Merkos Shlichus in Riverside

RIVERSIDE, CA [CHI] — Going door to door can get old fast. A list of Riverside residents with Jewish sounding names is probably not the most ideal way to find a Jew in need. It does work though. After putting a route together on the computer we went to visit the Bergs, Khans, Steins and the likes hoping to find someone Jewish and at home. Our knocking paid off this afternoon. We came to a house and knocked on the door. This is where the pitch is. “Hi, my name is…… and we are….. and …… would you like to do a Mitzvah?!!” Hesitantly Mr. Loeb opens the door and asks “what kind of Mitzvah can I do?” “Well, Tefillin is a great choice, it’s quick, easy, and I can guide you through it.” “Tefillin, wow I haven’t seen those since I was Bar-Mitzvahed 45 years ago in Anaheim.” So we helped him with the Tefillin and Brochos, but the Shema was a breeze as he remembered his father saying it, it brought tears to his eyes. “I’ll never forget these words as long as I live,” he said.

Mrs. Loeb was raised in Oceanside and was bat-mitzvahed there. She had gotten a candlestick as a gift then and still remembers lighting it at the celebration. When she saw the candles we brought her she was as happy and energetic as she was when she was 12. She and her daughter promised to light the candles this week and try to keep it up.

Tuesday morning while parading through the mall, we met quite a few people. First was the security guard who for years had wanted to know what those tassels were and finally summoned up the courage to ask. The next guy we met was an Israeli fellow, who owns a few kiosks in the mall. He said he doesn’t leave his house in the morning without first putting on his Tefillin. That was definitely nice to hear. Then we turned down the next corridor and saw a young man on his way out of the mall. He stared at us, we stared at him, and then we all broke out in smiles. We walked outside and sat down in the shade. He told us his life’s story, well a short version of it anyway. How he was born in New York, moved to Israel as a teen, joined the army a few years later and moved back to the states when he got out. Apparently there aren’t too many black hatters walking through Riverside everyday because we were the first obviously Jewish people he saw since he left Israel. He decided to put Tefillin on for the first time since his Bar-Mitzvah, but for this we had to go back inside. He wanted everyone in the mall to see him proudly wearing the Tefillin and saying the Shema.

Starbucks was around the corner and I saw an ice coffee with my name on it. We sat down watching the scene the hustle and bustle in the busy mall. As we were leaving the food court a girl came over to us and said, “excuse me, are you Jewish?” For a second I was shocked! I had thought that was my line, copyrighted by Chabad. Then she continued, telling us how she lives in Riverside, and that there is no Judaism here for her or her boyfriend. She needed to do something to feel Jewish, she just couldn’t find that Jewish spark. Well, what better Jewish spark than the flame of the candles Friday night. So, after explaining what the candles were, how and when to light them, she made a resolution right there and then to light candles every Friday night from then on. She then accepted an invitation for her and her boyfriend to come experience a Shabbos at Chabad.