JULY 6 • 2023 | 19
F
or some couples, their story of
finding each other is intertwined
with their story of finding spiritu-
ality.
Nacha then-Shuster had grown up in
Detroit and Livonia, and was working as a
clinical social worker in Ann Arbor when
she stumbled across the Chabad on cam-
pus and was instantly drawn in. She began
learning Torah and picking up religious
observance.
Meanwhile, Alan Leaf, an Oak Park
native who’d attended Dewey Elementary,
Clinton Middle School and Oak Park
High, had a close friend who was explor-
ing Orthodoxy. One day, his friend excit-
edly shared some newly discovered ideas
with Alan, including mention about a
book called the Talmud.
“The Talmud” — what was that?
Soon after that conversation, as Alan
drove down Nine Mile Road, heading
for the dry cleaners, he noticed Mishkan
Israel shul and found himself swerving
into the parking lot.
“I bet they have a Talmud here,” he
thought.
As Alan walked inside, a man with a
long beard was walking up the staircase.
He immediately greeted him and asked if
he needed any help.
Alan answered, “Yeah, I thought you
guys might have a copy of the Talmud I
could borrow and flip through?”
“Uh,” Rabbi Chaim Moshe Bergstein
answered and pointed at the shelves and
rows of big books. “That’s the Talmud…”
Every inch the Chabad shliach (emis-
sary), Rabbi Bergstein added, “Do you
want to come to my house for Shabbos?”
Alan did, and shared with the Bergsteins
over Shabbos dinner that he was planning
to move to Ann Arbor for work. They
provided him with contact info for the
Chabad House of Ann Arbor.
That’s where Alan and Nacha first met,
at a communal Pesach meal in 1980.
Alan and Nacha started chatting, and
soon he was walking her home from the
Chabad house every Friday night … meet-
ing her there for lunch … and attending
classes with her.
At one of those classes, Chabad shli-
ach Rabbi Levi Goldstein pointed out a
biblical connection: “Your Jewish name
is Avraham … and your middle name is
Sara …”
The comment wasn’t lost on either of
them.
“We just clicked,” conceded Nacha.
Before they’d met, they’d separately
made plans to go to Israel and, in October
1980, they traveled to Israel together, as a
couple.
“
Avraham went to learn in a men-only
religious yeshivah in Kfar Chabad near Tel
Aviv, and I went to this all-women sem-
inary in Tzfat, so we had this bittersweet
separation,” remembered Nacha. “We
knew we needed to complete this journey
and truly immerse ourselves into this
transformative process in order to actual-
ize our dream of an observant Jewish life
together. Our separation was important …
but it was also really hard.”
The conditions in Israel at the time were
primitive at best — “very far from Farmer
Jack!” — and with limited communication
options at the time, the two sufficed with
mailing each other aerograms or an occa-
sional arranged phone booth conversation.
Nacha confided in her new friend,
Chana Rothschild (now Finman, codi-
rector of Jewish Ferndale) about the dif-
ficulties of the situation with Avraham,
now squirreled hours away, studying in
yeshivah.
Chana decided to intervene; she spoke
to their Rosh Yeshivah (principal), who
reached out to Avraham’s Rosh Yeshivah.
They were both on the same page, agree-
ing that although Nacha and Avraham
didn’t have much background, they’d learn
the rest and grow together.
Things moved quickly after that. On
April 5, 1981, Avraham and Nacha got
married in Tzfat, overlooking the moun-
tains.
This “branch” of the Leaf family started
off life in Israel and stayed for nine years.
In 1989, they moved back to Michigan,
with their then-five young children, and
soon added another two. They’ve lived in
Oak Park ever since, attend Bais Chabad
of North Oak Park and are now grandpar-
ents many times over, for which they’re
tremendously grateful.
They’re especially proud that their son
Aaron Moshe, who served in the IDF
(Golani), settled in Haifa, Israel, with his
wife D’vorah … as Chabad shluchim on
campus! Talk about coming full circle!
This column will appear biweekly. If you’d like to share
your ‘meet-cute’ story, please email burstynwithjoy@
hotmail.com
An Intertwined, Loving
Spiritual-Seeking Journey
ROCHEL BURSTYN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
HOW WE MET
Nacha and
Avraham on their
wedding day.
Here Nacha and
Alan Leaf with
one of their many
grandchildren.