Outreach Finds Many Jews

Portland, OR — Pairs of rabbinic students and recently ordained rabbis traveling in Oregon are finding so many Jews, that they aren’t covering as much ground as they expected to this summer.

Chabad of Oregon hosted three teams participating in the 60-year-old Rabbinical Student Visitation Program, also known as the “Jewish Summer Peace Corp,” according to local Rabbi Chayim Mishulovin. The educational arm of the Lubavitch movement, Merkos L’inyonei Chinuch, sends pairs of rabbinic students to small Jewish communities around the globe each summer.

“We just send them to the streets to meet people who would never find their Judaism otherwise,” said Mishulovin. “We are pleasantly surprised by how many people they’ve met and the lives they’ve touched.”

Mishulovin said the first team of three men had planned to spend three weeks traveling from Astoria down the coast to California.

“But after two weeks they only did Astoria to Seaside,” said Mishulovin. “A lot of Jews out there are really looking for something.”

Rabbis Mendel Stein, 23, of Detroit, and Avrohom Simmonds, 23, of Winnepeg, spent their entire two weeks on just three streets on Portland’s east side—Hawthorn, Belmont and Alberta.

With three summers in the program under his belt, Stein said he had never met people who were as open and unique as those on Portland’s east side. He said one couple approached them because they had just seen a picture of Hassidic rabbis in black hats while attending the Feldenkrais Method conference at Reed College.

“A lot of people are searching for spiritual meaning and they’re not sure where to find it,” said Stein, who noted his father had been sent to Portland in 1969 through the same program. “They seem pleased we come out and want to interact and talk to people who are seemingly different.”

The duo met so many people who were “willing to jump right into things,” that they hastily organized a Friday night Shabbat dinner, said Stein. Originally they planned to invite eastsiders to a home Shabbat on the west side, but eastside photographer Leo Arfer volunteered his studio to host the dinner.

Simmonds said that about 60 people had expressed interest in the dinner, but since it was planned in just a couple days, most could not make it.
Fifteen people showed up and had such a good time, that many in the group (who had not known each other before that evening) started talking about more Shabbat dinners in the future, said Stein.

Simmonds said they also met dozens of Jews when they set up a table with Jewish books, candles, tefillin and mezuzot at the “Last Thursday” on Alberta Street event during which people stroll through art galleries and past crafts tables. He said many people did a double take when they saw the Judaica amidst the arts and crafts. The two gave out many Shabbat candles and sold a mezuzah to a man who said he’d just bought a new house and couldn’t “miss out” buying a mezuzah at Last Thursday.

Two 20-year-olds from Brooklyn, Rabbi Levi Herzog and rabbinic student Shraga Putter, were the final team to hit Portland in early August. The two started out with a visit to Sellwood and were likewise besieged by Jews surprised to see two men in black coats and hats walking the streets of that small community.

Though the last team left Oregon Aug. 16, Mishulovin said Chabad of Oregon is available to help Jews in those areas without an established Jewish presence. He urged people to call 503-977-9947.

“I’ll drive up and take care of any Jewish need,” said Mishulovin. “That’s what we’re doing here.”