Fundraising anecdote

Rabbi Lipszyc's Story of the Week Sponsored  in Memory of Nochum Levitin A"H and in Honor of Mrs. Shima Risha Levitin YBLT"A a couple for whom I have always had a tremendous respect. Rabbi Shemtov, Head Shliach in Michigan, appreciated my attitude and approach to any new and untried project. I very strongly believed that any idea a human could conceive of, was doable. If it was hard, we just had to work harder. If it was deemed impossible, it just took a little longer. So it was not much of a surprise that I was somehow always involved in any new projects. Thus I was involved in a very unique project, although I personally didn’t originally agree with it.  In Detroit, as in many other places, there was the organization called the Labor Zionist/Workman’s Circle. This was a group of Jews who were a carry-over from the non-Torah observant Jews who immigrated from Russia. They were believers in socialism and communism. They viewed the continuation of Judaism as a mere cultural identity. They promoted the importance of continuing the language of Yiddish (which is why they were also referred as the Yiddishisten.) They had a youth club known as Hashomer Hatzair. However, they were in decline. The older members of this society strongly believed in it, but were dying out. The younger members were assimilating and thus interest in the ideology was declining. The leadership and directors felt that if they would build a new facility in one of the suburbs that would become a Jewish hub in the future, they would recapture their past glory. And so they began building a million dollar structure in Farmington Township. [In those years, the 1970’s, a million was really a lot of money.] However, before they finished it they ran out of funding. While the supporters and leadership were brainstorming as to how to procure the remainder of the $250,000 shortfall, a very wild proposal was suggested. To appreciate the irony of the proposal, a deeper understanding of the opposite ideologies between Chabad and our commitment to Torah beliefs, and the Labor Zionist/Workman’s Circle, with their opposite view, is needed. The “real believers” in the Workman’s Circle were very anti the very belief in Torah Judaism to the extent of hating the very sight of a Torah observant Jew. Thank G-d there weren’t that many of them around anymore. But the general membership didn’t have that same hatred. In fact, since at that point the Torah observant community were the only ones besides themselves who spoke a fluent Yiddish,  they felt a certain kinship with us. Since Rabbi Shemtov’s mamme lashon was Yiddish he became quite friendly with a number of lifetime members of the Labor Zionist elite and they actually became his biggest supporters. [I.e. Irwin Cohn, one of the biggest and respected lawyers in Michigan, became chairman of Chabad of Michigan; Emma Shaver and Mr. & Mrs. Jack Shenkman, became his two biggest supporters; Mr. Robert Ruch, an actual descendent of a famous Chossid of the Tzemach Tzedek or the Rebbe Maharash, was also a member of the Workman’s Circle but retained a fondness for Chabad, to name just a few.] So it was these supporters, who saw how Chabad of Michigan was growing, who proposed that perhaps Chabad would want to become a partner of 30% of this new building. At first, Mr. Lieberman, the lawyer for the Labor Zionist (and a diehard believer in their ideology) would not entertain such a merger. However, since he saw that some of the longtime members were pushing for it, he reconsidered. Later, his thinking was exposed – he believed that these “backward” chassidim surely didn’t understand the “new world,” nor could they possibly know about business, so he would take their money and then push them out retaining ownership of the entire building. An enormous underestimation of Rabbi Shemtov’s smarts and business acumen that was to cost him dearly.  In any case, the proposal was made to Rabbi Shemtov that for a “mere” $250,000 Chabad could become a 30% partner in this new building being built. Rabbi Shemtov felt that this was a great opportunity. His thinking was that since the Workman’s Circle was a dwindling and dying organization, by buying into it for only $250,000 Chabad would eventually end up the owners of the whole building. When he wrote this plan into the Rebbe for his approval, the Rebbe responded that he should discuss this proposal with anash al asar, (the members of the Chabad brotherhood in your community.)  So Rabbi Shemtov called a meeting of all anash and shluchim and presented this proposal with the answer the Rebbe gave. Of course, being an advocate of this plan, Rabbi Shemtov painted a very rosy picture of the benefits and positive outcome of the proposed merger. At that point, the anash and shluchim could perhaps be divided into three catagories. 