDF and joined about fifteen other Jewish students for the Seder where they observed the mitzvos of the holiday. We had minyanim on all five mornings and included our very own Kohen, Randy, doing Birkas Kohanim (Priestly Blessing) for all four yom tov services, while Irwin and Marc, our two Leviim (Levites), washed his hands. Garl said Kaddish for his mother Chava bas Shmuel for the first time since her passing in 2020 during Covid. Max, who was in a car accident two days before yom tov, came to shul to bentsch hagomel, expressing his gratitude for having survived. Larry or “Leibel” couldn’t be at the Seder, but joined us for a wonderful yom tov meal on Shevi’i shel Pesach and the same for Zach, who joined us for the second Seder because he couldn’t get off work on the first night of Pesach.
How does one estimate the value of Howard “Henoch Leib” getting an aliyah on his 84th birthday on Acharon Shel Pesach? How about Robert and his family, who are in the process of going through geirus and coming to burn the chametz for the first time, and the power of the Yehi Ratzon recited during the burning? Barrett posted on his Facebook page “My keen Jewish instincts sense the approach of Passover, mainly by the box of matzah on my doorstep (this year in a cool Chabad MT bag, thanks Rabbi Chaim Bruk). So, Pharaoh, you got a thrashing coming with plagues, death of the first-born, and frogs. Red Sea: Make a hole. Yo, Hebrews: We out.”
What about Oriyah, who served three hundred days in Gaza, joining us with his wife and children for the second days, and finding a warm welcoming community who honors his sacrifice?
Every one of these beautiful Jews, who may or may not keep Pesach properly, made a choice to come for a meal and enjoy a lunch or dinner with their Jewish family, following the highest levels of Pesach kashrus and thus blessing themselves with kosher moments that are infinite in Hashem’s eyes.
So, to conclude my post Pesach discourse, let’s resolve to be inspired this Shemini to encourage, educate, and inspire our friends and family about the blessing of kosher. Don’t make it about restrictions; make it about the wholesomeness of our people and the berachah for their life. While treif may taste good for the body, kosher tastes good for the body and soul, so it’s a win-win. 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.
