14 | FEBRUARY 1 • 2024 

came and danced in the driveway. His 
three kids, who are now in first grade 
and freshmen in high school and college, 
were in the house at the time as well, and 
his older boys put on tefillin with the 
students. “Everybody was at home,
” he 
says. “It was a very positive experience 
when they’
d come.
” 
Growing up in Ukraine, attorney 
Lebedinski says he was not exposed to a 
lot of Jewish traditions. “It’s a totally dif-
ferent situation in the United States and 
in Southeast Michigan, where we enjoy 
being able to go to services and practice 
Judaism,
” he says. “But there’s only so 
much time and we’re not able to do it on 
a regular basis, so when they come, you 
feel like ‘this is great’ because it helps you 
get educated.
” 

MEET SOME FRIDAY BOYS
The bond between the boys and the 
people they visit can be a lasting one as 
well, he says, noting that he attended one 
of the boys’ weddings during COVID 
on Zoom. “Some of the boys call on 
Fridays or holidays; they call to see how 
I’m doing and tell me what’s going on in 
their lives,
” he says. “There’s a connec-
tion that develops and stays beyond their 
visits.
”
Nosson Gurary, 16, from Atlanta, 
Georgia, is one of the Friday Boys who 
visits Lebedinski. He has been studying 
in Detroit for more than two years and 
says he enjoys his weekly route in Troy. 
Growing up as part of a Chabad emis-
sary family, he says he’s used to meeting 
new people, but that going around to 
offices trying to see who might be Jewish 
was a new experience. 
“When you first go out, you’re going 
to someone’s office and you’re knocking, 
you don’t even know who he is,
” he says. 
“When I came, I was a 14-year-old kid 
speaking to these guys, so it’s definitely a 
challenge starting, but you get used to it.
” 
These days he knows when to set up 
meetings in advance by call and text and 
when to just stop in, he says, adding that 
sometimes people even message him to 
see if he’s coming. 
“People are telling me they appreci-
ate it and how much it means to them, 

they’re actually looking forward to it,
” he 
says, adding that he often tackles ques-
tions about Jewish holidays and what 
happens on them. Overall, he says, he 
finds it meaningful to connect people 
more deeply with their Judaism. “When 
you see positive results, it gives a whole 
new boost to it.
”
Mendel Zaklikofsky, 16, from 
Houston, visits Bloomfield Hills build-
ings and recently started visiting people 
in their homes. He says he has gotten 
all kinds of responses over the time he’s 
approached community members but 
says it’s all preparing him for one day 
when he’s likely to have a Chabad com-
munity of his own.
“The experience for me is two things 
— it’s that fact that from the foundations 
of Chabad, the Judaism we experience 
is not just something that’s meant to 
be kept to ourselves — it’s meant to be 

shared. Also, it’s extremely educational 
on a practical level. It’s something I gain 
from over time, getting to engage with 
people older than me, speaking to them 
about deep things and things that are 
meaningful, things that are important. 
It’s something that’s good for me on a 
personal level.
”
Zaklikofsky says he can spend the 
better part of each Friday meeting 
with 30-40 people. “Being able to take 
Judaism, to take Torah, to take mitzvot 
and bring them out of the synagogue 
and into the world, take them into 
the streets, into people’s homes, into 
the offices, to take the good and the 
positivity and put it all out in the open, 
that’s what the idea is,
” he says. “It’s all 
incredible.
” 

If you’d like to be visited by the Friday Boys, call 

Sholom Smith at (754) 303-4578.

Friday Boy Levik 
Shmotkin and Adam 
Weiner

continued from page 12

OUR COMMUNITY
COVER STORY

