This past Shabbos, we were expecting about five locals to join us for Shabbos dinner. And then it happened—as it always does—a text on Thursday from two visiting Israelis and a phone call on Friday from a family of three from Florida who wanted to spend Shabbos with us. Between our family, two local couples, a young man who moved here to work in catering (who happened to live in Grand Cayman for several years and was close to Chavie’s sister Rikal and her husband, Rabbi Berel Pewzner, the local shluchim), plus these five visitors, we had a full table of very diverse Jews, and it’s always so special.
There is something to be said about making Kiddush each week for Jews you haven’t met since Sinai who are seated around your Shabbos table. We enjoy meeting and hosting guests from Israel, England, France, Australia, Canada, Mexico, and all over the United States. Each Jewish story is so unique and adds so much to the story of our people. The couple from Florida were both born in Ukraine, lived in Crimea, Siberia, Germany, Moscow, New York, and now Florida. The Israeli woman at our table lost about ten friends at the Nova Festival on October 7, where she had intended to be, and still has a friend held hostage in Gaza. Hearing these stories and getting doses of humanity from all segments of our beautiful nation is so impactful and something that Chavi, the kids, and I enjoy and appreciate.
It is these types of interactions that made last week’s purchase a big deal.
Back in Teves, my next-door neighbor Peter, a wonderful Christian, called me and said, “Rabbi, I told you that if I ever wanted to sell, I would offer it to you first, so if you still want it, the house is yours.” Peter’s property connects to ours and is a prime location to finally fulfill our dream of expanding our Hachnasat Orchim abilities, something we’ve always been passionate about. With the initial gift from George and Pamela Rohr, a generous couple who love Am Yisrael with every fiber of their being, we raised the funds necessary from a couple of Jews and non-Jews in Montana, a few incredible souls in the Five Towns, a Lubavitcher from Montreal, a fellow from Lakewood, a couple from Pittsburgh, two donors from Los Angeles, a friend from Deal, a couple from Silver Spring: a total of about fifteen partners who came together to make this purchase happen.
It was clearly a miracle, 100% meant to be.
I spent ten years, from 2011-2021, trying to raise money to build a Chabad Center and couldn’t get it together as much as I tried. It was only during Covid when the pieces finally came together, as it was meant to happen. Same thing this time around: when it’s meant to be it’s meant to be, and in seven short weeks we raised $800,000 in pledges for this project. Not because I’m a good fundraiser, but because Hashem knew when it had to happen and sent Jewish angels to bring it to fruition. The point of our new hospitality center is to ensure that if a Jew needs a place to stay for Shabbos, a respite, yom tov, or just a breather, we can make it happen, ensuring they have love and lodging in Big Sky country.
In this week’s parashah, Shemini, the Torah teaches us the laws of kosher fish, animals, and birds in detail. The laws of kashrus have so many halachos, so many intricate, perhaps even complicated details, that keeping kosher, even for a learned Jew, can be challenging out in rural America. The fact that we constantly offer Jews a Shabbos meal, allowing them a kosher experience where there are no other options is invaluable. It’s true Hachnasat Orchim, but also a kashrus revolution. Every time a Jew, no matter how secular, takes a bite of kosher food, enjoys a holy Shabbos meal, makes a berachah, hears Kiddush, recites Birkat HaMazon, hears a Dvar Torah while enjoying Chavie’s masterful delicacies, this is something that is dear to Hashem and something we should celebrate each and every time it happens.
Kosher is not just about being 100% strict in our own lives regarding what we eat, it’s not just about accepting a new chumra every month, it’s about bringing the gift of kosher to as many Jews as possible so they can also experience this tremendous source of blessing, allowing their souls to be spiritually nourished by the holy laws of kosher.