1) Those who just totally believed in Rabbi Shemtov’s ability to do no wrong; 2) those who felt that since he believed in this project and it really had no direct bearing on their personal lives, why should they take a negative stand; and 3) those who felt that the Rebbe wanted the local Chabadnik’s to point out the negative implications of such a merger. There were only three of us in this third category – Rabbi Lieberman, one of the older members of anash, who was principal of the local Jewish Day School Beth Yehuda (a non-Chabad Day School); Rabbi Yankel Kranz a”h, the rabbi of the Chabad Center, and myself.  Rabbi Lieberman tried to point out that how would the local Torah observant community view such an unheard of merger between Chabad and a totally unreligious organization against everything we stand for?!? He was totally opposed to it. Rabbi Krantz a"h, was opposed to it based on the very presentation that Rabbi Shemtov gave. After Rabbi Shemtov had explained that the Workman’s Circle just wanted our money and then would do everything possible to “push us out”, while our approach was that we were entering this agreement with the intention that eventually we would “grab the whole building,” Rabbi Krantz’ opposition was based on mentshlichkeit. What kind of a partnership starts on such a negative footing that each side is initially planning to subvert the partner?!? He felt that was outrageous and no good could come from it. Both these arguments were of course besides the overall argument of how can we possibly share a building with an organization that will be having chilul Shabbos and non-kosher activities as well as actually serving non-kosher food there. Rabbi Shemtov dismissed Rabbi Lieberman’s point with the counter argument of why should we worry about “ma yomru hagoyim,” – why should we reckon with those who always seek to find bad things against us, whatever we do. [Although I was against the proposal, as I will soon explain, at the time I agreed with Rabbi Shemtov’s retort to Rabbi Lieberman’s concern. However, within a year an answer that Rabbi Shemtov and I received from the Rebbe regarding a totally different project, made very clear the Rebbe’s position that we do need to reckon with the rest of the Torah Community’s opinions.] How Rabbi Shemtov dismissed Rabbi Krantz’ opposition, I honestly don’t remember, although he did dismiss it. As for my opinion in this discussion, I kept to myself and didn’t voice my opposition to it. Needless to say, Rabbi Shemtov got his way, since the majority of anash didn’t oppose it.  When Rabbi Shemtov wrote in to the Rebbe that the majority of anash approved the acceptance of the proposal, the Rebbe demanded that certain conditions be met, which had the effect of minimizing Rabbi Lieberman’s concerns. Again, I don’t remember all the conditions the Rebbe gave Rabbi Shemtov, but three main ones were – a) the building had to have two separate main entrances, one for them and a separate one for Chabad; b) there should not be one sign on the outside with both organizations, but rather over their main entrance should be their organization's name, while over our main entrance was where our organization's name should be; and c) there should be a door with a lock between their part of the building and ours. Thus, although at first there was some slight grumbling amongst the Torah observant community, it didn’t last long when everyone realized that it was clearly not a merger between these two organizations but rather their “buying” two separate parts of a building.  At the Anash meeting, Rabbi Shemtov noticed that I was unusually quiet and didn’t give my opinion. So after everyone else left, he mentioned to me that I was unusually quiet and he asked why. I told him that since I felt that I was a nogei’a b'davar (I had a personal interest in this issue) I didn’t feel it would be right for me to give what might be a slanted opinion. Rabbi Shemtov was genuinely surprised and asked how I am personally effected. So I explained that I am just getting my “feet wet” in this new area of outreach in Southfield, which was only three miles away from the location of this new building in Farmington Hills, and since Rabbi Shemtov is obviously going to heavily invest in that building, my project which still needs his help and input, would be sideswept. He vigoriously tried to deny it, but he saw I wasn’t buying it. So he asked me, but putting that aside what do I think of the validity of this project. To which I answered that I think that there is a serious mistake in demographics that nobody seemed to catch. And I