Where What When

On The Road to Kuba

This was not the first time that Rabbi Nosson Neuberger of the Va’ad L’Hatzolas Nidchei Yisroel had invited my husband to go on the annual chizuk mission to the former Soviet Union with R. Matisyahu Solomon. As always, we had all the excuses: “It’s not for us...we really don’t have the time...we don’t have the strength...the timing isn’t good,” etc., etc., etc.

I still can’t explain why we said yes this time. Life was as hectic, as busy, and as overwhelming as always. We had literally just gotten settled in after our Succos trip to Eretz Yisrael. The kids at home were just getting into their school and work schedules. We were really needed at home. It would have been so much simpler to say no once again.

Perhaps it was my recent experience and involvement with a phenomenal young couple and their children who had just become geirim. Knowing and working with them is giving me a new awareness of how privileged we are to be part of am Yisrael. I have become acutely aware of how much I take this for granted! Perhaps the urge to say yes this time came about due to a feeling of “if-not-now-when”? Who knows? In any case, all my husband needed was my encouragement and complicity to join him on this seemingly crazy venture. And, it didn’t hurt that our children were enthusiastic as well – or, at least, the majority were.

And so, after a flurry of phone calls, arrangements, emails, and faxes, we were committed. The passports and visas arrived, literally, in the nick of time. Shopping for coloring books, yarmulkes, books, and chocolate bars for the children we’d be meeting was accomplished. And I even learned how to pack just one suitcase for both of us for a 10-day trip.

To digress for a moment, even the shopping for this trip was a kiddush Hashem. At the Savings Center, when I told Mr. Moinzadeh, the owner, why I was buying so many brachos coloring books, he offered to contribute the boxes of crayons as his share in the mitzva. At A to Z, the owner, Mr. Golfeiz, offered me a 10 percent discount as his share. A machatenesta who bumped into me at Seven Mile Market added a bag of chocolate bars to my stash as her contribution. One of our sons gave us a check toward a pair of tefilin. Last, but not least, when they came to say good-bye, our grandsons brought over a bag of toys for the kinderlach we would meet. Everyone who knew we were going was as excited as we were.

Off we went, first to New York for Shabbos with our children there. Then, on motzaei Shabbos, with the help of our son and daughter in-law, we were on our way to Newark. In spite of our best efforts, we were bumped from our flight, along with five other members of the group plus several other travelers. After much online searching, telephone calls, and discussion, we were rescheduled to leave on Sunday night from Kennedy. We were to rejoin the group in Vilna.

I still wonder if Hashem wanted to give us one more shot of materialism before we left to “another world, another time, another place.” We stayed at the Plaza Hotel in Boro Park, lunched with our siblings on Sunday, and had a mini-vacation. It was quite a treat!

* * *

Once again, we were off, this time to JFK. Polish Air, here we come! The seven of us were the only Jews on the flight, and we were very aware of the fact. We landed in Warsaw and then boarded a propeller plane for Vilna, in Lithuania. In Vilna, we were greeted by bitter cold, gusty winds, and snow. We finally rejoined the others on Monday night. We ate dinner at the Kinneret restaurant, our first and last kosher restaurant for the week. Dinner was lovely and parve! We were not going to be seeing meat or milk products again that trip! Instead, we were introduced to the first of many wonderful speakers and storytellers who would fill our minds and our hearts. This trip was not going to be about sightseeing tours, gourmet food, or five star hotels. It was definitely going to be filled with amazing people, inspiring real-life stories and experiences, and living on a much simpler level than any of us was used to.

We heard divrei Torah and chizuk from the chief rabbi of Vilna, Rabbi Chaim Burnstein, Rav Matisyahu Solomon, and Rabbi Feuer. We were filled in on what we had missed in Minsk and Radin. One amazing story was told by Rabbi Dovid Hess, our fellow traveler from Baltimore. Rabbi Hess was the kohen at a pidyon haben earlier that day in Minsk. This was not a typical pidyon haben that most of us have experienced – not that a pidyon haben is so typical or common in any case. At this one, the guest of honor was a 50-year-old ba’al teshuva who was still recovering from his bris. As Rabbi Hess was finishing his part in the ceremony, the gentleman handed him four silver spoons as payment for his pidyon. He explained to Rabbi Hess that his last frum relative was his grandmother. Right before she passed away, she presented him with the spoons and told him to guard them carefully, because one day he would be able to use them for a special purpose. “Today, I understand finally what she meant. Today, I am using them in lieu of silver coins. These spoons were meant to be saved for my pidyon haben.”

