continued from page 20
where they go or where
they live, we as Jews are all
the same, and we are all
connected.”
A MICHIGAN ROAD TRIP
The rabbis’ travels included
road trips from Muskegon
to Benton Harbor to South
Haven. Highlights of the
travels included singing
Chanukah songs with a man
in his 80s living in a senior
residence and helping him put
on tefillin for the first time.
In Cadillac, they visited the
public library asking if there
was a collection of Jewish
books, only to learn the
librarian herself was Jewish.
After speaking with her for
a spell, they left her a pair
of Shabbat candlesticks and
candles, plus a Jewish book to
be donated to the library.
Other times, they would
follow their GPS app on their
phone to get directions to
an address in Cadillac to a
person’s home whom they
heard might be Jewish, only
to wind up at a home a few
doors down and learn that
another Jewish man, who had
intermarried and for years had
not made any connections
with Judaism, lived there.
The unexpected visits by
the young men gave the man
the opportunity to reflect
and think about his Jewish
heritage. In the end, they were
welcomed into the home,
where they helped the man
put on tefillin and affixed a
mezuzah to the door.
“The family invited us
inside and we had a wonderful
conversation with them,”
Shemtov said. “That mezuzah
represents bringing Hashem
and Yiddishkeit (Judaism) into
one’s home. So now we know,
in the middle of Cadillac,
there stands a home that has a
mezuzah.”
In Houghton, they
happened upon a young
woman working in a local
co-op store who identified as
Jewish and was thinking about
how she wished she lived
closer to other Jews as the
High Holidays approached.
After talking with her for a
while, they also left her with a
pair of Shabbat candlesticks.
Shemtov described arriving
in Muskegon, a town with one
Reform temple where only a
few Jews live in a county with
under 200,000 people.
“We got to town, and we
didn’t have any information,
no contacts, nothing,”
Shemtov recalled. “Online, we
found information about an
exhibit at a museum on the
Jewish history of Muskegon,
only to find out that this was
an exhibit that closed a few
years ago. We just walked the
streets and asked the people
who passed by.
“Eventually, someone told
us that they knew a man who
was Jewish who worked at the
Muskegon Science Center.
And another who knew a
Jewish woman who worked
in a local store. Another man
walking by with his dog told
us about someone else in
town who was Jewish. And
that’s how it goes, and by the
end of that day, we had met
about five Jewish people.”
Shemtov said contrary to
news headlines of increased
acts of hate toward Jews, none
of them sensed any hostility
toward them. The young
rabbis said the non-Jews they
encountered were welcoming,
helpful and almost apologetic
if they didn’t know other
Jewish people.
To the non-Jews they
met, they offered a secular,
nonsectarian version of a
tzedakah box. Shaped like
Noah’s ark, the project, also
the inspiration of Schneerson’s
legacy, is called Acts of
Random Kindness (ARK).
The ARKs can be used to
collect money to give to
Rabbi Mendel Slonim
(left) and Rabbi
Yisroel Shemtov
help a man put on
tefillin in Mackinaw
City.
Another Jewish home was
established in Marquette.
In Cadillac, this
man put on tefillin
for the first time.
OUR COMMUNITY
22 | SEPTEMBER 28 • 2023
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