Shliach is Running for Survivors

ORANGE, CT — While most New York City marathon runners strive to wear the lightest gear they can, Rabbi Adam Haston will tackle the run wearing a traditional wool garment, long black pants, a yarmulke and baseball cap.

He’ll also have to think more than most about hydration along the way, because he won’t drink anything along the route unless he knows it’s kosher.

For Haston, 33, believed to be the first Chabad rabbi to run in the marathon, staying within his Orthodox boundaries is important in accomplishing his main mission: raising money for The Blue Card, an organization that provides financial aid for impoverished Holocaust survivors.

“Hey, if our soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq can do it, why can’t I?” he said of his outfit, adding, “It’s November.” The 26-mile run through New York’s five boroughs is Nov. 7.

His determination to help the cause, also religious in that charity is considered a duty, overrides any thoughts of heavy sweating.

“What hit home for me was they simply do good stuff,” said Haston, a rabbi at Chabad of Orange-Woodbridge. “For all they went through (Holocaust survivors), they’re living life below the poverty line. … I didn’t have to go through the Holocaust personally, but at the same time, I’m part of the same family.”

Elie Rubinstein, executive director of The Blue Card, said he’s excited about Haston’s run on many fronts, including because of his youth.

“He’s a person who was born in 1977, and it’s extremely important for young people to know what happened 60, 70 years ago,” Rubinstein said. ”

Rubinstein, whose organization has 60 slots for fundraisers in the world-renowned marathon, said they are also excited to have a Chabad rabbi in the mix because the Chabad movement is very inclusive, as were the Nazis, because the Nazis “killed everyone,” socialists, communists, people of all nationalities.

Chabad is a Hasidic movement in which a central theme is outreach to the community.

He said Haston’s religious status is also significant because some Holocaust survivors have a “different relationship with religion, synagogue and rabbis after being in concentration camps. Some questioned whether God exists” after seeing their entire families wiped out before their eyes, Rubinstein said.

Perhaps more amazing than the many layers Haston will wear, or his fundraising goal of $100,000, is the response he gives people when they say “I didn’t know you’re a runner.”

He tells them, “I’m not.”

Until now, that is. Just making the time for training is a feat, as Haston has a wife, five children ages 4 months to 8 years old and a busy job with Chabad.

Haston said he hasn’t yet experienced that “runner’s high” people talk about and quipped, “I’m looking forward to it.”

In his quest to raise $100,000 for the cause, Haston is looking for sponsors, big and small, and has a website, www.marathonrabbi.org.

He said if Nike calls, he’ll gladly accept the sponsorship because the “Just do it” slogan fits in with his approach to the run.

On his upper body, Haston will wear his four-cornered wool garment with the Tzitzit, or fringe, hanging to the side. The garment, worn by Orthodox Jewish men, is a reminder of all 613 commandments given to the Jewish people.

Underneath that, he’ll wear a shirt so the wool doesn’t irritate his skin, and on top, for all to see, a T-shirt. But he hasn’t chosen that yet.

He’ll wear long pants to follow the laws of modesty, probably dark ones because they’re his favorite. He’ll also wear a yarmulke and a baseball cap over that so the yarmulke doesn’t fall off.

He can be “bought,” however, as long as his orthodoxy stays intact.

“If Nike sponsors me, I’ll wear Nike all over,” he said.

Joining him in the run to raise money for The Blue Card will be local attorney Jonathan Perkins, whose face appears on many bus and television advertisements for his Jonathan Perkins Injury Lawyers firm in Woodbridge.

Perkins, well into his 40s, is an avid runner, and in 2005 climbed to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money for charity.

Perkins, who will wear only shorts and a T-shirt in the marathon, will likely sweat less than Haston, but he’s no less dedicated to the heart of the charity. He said it’s understandable that so many Holocaust survivors are destitute after losing their families and then coming here with no money and language barriers.

Rubinstein said you can’t put a number on how many Holocaust survivors were unable to succeed financially because there are so many factors that can change a person’s situation. He knows of one man who had a successful career, but needed help after he spent his life savings on in-home nursing care for his wife.

He said there are about 25,000 Holocaust survivors living in poverty in the United States. The Blue Card helps about 1,800 per year because they are an agency that helps when community services have been exhausted.

“It’s very noble that this younger group is running,” he said.