* * *

On Tuesday morning, at 8:00 a.m., we went to the kevarim of the Vilna Gaon, Harav Chaim Ozer, zt”l, and Rav Avraham ben Avraham, the ger tzedek. We went on to Kovna to see the field where Rav Elchonon Wasserman, zt”l, was killed al kiddush Hashem. As we traveled, Rav Meyer Wunder, the famed historian, kept us enthralled with historical tidbits. One incredible story that he shared with us was about the ger tzedek. According to history, the ger tzedek was burned at the stake. “So then how can we be standing at his kever?” R. Wunder asked.

He explained: One day a Jewish man and his daughter unfortunately wandered into the Christian section of town. They were immediately surrounded and were soon to meet an untimely death. Avraham ben Avraham, at that time still a Christian, stepped from a doorway, reached out his hand, grabbed them, and pulled them to safety. Many years later, after becoming a ger, he was indeed burned at the stake. Legend has it that one hand, the hand that saved the Jew and his daughter, remained intact, and it is that hand that is buried in the kever.

* * *

We traveled to Slobodka and Ponovez, where we saw the yeshivos. One is now a bakery. Others in the group traveled with Rabbi and Mrs. Feuer (of Monsey) to Telz to see the yeshivos and visit the kevarim there.

Later that evening, we crossed the border into Latvia and found ourselves in Riga, a city of 8,000 Jews, where we met a young couple, Rabbi and Mrs. Aron Loiberg and their two-year-old son. These shlichim of the Va’ad, who were born in the Soviet Union and got their education in Eretz Yisrael, lead the kollel there. They are in their early twenties, and they are incredible. Their emuna peshuta (faith), their mesiras nefesh (devotion), and their burning desire to spread Torah and Yiddishkeit gave a totally new meaning to the definition of a kollel couple. They and about a dozen of their talmidim joined us for supper. There are about 30 kollel members altogether. Divrei hisorirus were heard from Rabbi Solomon, Rabbi Feuer, and Rabbi Brook (a member of the Va’ad), followed by singing and dancing. Before leaving, we asked Mrs. Loiberg what we could send her. She replied, “A chavrusa for my husband.” Finally, we had to leave to catch our plane to Tbilisi. It was quite difficult to say good-bye.

* * *

After a long flight to the south, we arrived at our Tbilisi hotel and settled in at about 5:00 a.m. Although we were incredibly exhausted, our Wednesday morning activities started at 8:00 a.m. After Shacharis and breakfast, we met with the Jewish community. We had the zechus (privilege) to meet Rav Ariel Levin, the chief rabbi of Georgia and Azerbaijan, the Rosenblatts (Rabbi Rosenblatt is the administrator of the Jewish institutions in Tbilisi), and several other very special people. We visited the children at school, attended brisim, and several bar mitzvos. A bar mitzva is simply putting on tefilin and getting a bracha and a hug from Rav Matisyahu Solomon (actually, not so simple at all). It was quite an awesome experience for all of us – and nothing like the bar mitzvos we were used to. The brisim as well were very special. We were speechless!

In the evening, we were the guests of honor at a concert given by the children and their teachers. The entire community attended. The children were adorable and quite talented. Their teachers had every right to shep nachas. One teacher with whom we spoke was a 19-year-old who had just returned from seminary in Yerushalayim. We asked her why she didn’t remain in Eretz Yisrael and look for a shidduch. She replied, “I am needed here.” Again, Rabbi Levin and Rav Matisyahu spoke. When Rav Matisyahu led the audience and children in reciting Sh’ma Yisrael, there was not a dry eye to be seen. I just kept thinking, mi ke’amcha Yisrael?

