Posted to Shlichus on

Roving Rabbis Visit Rural Ontario Jewish Families

The Record

Visiting American Rabbis, Levi Weingarten (left) and Dovid Lepkivker, display religious items that they are sharing with local Jewish families who may be isolated and not located in Jewish communities. While they are staying in Waterloo, they are being hosted by Rabbi Moshe Goldman.

Strolling through Elmira and St. Jacobs, rabbis-in-training Dovid Lepkivker and Levi Weingarten got a few stares.

They were mistaken for Old Order Mennonites by some, while others wondered what the two young men dressed in black suits and a hat were doing walking the downtown areas of these small rural communities looking for Jewish families.

The men are known as the Roving Rabbis – a summertime rabbinical student visitation program where student rabbis visit Jewish households to reinforce Jewish pride and education.

“We cause whiplash all the time,’’ chuckles Rabbi Moshe Goldman of the Rohr Chabad Centre for Jewish Life on Albert Street in Waterloo. He was referring to the strange stares some orthodox rabbis receive when in the community.

The Chabad Centre sponsored the students’ two-week trip to Canada. They return home on Sunday.

The student rabbis are among 500 rabbis-in-training who help Jewish families rediscover their heritage by visiting them in their homes in various countries around the world.

The program targets Jewish people who live in areas where there are no synagogues, Jewish schools or a Jewish community.

The students come equipped with the Torah, the Jewish holy book, other religious prayer books, Shabbat candles lit by women and girls on the Jewish day of rest and mezuzahs. Mezuzah means doorpost and refers to a piece of parchment in a small cylinder case with verses of the Torah inscribed on it. The mezuzah is placed on the door of a Jewish home.

The men also bring the Tefillin, a black leather box which contains scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah worn by observant male Jews during weekday prayers.

Last week, in Fergus the students spoke to a Toronto woman who was directing traffic around a movie shoot. She was Jewish and the students gave her the Shabbat candles and some pamphlets.

“Every individual counts,’’ said Lepkivker, 21, from Brooklyn, N.Y. Weingarten, also 21, is from Flint, Mich.

During their visit, the students will have travelled to Brantford, Hanover and Walkerton.

“The idea is to spark something in someone, to kick start a process,’’ Goldman said.

The student rabbis can also elaborate on Jewish beliefs or traditions that may appear obscure or strange to Jews, Goldman said.

“They can take away the weirdness and break down the walls,’’ he said. “It’s our responsibility. They are our brothers and sisters and we have to tend to their needs whether they know it or not.’’

Goldman said he’s not expecting the rabbinical students to find many Jewish families in the rural areas.

“This is really the sticks. Expectations are not high,’’ he said.

“But if during a full day, they find one Jewish person, well that’s success,’’ Goldman said.

In Judaism, the Torah is the food for the soul, he said.

“We can be busy and occupied with so many distractions but everyone’s spirit needs nourishment and recharging,’’ Goldman said.

But Goldman said the students are not trying to force religious views on those who might not accept it.

“It’s not my way or the highway,’’ he said. “God took a gamble and created the world giving man free choice. I’m not about to take that away from people.’’

“Nothing worthwhile comes from compulsory religion,’’ he said.

Related Articles

11 Comments