explained. If we assess the Jewish community’s moving over the years a clear pattern emerges. Every seven to ten years the whole Jewish Community moves diagonally, three miles west and three miles north. We saw that the last four moves over the years were from Detroit to Northwest Detroit (3 miles west and 3 miles north), then to Oak Park, Greenfield Rd. and 9 Mile Rd. (3 miles west and 3 miles north), now we are in the midst of the next shift (where I am setting up shop) in Southfield on Lahser Rd. and 12 Mile Road. Following that pattern the next shift will be to Middlebelt Rd. and 15 Mile Road. The Labor Zionist/Workman’s Circle is building on Middlebelt and 12 Mile Rd. They are miscalculating by three miles. Rabbi Shemtov challenged my assertion, claiming that they for sure understood demographics and wouldn’t make such a miscalculation. I argued that for them it is not such a miscalculation as it is for us. For their membership it’s no big deal for them to jump in a car and drive 3 miles, but for us a Shabbos walk of 3 miles is a gross miscalculation that will turn success to a disaster. Rabbi Shemtov further argued that not necessarily will the next move follow the pattern I outlined. I pointed out that such a pattern that has happened three times in a row is a chazaka (halachically established as future expectation) according to all opinions. When Rabbi Shemtov saw that he couldn’t dissuade me from my opinion that this is a huge mistake, he said, well at least you admit that you have a personal interest in this issue. I responded by saying that just because I have a personal interest in this does not mean that my observation is wrong. [In fact, years later I was proven a hundred percent correct in my assessment in the demographics, but that’s a future story.]  Now that Rabbi Shemtov got the go ahead, albeit with specific conditions, Rabbi Shemtov began negotiations with Mr. Lieberman and his cohorts in a very cunning manner. He left them with the impression that he really does not want to go ahead with this deal and is being coerced into doing so by his supporters who were lifetime members of the Labor Zionists. So Rabbi Shemtov kept coming up with new demands in the negotiations and either because Mr. Lieberman thought that Rabbi Shemtov was just trying to “wiggle” out of the deal or because he was convinced that he was going to easily push Chabad out of their part ownership, Mr. Lieberman kept giving into every one of Rabbi Shemtov’s demands. By the time the contract was signed, besides all of the Rebbe’s conditions being met, the following unbelievable deal was made: Chabad was to give a one time payment of $250,000, for which Chabad in return would have a 1/3 ownership in the building. In the part of the building that the Labor Zionists owned, which included an auditorium and a modern commercial kitchen, we would have complete access to free use in  the following manner: for their own personal use they had first claim to its use. Chabad had 2nd use of of the auditorium and kitchen, at no charge. The kitchen had to be kept absolutely kosher, under our jurisdiction. Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur and three other times a year, we had first use of the auditorium and kitchen. Only if both, The Labor Zionists and Chabad didn’t need the use of the auditorium on a given date, could they rent it out to a third party. The classrooms in the Labor Zionist part of the building, when not being used by them, could be used by Chabad at no charge. However, if the Labor Zionists wanted to use our part of the building they had to pay rent. Maintenance of the building, the Labor Zionists were to pay. Gas and electricity, Chabad was to pay a flat rate of 1/3 of the cost.  At the time that these negotiations were going on, no one knew what Chabad would be using the building for, not even Rabbi Shemtov. The building was pretty much in a place outside of the developed Jewish residential areas. So we had no idea how it would fit in, especially since Chabad at that point had no specific plans of expansion. However, as soon as the deal was closed, Rabbi Shemtov wanted to show all the Chabad supporters that we really were in need of the space. He also wanted to strengthen our claim on our part of the building, so he moved the fledgling Cheder (which had 3 or 4 grades at that time) into the Farmington building. The parents grudgingly agreed, despite that it added an extra half hour drive each way for the children. But the anash were true troopers, and agreed to this inconvenience, knowing that Rabbi Shemtov needed it for PR purposes.  