Herman Treiser (of Treiser Tours), Rabbis Dr. Nissan Mindel, Yehuda Krinsky,
Shlomo Kirsch, Shalom Dovber "Berel" Shemtov, Dovid Schochet, Mordechai
Hodakov, Shalom Dovber Butman, Yosef Rosenfeld, Faivel Rimier, Avrohom
Korf, Shmuel Fogelman and Matis Prize! (of Treiser Tours)

Rememberances from page 8

Bringing Encouragement
Today, Rabbi Berel Shemtov is director
of Chabad Luvbavitch of Michigan, but
in 1956, he was a young man studying at
Chabad headquarters in Brooklyn, soon
to become an instrumental part of the
Rebbe's response to a tragedy overseas.
On April 11, 1956, terrorists opened fire
at a vocational school in the Israeli village
of Kfar Chabad, killing four students, and
one youth worker and injuring several
others. The village was plunged into grief
and shock Parents came to remove their
children from the school; others suggested
disbanding the entire village.
The Rebbe's immediate response was to
continue building the village and especially
the school. A month later, on Shavuot, the
Rebbe presented a new paradigm to his
followers in Crown Heights — financial
support for Kfar Chabad was not enough;
what the village needed most was a group
of people to go and bring encouragement.
Within a day, young men were signing up
to be part of a delegation to Israel. Berel

Shemtov was one of the 12 chosen by the
Rebbe to take the trip, and one of three
chosen to lead the group.
Before they embarked, the Rebbe pre-
sented Shemtov and the others with a
pocket siddur and Tanya [a book on the
fundamentals of Chabad]. On the way,
the group visited Jewish communities in
England, Belgium, France, Switzerland
and Italy, eventually arriving in Israel.
"Our mission was to meet with the peo-
ple Shemtov says. "Of course, it was sad,
we were grieving. But it was also exciting
for everybody. Hundreds of people came
to the airport to meet us:'
The delegation spent nearly a month in
Israel, where they met children, adults and
community leaders. In Petach Tikvah, the
Chief Rabbinate arranged a greeting at the
city's largest synagogue. It filled to capacity
and Shemtov brought regards to the crowd
from American Jewry.
The trip was a great success, helping to
expand the Lubavitch movement in Israel.
– Jessica Neiman

'Worldwide Force For Good'

and received a dollar from him. "I still
have that dollar:' he says. "It was a real
highlight for me of this Jewish business
we are in. A man like the Rebbe comes
along once in a lifetime.
"When his wife died, I wrote the
Rebbe a letter of condolence. One day
I got a knock on the door, and five
Lubavitchers had come to deliver a
handwritten thank-you note from the
Rebbe. It was the one and only time
anyone in Milwaukee had gotten a note
from the Rebbe. They were bowled
over.
"The Rebbe was obviously a sainted
man and very smart:' Aronson said. "He
was very unusual; you could tell. There
was a kindness about his face and his
eyes were very penetrating. Very little
happened without the Rebbe's knowl-
edge in his world. He was a worldwide
force for good:'
– Keri Guten Cohen

Robert Aronson, now senior develop-
ment adviser for the Jewish Federation
of Metropolitan Detroit, was work-
ing for Federation
in his hometown of
Milwaukee when his
dear friend, the late
Marty Stein, asked him
to go with him to visit
the Rebbe.
"I was in my 30s and
he took me to see the
Robert
Rebbe for one of those
Aronson
chaotic meetings at his
Brooklyn headquar-
ters:' Aronson recalled. "I was scared
to death the building would collapse
because there were so many people.
There was so much pressure from peo-
ple rocking and rolling that my galoshes
came off my feet:'
Aronson shook the Rebbe's hand

10 June 19 • 2014

JN

