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.