mivtzoim stories – Melava Malka Stories

Tefillin Stand near the Julis base

I must tell you a wondrous story which happened with the Tefillin Stand we established for the soldiers stationed near Kiryat Malachi*, a seven minute drive from an army base. The base called Julis is part of the Emanuel army compound. At the beginning of the war we set up a permanent Tefillin Stand there so people and soldiers could put on Tefillin. At one point we fixed up the stand to look very nice with a table and frame around it to make it beautiful and appealing as befits a Tefillin Stand.

One More Light

This past week, I went to the dentist for a walk-in appointment because I’d been having severe tooth pain. After hours of waiting, I was told my tooth was infected and couldn’t be saved. They extracted it immediately. Everything happened so fast, and I left feeling stunned, my face numb, and in pain—surrendering to Hashem’s plan.

Candlesticks for sale

It was a sunny February Friday morning in Monsey, New York when a friend invited me to attend an estate sale. I’d never been to an estate sale, and I wasn’t even sure exactly what it was, but for some reason I decided to go along.

“Here’s to new experiences,” I thought, and hopped into his car.

A Shabbos Adventure in the Galilee

One Friday afternoon a van with eight teenage boys, students of Migdal HaEmek Yeshiva in northern Israel, was traveling on a winding road in the Galilee. Every Friday they would visit different Jewish settlements and share the joy of Judaism with the residents.
They would give the men and Bar Mitzvah boys an opportunity to don Tefillin, the women and girls Shabbat candle lighting kits, offer to have their Mezuzot checked, and give out pamphlets explaining various Mitzvot.

Tefillin in Union Square

“Hi! Not sure where to send this to so I figured the number on the side of the bus would work! Please excuse my long message.
My name is Laurie and I live in Southern California. Our oldest son, Jacob, became Bar Mitzvah in the beginning of the pandemic – May 2020. My mother’s very generous Bar Mitzvah gift to him was a trip anywhere in the USA, and he chose New York. Because of the Covid restrictions of the past 2 years, we were only just now finally able to schedule this very special trip.

The children of the Rebbe

A number of years back, the Jewish Joint Organization arranged for a group of Jewish educators, principals and teachers from America to travel to Odessa, Ukraine. The purpose of the trip was for them to see firsthand the way of life of Jewish students there.
When the organizers of the trip searched for a place where the group could have a Shabbat meal together, they reached out to the Shluchim of the Rebbe in Odessa. Unbeknownst to them, this special Shabbat was the day before Yud Alef Nissan, the birthday of the Rebbe.

“Rebbe, I need a hug!”

I’m originally from Melbourne, Australia and despite the fact that I grew up going to a Jewish school with Jewish friends, the extent of my family’s observance was making kiddush on Friday nights and attending Pesach seders.
We also went to shul for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, and that’s about it.

“Elijah the Prophet” appears at the Seder!

Macon, Georgia, an hour’s drive from Atlanta, did not yet have a Chabad presence. Enter Rabbi Chaim and Chayala Markovits, directors of Chabad of Rural Georgia. This young couple from Australia and California, opened the first Rural Chabad Center in the US. They travel around the state to small Jewish communities and bring the warmth and light of Chabad to each place. One of their first Jewish experiences was to offer a public Seder in Macon for Passover last year, 2021. They rented a room in a hotel and transformed it into a beautiful Passover Seder complete with all the details including a delicious kosher for Passover meal. Jewish people heard about it and came out of the woodworks to attend. As the Seder progressed, little did they realize that G-d had planned a special guest to join them for the Seder. The unexpected guest appeared and for a moment the assembled thought they were seeing, “Elijah the Prophet” dressed up as a local.
Here is how it happened:

Excerpts from an upcoming book about Rebbetzin Shula Kazen’s life

… Not far from our new home was the Zemach Zedek shul*, founded at the end of the 19^th century by Chabad Chassidic immigrants from Russia….

The Rebbe’s blessing after an Ohel visit

Although I lived in Brooklyn for many years, had an Orthodox Jewish education in my youth, and passed by 770 (the main Chabad synagogue located in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, NY) quite often, I never had the opportunity to engage with Chabad in a meaningful way, until….