In Shulchan Aruch Harav, the Alter Rebbe quotes an opinion that eating fish on Shabbos is a Biblical obligation (D’Oraisa). This opinion is also mentioned by the Chida in one of his sefarim. Though the Alter Rebbe concludes that eating fish is only a minhag (custom), not rabbinically or Biblically mandated, it still gives us a deeper understanding of the power of a Shabbos meal and how much it can do for a soul when they experience it first-hand. There is something so incredible about a Shabbos meal, that Chavie and I are elated that we can share it with others by expanding our hospitality with lodging, too.
I recently read a fascinating anecdote about the first Rebbe of Chortkov, Rabbi Duvid Moshe Friedman (1828–1903), the son of Rabbi Yisroel Friedman of Ruzhin. Rav Duvid Moshe lost his son Nochum Mordechai at a young age, and when he returned home to his town, after mourning the loss of his son, he was immediately notified that his son, Yisroel, named for his father, was deathly ill. While he internalized the news with silence and acceptance, a concept embodied by Aaron HaKohen after losing his two sons in our parashah, there was a woman in his community who couldn’t remain silent since she was broken for her rabbi. She raised her voice and said to G-d: “Master of the Universe, even the Czar doesn’t conscript a child to his army if the child is an only child to his parents.” Since Yisroel was now an only child to Rav Duvid Moshe, this woman’s cry broke the heavenly barriers and he healed and eventually continued the Chortkov dynasty.
The Baal Shem Tov taught that every Jew is to G-d like an only child born to his/her parents at an older age. So much love, so much TLC, so much investment: we can never fully appreciate the power of one of Hashem’s children returning home to Him. I’m always comforted by the thought that when Hashem looks down on Bozeman on a Friday night, he sees new neshamos enjoying His holy Shabbos, souls who may not have been to a Shabbos table in a long time, if ever, and I’m sure that gives Him a dose of fatherly nachas.
When I sat in Mr. Rohr’s conference room waiting for our meeting back in February, I was thinking of how I could convey to him how impactful his support really is and then it hit me and shared this with him:
In 1989 my father, who worked in the 47th Street diamond district, was chatting with his friendly UPS delivery man who casually mentioned that he’s a “Schneerson descendant.” The UPS man was not frum, but he was proud of his heritage and even mentioned that he has a yarmulke that was passed down to him from his great-great-grandfather, a yarmulke that belonged to the Tzemach Tzedek, the third Lubavitcher Rebbe. After a back and forth, my father purchased it from him for a large sum of money. In the following days, our family, which included my parents and two kids at the time, got dressed in our Shabbos clothes, stood outside the Rebbe’s office, and waited for him to come up from Minchah. In trepidation, my father handed the yarmulke as a gift to the Rebbe and he told the Rebbe what it was. The look of satisfaction on the Rebbe’s face will remain forever etched in my heart and mind.
I told Mr. Rohr that if that’s how special an inanimate yarmulke was to the Rebbe, I could only imagine how much nachas, inner joy, the Rebbe experiences from on high each time a neshamah is enlivened, a family connected, and this smile on the Rebbe’s face is attributed to Mr. Rohr and his family as our partners in this vital work.
The Gemara says in Kiddushin that, “Anyone who does not care about his Creator’s honor, it is fitting for him not to have come into the world. What is this? Who is considered to be one who does not care about his Creator’s honor? Rabba says it is one who gazes at a rainbow, which is described as: “The likeness of the glory of the L-rd” (Ezekiel 1:28). In the Koren Talmud, I saw a powerful vort from Rabbi Yosef Dov (Yoshe Ber) Soloveitchik in which he explains that a rainbow is a reflection of G-d’s presence in the world, and yet a natural phenomenon at the same time. So, if someone stares at a rainbow and sees only the majestic colors and does not see in it a hint of Hashem’s glory, it shows a weak faith in G-d.
Same is with a Jew. If you see a fellow Yid and only see their level of observance, their politics, their affiliation, their superficiality, then you’re not seeing their essence, the part of Hashem that shines in and through them, and thus deserves loads of love and respect. 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.