Since at this time Rabbi Kagan a”h and myself were working with University students, and we had no Chabad House on any of the university campuses, Rabbi Shemtov wanted us to see how we could use that building for outreach geared towards the university students. When we looked into it we realized that most of the universities were within a 45 minute drive, and one further university was an hour and a half away. So we decided to make a weekly Shabbaton, where the students would come for the entire 25 hour Shabbat period. We brought mattresses for the students and Rabbi Kagan’s family and ours, to be able to camp out every Shabbos in the building. Every Shabbos and yomtov, we had an average turnout of 30 students per week. It was a tremendous success and in that 1 1/2 years that the program existed we sent off 22 students to learn in yeshivos. A record that outshone any other Chabad House in the world. And the caliber of students were top of the line.  So it turned out that we were using the building Sunday through Thursday 9-5:00 and Friday 9-1:00 for the Cheder, and Friday late afternoon through Shabbos night for university students. The Labor Zionists, on the  other hand, only used their offices Monday through Friday and rarely had programs for youth throughout the year. If they had more than a dozen programs during the year, it was a lot. The fact of it was that we were using the facility at least ¾ of the time, yet as per the contract we were just paying 1/3 of the utilities.To add “insult to injury,” when Rabbi Shemtov had to come up with the $250,000 for our part of the partnership, he got a hold of the membership list of the Labor Zionists and went to them, explaining how we were going into partnership in the Labor Zionist building and thereby he was able to raise the complete $250,000 from their own people. When Mr. Lieberman heard that, he went totally ballistic. He first tried nullifying the deal, which he couldn’t.  He then started making things very difficult for us in the building, which also wasn’t very successful. (I.e. he changed the locks in our classrooms before Shabbos thinking that it would block us from using them as bedrooms for our Shabbaton. But we discovered that since there were non-bearing walls, by lifting up the drop-ceilings we were able to climb over the walls and open the doors from inside! They couldn’t figure how we could keep getting into the classrooms and thought that somehow we were able to get the keys, so every week they would spend hundreds of dollars to change the locks, but couldn’t keep us out.) While poor Mr. Lieberman was having “k'niptions,” Rabbi Kagan and I were really having “fun.”  After a couple of years of not being able to get along, Mr. Lieberman wanted to take us to court. However, his own people convinced him that: a) there was no way he could win in court, as we were following our rights according to the contract; b) it was his own ineptitude and his underestimation of chassidim which had caused the problems, so he would really look bad in the community; and c) how would it look in the eyes of the non-Jewish community that one Jewish organization was taking another Jewish organization to court. They therefore convinced him to agree to go to mediation instead. Irwin Cohn’s son had in the interim become a federal judge. Although Irwin Cohn was chairman of Chabad and a big advocate for us, his son Avery was not yet, at that time, enamored of Chabad. So Mr. Lieberman agreed to take him as the mediator. Rabbi Shemtov agreed. To make a long story a bit shorter, judge Cohn convinced Rabbi Shemtov that the expenses weren’t really fairly divided and to show his good will he should agree to pay our fair share of the maintenance and utilities. In order to entice Rabbi Shemtov to agree, Avery Cohn became a supporter for at least the extra costs incurred.  Even after mediation Mr. Lieberman couldn’t accept the fact that Rabbi Shemtov had outsmarted him at every turn, so he still made problems. At which point, judge Cohn put pressure on Lieberman to either buy Shemtov out or that Shemtov should buy him out. Since Labor Zionist at that time was pretty much bankrupt, Rabbi Shemtov bought them out at way below market value. I believe Judge Cohn gave a sizable donation towards the buy out, and Jack Shenkman a”h gave $400,000 for the name on the building. All in all, even Rabbi Shemtov’s biggest detractors had nothing but praise for his business acumen.  To receive Rabbi Lipszyc's Story of the week via Whatsapp add the number 513-456-7595 to your phone contacts, and then send a text to with the message "Join".  Support Rabbi Lipszyc's work by Donating at https://chabadcrimeaorg.clhosting.org/templates/articlecco_cdo/aid/2511910/jewish/Crisis-Relief/lang/en or sending checks to: Chabad of Crimea World Friends, 1601 Union St, Brooklyn, NY 11213