Rabbi Chaim Bruk: It’s Our Community, and We’re Glad We Could Help
Rabbi Chaim Bruk – Bozeman Daily Chronical
It is said that the role of a spiritual leader is to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable”. So, when Rob Lawler, the Faith and Community Based Services Coordinator for HHS in Helena, mentioned that the Bozeman chapter of CPS needed some community help, it was a “no brainer”.
When a child in Gallatin/Park counties is in crisis, whether their home isn’t safe, they are experiencing abuse, their parents aren’t living up to their basic responsibilities, their first stop is at the local office of Child Protective Services. It’s where they transition from the unsafe reality that they were in, to what we hope is a warm, secure, and stable environment.
The staff working at CPS are incredibly dedicated, on call 24/7, and do everything in their power to ensure that the children are cared for with heavy loads of TLC. Yet, with budget restraints and excess bureaucracy, the one room at CPS geared for the children, was in dire need of an overhaul.
I told Rob that our Synagogue, the Chabad Lubavitch Center for Jewish Life and Learning, would undertake the renovation and refurbishing of the room. I had no idea what it would entail, no clue what it would cost, but I knew my community, I knew our congregants and partners, and I knew that we love and care for the vulnerable, for those who are struggling.
It’s a basic tenet of Judaism, written multiple times in the Torah, elucidated at length in the Talmud, that we are obliged to care for the widow, orphan, convert, poor, homeless, hungry, sick, abused; this would undoubtedly guide us to help the children at CPS.
When my wife, Chavie, and I first arrived at CPS to see what was needed, it was a lot worse than we could’ve imagined. A sheet being used as a window shade against the sun, a VHS player being used for kids’ videos, couches and toys that were outdated and beaten, and a sense of gloom that permeated the room. Children in our community deserve better and we were rolling up our sleeves to get it done.
I reached out to people in my network, Jews and gentiles, and within days we raised all the funds needed to make the change. Fifteen locals, second-homeowners, businesses, and foundations came together without any fanfare to give the children a more wholesome experience.
Dan, owner of Another Peters Painting, volunteered to paint the room. Josh, the manager of Ashley Furniture, sold us the beautiful furniture at a discounted price because he wanted to help. We installed a wall-mounted flat-screen with a Disney subscription, purchased new toys, dolls, stuffies, a pack and play, fan, and highchair — everything needed to make this room a home away from home for the kiddos.
I could spend time pontificating about why our local, state and federal governments don’t have funds for the kids, while affording wars, studies and monuments, but how does my review of government failure help the kids?
This is our community, we’ve been serving in Bozeman for almost 18 years, and we have a responsibility to care for those around us. One synagogue can’t care for all of Bozeman’s needs, but if each congregation, each club, each group of friends, showed up for those in need, our community would be in a much better place.
When our Synagogue started Project Dignity over a decade ago, we saw the need and asked our congregants to join us in helping those who need support with basic survival.
The idea was straightforward: Spirituality that stays in the House of worship isn’t spirituality at all. If the ideas we preach, the Torah we study, are relegated to sermons and Shabbos (Sabbath) services, but don’t practically permeate the world around us, then we aren’t transforming the world for the better, living up to God’s expectation of us.
I’m so honored to be at the helm of a community that cares enough to make a difference, making a child just a bit more comfortable, a bit more loved, and a bit more at home. If you want to partner with us in a future community-based project, please reach out, as there is always a need.
To paraphrase my mentor, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe of blessed memory: “If you see what needs to be repaired and how to repair it, then you have found a piece of the world that God has left for you to complete. But if you only see what is wrong and what is ugly in the world, then it is you yourself that needs repair”.
