[2:58 AM, 11/19/2017] Rabbi Lipszyc Weekly Story: Rabbi Lipszyc's story of the week.
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Story#43. It was Yom Kippur 1976. It was the first Yom Kippur, since my having come to Michigan (in the summer of 1970,) that I spent yom tov at Chabad headquarters in Michigan, on Nine Mile Road in Oak Park. Rabbi Kagan a”h and I yblcht”a, had just finished our involvement with the latest three projects of expansion, Chabad House at U of M (Ann Arbor), Chabad of West Bloomfield, and Chabad of Grand Rapids. The three of us, Rabbis Kagan, Shemtov and myself, were sitting in shul during the break between musaf and mincha, shmoozing about the previous accomplishments, when we looked at each other and asked, “So what do we do for an encore?” Rabbi Kagan then mentioned an interesting letter he had received, as editor of the publication “A Thought for the Week.” The letter was from a woman in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Polly Eisenberg. Michigan is made up of two parts. The mainland is shaped like a mitten with a thumb sticking out. Then there is a part that is connected by land to the western neighboring state of Wisconsin, but the part that sticks out over northern Michigan is actually part of Michigan, although only connected by the Mackinaw Bridge. That part of Michigan is known as the Upper Peninsula. It is a heavily wooded area of nearly 16,500 square miles and there are about 300 Jewish people spread out over the entire Upper Peninsula. So Polly Eisenberg wrote that from the publication A Thought For The week that she received weekly, she understood that Chabad is worried about every Jew, and that we make ourselves available to be there for every Jew. So she asked, “Why aren’t we doing anything to help the 300 Jews in the Upper Peninsula keep connected?” She then did a most amazing thing. She included a complete list of every single Jew, the name, address, and telephone numbers (this was before cell phones, email, etc.) She included relationships with each other (ex. Sam Cohodas from Ishpeming is a cousin with the Cohodes’ from Iron Mountain, even though they spell their names differently.) Even more wondrous, she added another couple of lines by each family describing each family member. All this was done in a very neat and clear handwriting. This was not a general typed list, this was obviously painstakingly put together by herself. I have no words to describe her merits in this story. So there it was Monday, Yom Kippur afternoon with Rabbi Kagan filling Rabbi Shemtov and myself in on the details of this letter. So I said maybe someone should take a trip up to the Upper Peninsula for Sukkos, with a sukkah-mobile, and visit the three hundred Jewish people, and get an idea of how we can help them reconnect to their Jewish roots. Both Rabbis Kagan and Shemtov turned to me with smiles on their faces and said, “As we all know the one who proposes an idea is the one who is supposed to execute it.” Never one to let a challenge nor an adventure to pass me by, I agreed. It is interesting to note, that it never even dawned on me to ask my wife first. I knew if it was in the shlichus of the Rebbe she was at least as gung-ho for an adventure as I was. Monday night, after Yom Kippur I came home and told my wife about our “planned” trip. Although we had no clue to the challenges we would face, one thing we knew for sure was that we could not rely on finding any kosher food there. So I gave her the job of preparing for all the holiday meals and food to eat for the entire 11 day trip. Rabbi Kagan passed on Polly’s letter to me for follow up. Of course, her personal info was there as well, so I called her, only to learn that she was leaving to Chicago and would not be there during our trip. However, she was thrilled to hear that we were responding with action. On Tuesday morning I ordered a prefab sukkah with bamboo mats to cover the top, from NY to be delivered overnight. After all, since Yom Kippur was Monday, it meant that the Sukkos holiday would begin Friday night. In the meantime Rabbi Shemtov, all excited about this unique undertaking, went to his biggest supporter Mrs. Emma Schaver and told her about it. Imagine his surprise and pleasure when she told him that the “recognized patriarch” of the Upper Peninsula, Mr. Sam Cohodas, was an old schoolmate of hers, and they’ve kept in touch. So Emma Schaver said she would call him that same day and ask him to help me with whatever I would need during my stay. After she spoke with Mr. Sam Cohodas, she called Rabbi Shemtov back and told him that Sam apologized that he himself was too busy to be of any substantial help, but he would pass the “responsibility” to help me, to his nephew Bill Cohodas, who I should ask for when we get there. He assured Mrs. Schaver that his nephew managed his business and was quite capable of helping with whatever we needed done. There is a well-known saying, “Man plans and G-d laughs.” But that is only true when the plans involves man’s personal desires. When however, man plans a project to help others, and he has no clue as to what he is doing, nor what challenges he should expect to face, then G-d puts into motion all that would be needed for the success of the project despite the ineptness of the planner. And now for our “plan,” that was so