Montana’s Far-Flung Jews Gather for Retreat

Chabad-Lubavitch of Montana held its second annual Montana Jewish Retreat this Memorial Day weekend, with a schedule that included gourmet food, spiritual study sessions and Torah lectures given by sought-after scholars-in-residence, and a plum opportunity to spend the Sabbath outdoors under the state’s famous big sky.

The three-day event drew about 40 people, many of whom were not affiliated with any synagogue and drove as much as five and a half hours to the El Western resort in Ennis, a small town located south of Butte in the Beaverhead National Forest.

“The retreat is really important for a place like Montana,” asserted Rabbi Chaim Bruk, co-director of the Bozeman-based Chabad-Lubavitch of Montana. “It’s the fourth-largest state in the union and many Jews are spread out, living between 50 and 100 miles apart from one another. This retreat is an opportunity for them to meet one another and make a connection and to also experience what it’s like to be in a unified Jewish community.

“It provides an opportunity for the Jews of Montana to explore traditional Judaism,” the rabbi added. “The retreat would be beneficial anyway, but it’s especially beneficial in Montana.”

Surrounded by majestic mountains, with cool, clean rivers winding their way around the resort and a vast expanse of blue sky overhead, the campground is the perfect place for a spiritual outing, noted Bruk. “While in many ways Shabbat is still Shabbat wherever you go, the retreat is a very special opportunity for study and prayers and learning in a very beautiful environment.”

Rabbi Chaim and Rivkie Block, co-directors of Chabad-Lubavitch of South Texas in S. Antonio, were two of the retreat’s chosen speakers.

“My wife and I went there together to do what we can to inspire the people,” said Block. “The idea is to reach every Jew possible wherever they may be and do what we can to bring them closer to their Judaism.”

Coming less than two weeks before Shavuot, the summer holiday commemorating the giving of the Torah atop Mount Sinai, the retreat focused this year on how the Torah is studied and explained.

“I plan to speak about the different aspects and levels of understanding the Torah, from the esoteric to the spiritual,” Block explained before the onset of the retreat. “I will then speak about all the practical aspects of Torah, how it’s structured, both its oral and written traditions, and how they work together in tandem.

“My wife will be talking about how you can own the gift of Torah,” he added, “how you can connect with it and internalize it and make it your own so it becomes part of your consciousness.”

For Block, the trip held especially deep meaning.

“My father, who is now 80 years old, traveled across Montana on behalf of Chabad-Lubavitch in 1954,” he revealed. “In 1979, I went to Montana on the same program, which today is known as the ‘Roving Rabbis’ program that brings rabbinical students to small Jewish communities around the world.”

Block’s daughter, Chavie Bruk, now directs Chabad-Lubavitch of Montana with her husband.

While Block acknowledged that being Jewish in Montana poses myriad pragmatic challenges – there are very few synagogues within walking distance for most Jews and kosher food is difficult to come by – he viewed the retreat as a starting point for a more in-depth exploration of one’s Jewish identity.

“The hope is that after the retreat people will take what they have learned and put it into practice in whatever way they can considering their circumstances,” he explained.

For his part, Bruk was hopeful that this is just the beginning of a long-lasting tradition.

“It’s good food, good company and Jewish people from all over the state,” he said. “We are growing every year and will continue to offer this unique and amazing opportunity for all the Jews of Montana.”