Spirituality

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May the coming year be filled
with health, happiness and prosperity
for all our family and friends.

Dr. Jeffrey and Laurie Fischgrund
Michelle, Marcy, Mark
Andrew and Melanie

Behind Bars

Chabad brings tefillin, connection
to Jews serving prison time.

Naomi Tarlow
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

New York

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May the coming year be filled
with health, happiness and prosperity
for all our family and friends.

CLAIRE & MARV
TAMAROFF

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May the coming year be filled with
health and happiness for all our family and friends.
L'Shanah Tovah!

Regina Feuer & Susan Hoffman

Air

B16

September 25 • 2008

harles Smith tries to recall
the last time he participated
in the tefillin ritual as a rab-
binical student wraps his arm.
"It's been a long time Smith says,
then recites the corresponding prayer.
The student, Chaim Gurary, and
colleague Chaim Kohn ask for the
Hebrew names of the gray-haired men
in beige suits before Kohn explains the
significance of the tefillin.
Chabadniks wrapping tefillin
around men's arms, and reciting and
explaining the blessings, isn't unusual.
But it's less familiar when the setting
is prison — in this case Northern
State Prison in Newark, N.J. — and
the pupils are convicts.
During the year, Chabad rab-
binical students visit Jewish prisoners
throughout the United States, bringing
with them tefillin, prayer books and
words of hope. This summer, the stu-
dents visited 3,700 Jewish inmates in
more than 360 prisons in 37 states.
The mass visits are arranged by the
Aleph Institute, Chabad's faith-based
rehabilitation program that aims to
make it easier for Jews to practice
their religion in prison — where gang
warfare and prejudices are rampant.
Gurary, 21, and Kohn, 20 — Chaim 1
and Chaim 2, as they introduce them-
selves to prisoners — comprised the
team traveling to New Jersey, Delaware,
Rhode Island and New Hampshire.
They visited 14 prisons in nine days.
The prisoners' religious back-
grounds and experiences are varied.
Gurary and Kahn met a prisoner in
the Delaware Correction Center who
Gurary said was "very involved in
Judaism and puts on tefillin every day."
One year, as the High Holidays came
around, the prisoner didn't know the
exact day of Yom Kippur because he had
no calendar, so he fasted for 48 hours.
Other prisoners are delighted with
Aleph Institute visits, but pass on the
rituals. Gurary cites an Israeli-born
prisoner who was happy the Chaims
came but opted not to put on tefillin.

A rabbinical student teaches an

inmate at Northern State Prison in

Newark, N.J., about tefillin.

Kohn preaches to the prisoners that
they have a second chance. During his
visit to Northern State, a minimum
security facility, he cited the mes-
sage of the late Lubavitcher rebbe,
Menachem Schneerson, to beware of
mind over matter. "God doesn't ask of
the impossible Kohn adds.
Animosity among groups sometimes
becomes an impediment for practicing
Judaism in prison. Joseph Zabita, 63,
of Elizabeth, N.J., was transferred to
Northern State two years ago after 43
years at a prison in Trenton. He con-
trasts his two experiences.
"I can count seven people that I
know are Jewish here Zabita says,
adding Jews are "hidden" because
"they are afraid of retaliations by other
groups!"
Matt Schuman, a spokesman
for the New Jersey Department of
Corrections, says the large numbers of
Muslims in the prisons is sometimes
threatening for those who identify
themselves as Jews.
"A small fraction of the prison
population is Jewish:' he says.
Morey Marcus, another Northern
State inmate, echoes the concern
about the lack of community.
"There's no rabbi here. We haven't
had one in years. I just had a sister die,
and there was no rabbi:' he says. "We
do not know as much as we should"
about Judaism. ❑