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Friday Boys

STORY AND PHOTOS BY ANTHONY LANZILOTE SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

Chabad teens
touch souls
with their
devotion to
Jews and
Judaism.

F

or more than two decades, students
at the International School for
Chabad Leadership in Oak Park have
spent their Friday afternoons traveling
throughout Oakland County bringing Jews
closer to their faith. They are lamp lighters
whose job is to touch souls.
The Friday Boys, as they are called, visit
office buildings and strip malls delivering
Chabad newsletters, Shabbat candles and
interpretations of weekly Torah portions.
You may have seen them on Friday after-
noons, distinctive in their black hats and
black suits, with tzitzit strings hanging out-
side their white shirts. They also enthusias-
tically celebrate Jewish holidays, often with
an entire office. And they help men —
who are willing — put on tefillin
and recite the appropriate blessing.
Levi Uminer, 16, and Moshe Weiss, 14,
are close friends and Friday Boys partners.
Every week, a few hours before Sabbath,
they hop in a van or small bus with other
boys to be dropped at their recurring route
along Northwestern Highway in Southfield.

continued on page 14

jn

August 30 • 2018

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