After the concert, we met with the avreichim and their wives for supper at the kollel building. We shared in the mitzva of putting up mezuzos and had more singing and dancing. Again, we listened to their stories and heard about their experiences, and we were awed and overwhelmed. Naomi, a 22-year-old medical student and ba’alas teshuva was one of the speakers. She told us about her absentee Jewish mother, her Catholic father, and her two younger sisters. She spoke about her experiences and her intense yearning to build a Jewish home. Once again, we were brought to tears.

On Thursday morning, we davened Shacharis in the old shul of Tbilisi, toured the newly rebuilt mikva, and met again with some of the kollel members and separately with the women. In the afternoon, we traveled to the airport to board our “chartered” plane. I still can’t believe we actually sat down in the plane, let alone flew in it. But Rav Matisyahu, the Feuers, Rav Levin, Rav Brook, and all the others were flying with us, so how could we possibly be afraid. I think that was when I lost my fear of flying, once and for all.

* * *

We arrived in Baku, Azerbaijan, much later than planned. We transferred to the hotel and immediately left to a hachnasas sefer Torah in the new Baku kollel. As we were walking toward the kollel on torch-lit streets along with a few hundred members of the community, I struck up a conversation with one of the moros (teachers). She proudly introduced me to her two teen-age sons, both students in the Baku yeshiva. She asked me about my children. I told her that, b”H, we had a large family and quite a few grandchildren. She asked if they were all frum and was awed when I said, “B”H, yes!”

There is so much we take as a given: frum children, living in frum communities with schools and shuls in abundance, all the kosher products we need or could possibly want, mikvaos, libraries – you name it, we have it. And here we were, standing at the entrance to the new kollel in Baku, witnessing the first hachnasas sefer Torah in over 100 years. I, who had so much, bli ayin hara, and she, who was so very grateful for the few opportunities she had been given, were sharing this moment ke’ish echad belev echad (with one heart), and spontaneously, we hugged each other, two sisters sharing a wonderful simcha together.

The sefer Torah itself was a testimony to perseverance. Rav Moshe Weisswasser, a member of the group, had been collecting funds for the past four years to purchase it. It was written in memory of Harav Avroham Abba Freedman. Rabbi Freedman, a talmid of Harav Shraga Feivel Mendelowitz, sought to spread Torah throughout the world. Rabbi Freedman was one of the first shlichim (emissaries) to visit Vilna and other cities when they were still under Communist dictatorship. On this evening, his children, Rabbi and Mrs. Yankel Freedman, members of our group (and pioneers in kiruv, as well, being very involved in Shalom Torah Centers) accompanied the sefer Torah to its new home. At the seudas mitzva, after the ceremony, Rabbi Freedman spoke about his parents’ dedication to kiruv in their home town of Detroit and elsewhere.

A beautiful side note to the work on the sefer Torah was the fact that in the week prior to our trip, it was carried throughout Eretz Yisrael by Rabbi Brook to have its final osiyos written by such gedolei hador as Harav Elyashsiv, Harav Chaim Kanievsky, Harav Yehuda Lefkowitz, and Harav Shmuel Oerbach, among others.

* * *

We returned to our hotel quite late on Thursday night. We were given two choices for our Friday morning schedule: We could either rise and shine at 5:30 a.m. to visit Kuba, another city in Azerbaijan, or we could stay in Baku and visit with the community there. It was a difficult choice to make.

My husband and I along with several other members of the group opted for visiting Kuba. I finally had a chance to see some beautiful scenery, a beautiful sunrise, and a place that I had read about in the past and had found intriguing. Kuba is a city that is divided in half by a river. The goyim live on one side, and the Jews live on the other. The Jews of Kuba have some traditions that are hundreds of years old but unfortunately remember very little about actual halachos. The Va’ad Shlichim in Kuba, Rabbi and Mrs. Davidoff, are slowly and devotedly changing that situation, literally working with the members of the community, one by one. They are remarkable people doing amazing work.

