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along with literature and holiday guides. 
When Diem’s office moved from 
Farmington Hills to Troy, the boys found 
her again, Diem says. Now she meets the 
students in a hallway in her building, with 
other employees passing by to put on tefil-
lin or talk as well. “I like to learn that way, 
and the boys show such passion for what 
they’ve learned. They reach out to every-
body,” she says. “They’re very friendly to 
everybody.” 
The students come for about 10 minutes, 
stopping to discuss what they’ve learned 
from the teachings of the late Rebbe, Rabbi 
Menachem M. Schneerson,. “They visit me 
on Fridays, and I look forward to their visits 

and sharing their knowledge,
” Diem says 
of the students. “They’re just the most wel-
coming young men. They’re full of energy 
and sunshine, and when they leave I feel 
their spirituality and it makes me happy.
” 
Since Oct. 7, she says their work is more 
important than ever. “We have to always 
stay strong and, especially during these 
times, we can’t back down,
” emphasizing 
that she has family in Israel and her uncle 
was a Holocaust survivor. 
Rabbi Shmaya Shmotkin, principal of the 
Lubavitch Yeshiva, says the 14- to 17-year-
old students have seen people being more 
receptive to them since Oct. 7, more forth-
coming in wanting to do a mitzvah, wheth-

er it’s buying a letter in the community 
Torah, putting on tefillin, lighting Shabbos 
candles or hearing words of inspiration. 
“Without a doubt, we’re seeing more of 
that,
” he says. They’ve gone out to meet 
people in the broader community for 
decades, he elaborates. “The ideas that we 
study and believe in are what fuel this type 
of weekly effort, the belief in the power of 
a mitzvah, the belief that every Jew really 
belongs and wants to be connected with 
their Judaism, the belief that one mitzvah 
leads to another.
”
Adam Weiner, a financial adviser who 
first became familiar with Chabad during 
his service in the Navy, says he was happy 
to see the faces of the young rabbis in train-
ing when their office suite door chimed. “I 
welcomed them in, and they wrapped me 
with tefillin,
” he says. “I liked the idea of 
somebody keeping me honest on the week’s 
parshah.
”
Weiner’s always glad to see the boys, and 
says he brings them into his office, grabbing 
an extra chair on the way, so they can talk. 
It’s had an impact on his daily life, he says, 
explaining that after several years of their 
visits, he now puts on tefillin daily. 
“I’ve pretty much been an every-dayer, 
so that’s been a real blessing, and they are 
obviously a pretty big part of helping me get 
to that point,
” he says. 
The boys’ centered natures and faith gave 
him the inspiration to move ahead with it, 
he adds. “I was absolutely surprised, and if 

Berel Lipskar 
facilitates a 
mitzvah.

Students Berel Lipskar 
and Shneur Deren hand 
out challah on Fridays.