Just for a touch of humor, the elderly members of the shul quite seriously insisted that I cover my head with a scarf, not understanding that I was wearing a sheitel. These elderly men come to shul every morning and sit in the back. They don’t even know how to daven, but they intrinsically understand the kedusha of the beit haknesses. Another interesting point was that we had to remove our shoes in the lobby.

We visited the kollel and were hosted by the Davidoffs with a beautiful breakfast prepared by Mrs. Davidoff and the kollel talmidim. We also toured the girls’ school and the mikva. Mrs. Davidoff was rightfully proud of her young women who have started using the mikva regularly, b”H.

On our way out, we passed by the cemetery. We learned that in Kuba, Tisha B’Av is spent at the cemetery and is considered a Yom Tov because it is one of the few days of the year when all the men are home and not away working in Moscow and elsewhere, as they usually are.

Speaking of the men never being home reminds me of the amazing story of how Kuba was rediscovered. Several years ago, an aguna came to the Va’ad and asked if they could help her obtain a get (divorce). Upon questioning, she related that her husband’s family lived in Kuba. The Va’ad contacted Rabbi Levin and asked him to locate the husband. Rabbi Levin did not even know of Kuba’s existence at the time. He persevered, found Kuba, and traveled there. He subsequently found the husband and obtained the get. Not only was an aguna given her freedom but a city of Yidden was brought back to life. Sh’lichim were brought in, a school and kollel were set up, a mikva was built, and the spark of Yiddishkeit was rekindled. We had the phenomenal zechus on our visit that Friday to witness the fruits of that seed which had been planted.

* * *

On our arrival back in Baku, we heard that the other members of the group had an equally exciting morning witnessing brisim, a pidyon haben, and a beautiful concert given by the children and their teachers. They also went on a tour of the community, visiting the school, the shuls, and the mikva.

We quickly got ready for Shabbos and walked over to the kollel for candle lighting, Kabalas Shabbos, and Ma’ariv. All through Shabbos, we were escorted by guards. We were joined at the seuda (meal) by the avreichim and their wives, Rabbi Levin, Rabbi and Mrs. Rotter (the rosh kollel), Rabbi and Mrs. Hodael (the menahel), and Rabbi and Mrs. Gelfand (the rav and rebbetzin). There were divrei Torah and singing and dancing. The ru’ach was palpable.

On Shabbos morning, we walked to the yeshiva again for Shacharis, the seuda, and Mincha. We celebrated a bar mitzva with candy and hearty mazel tovs. After Mincha, one of the kollel boys put on a tour guide cap and took us on a walking tour to the Caspian Sea. It was a lovely spring-like day, and we enjoyed the outing immensely.

After seuda shlishis, Maariv and havdala at the hotel, we were joined by the Va’ad shlichim and avreichim for a beautiful melaveh malka. Words of chizuk, hakaras hatov, and divrei Torah were given by Rav Matisyahu, Rabbi Feuer, Rabbi Brook, Rabbi Fischer, Rabbi Neustadt, Rabbi Rothschild, and my husband, Hershel Boehm. Moshe Kalfon, an avreich, related a beautiful story about a learning session he had with one of the boys. The boy told him that in davening he had said ata chonantanu because he saw that one recites this on motza’ei Shabbos and motza’ei Yom Tov, and that day had been a “yom tov” a “good day” because they had learned together that day.

* * *

Our week with the Va’ad on this truly unforgettable tour was a shavua tov, a week of learning and growing and realizing how much we had to be grateful for and how great a debt we owe to the nidchei Yisrael (the scattered of Israel), who so badly need our chizuk (encouragement), our help, and whatever we can offer them. When we asked Rav Matisyahu what we could do, he said, “Go home and think. Don’t sleep on it but rather lose sleep over what you’ve witnessed and then do.”

We hope this article is a first step on our road to doing.

For those who would like to learn more about what they can do for this truly worthwhile cause, please contact the Va’ad L’Hatzolas Nidchei Yisroel at 1566 Coney Island Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11230 or zvaad@aol.com

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Article List - January 2007