out of whack, that it was totally not viable. At this time of our life, Leah and I were a young husband and wife with four little children. Our oldest, Elkie, was nearly six years old. Bashie, our second child, was almost five. Hudie, next in line, was almost three, and Chanie was 6 months old. We owned an 8 seater station wagon -- this was before SUVs and larger family vehicles had come into being. The plan was to squeeze in our family, all of our supplies, (food, clothes, etc.) for the upcoming 11 day trip, and on top of all that a 4’x4’ pre-fab sukkah with 6 foot long bamboo sticks to cover the sukkah. Each time I think back to that scenario, I literally tremble, thinking how I could even think it would all fit into a station wagon, let alone to travel ten hours straight to our first stop in the Upper Peninsula. To continue, our “plan,” was that Wednesday night we would pack up the station wagon and in the wee hours of Thursday morning we would leave. Hoping to arrive at our destination sometime in the afternoon, would give us time to meet with Bill Cohodas and arrange a place for us to set up the Sukkah, etc. Furthermore, when we would get to our destination we would rent a trailer to hitch to the back of our station wagon, and on which we would open our pre-fab sukkah and voila! We were ready to roll. It did not even dawn on me to check ahead and see if there was a place in the U.P. that rented out trailers. That Leah, at that time just as starry-eyed, (would she have married me if not?) and I, were totally unrealistic, but I still wonder -- how did the more down to earth and practical Rabbi Shemtov think that we could pull this one off?!? So now G-d had to step in to make it work. Please step back to before Rosh Hashana. In a meeting with Rabbi Shemtov, I presented a plan I had for future projects in Michigan. A little historical knowledge is in order. Although the Rebbe’s tefillin campaign was almost a decade old, (it started in May 1967,) it was just in the early 70’s when the Rebbe started adding other mitzvos to the campaign, (Shabbat candle-lighting, tzedaka, etc.) The idea of weekly mitzvah tanks (as they were called at the time,) in the war against assimilation was just beginning. Regular panel trucks were rented, signs were hung on the outside of the vehicles, announcing the purpose of these trucks, and inside was a folding table and a couple of folding chairs and the Chabad “soldiers” were ready to roll. The idea I presented to Rabbi Shemtov, was to get a motor home, a beautiful recreational vehicle, especially fitted with all that a Chabad House on campus had to offer, and call it Chabad House On Wheels – or C.H.O.W. for the Soul, with our motto emblazoned on the side: Mitzvos on the Spot for People on the Go! To be honest, Rabbi Shemtov was less than enamored by the idea, but he agreed that I could proceed with my plan. Together with my wife, we laid out a plan of what we wanted in the motor home, so that with little effort we could have multiple functions in the motor home. It could be set up as a synagogue, with a small Aron Hakodesh to serve as the home for a small Torah that we had bought from a Russian immigrant; a lectern to be the amud for the leader of prayers; tables and benches for the congregants; and a macramé mechitza down the middle. With minimal effort the shul scenario could be changed to that of a dining room, a classroom, a library, or even to a bedroom to sleep six. Thus a complete Chabad House On Wheels to travel from campus to campus, where no full time Chabad House had yet been established. I had been shopping around recreational vehicle dealerships in the Yellow Pages, when I came across Tamaroff Motor Homes. Our office secretary mentioned that the owner was Jewish, so I figured why not give it a try. I gave Mr. Tamaroff a call and made an appointment with him for 6:00 p.m. the Wednesday evening before Rosh Hashana, which began on Friday night. [As is always the case, the two days of Rosh Hashana, the first two days of Sukkos, and the final two days of Shmini Atzeres and Simchas Torah always fall on the same day of the week.] Of course, the first time one meets a potential donor, one doesn’t ask him outright to donate a $35,000 vehicle. So I presented Mr. Tamaroff with the entire plan and asked him to head up a committee to make it happen. Being a businessman, he well understood that if he agreed, it would cost him. So he responded that he needed time to think it over. When I asked when I could get back to him, he said in two weeks. Thus, the Wednesday night after Yom Kippur, the night before I was getting ready to leave on the Sukkos trip to the U.P., found me once again in Mr. Tamaroff’s office. When he said that he needed still yet more time to decide, I meanwhile filled him in on our upcoming trip. He was somewhat impressed and offered that if I wanted, perhaps he could loan me a used motor home for the trip. Of course I was very interested, so Mr. T called his service manager who explained that all the personnel had already left for the day, so he could not check if he had an available used motor home until the following morning. Mr. T apologized and asked if I could return Thursday morning? Somehow, I felt it was important enough to put off our departure for this, and I agreed. I went home and informed both my wife and Rabbi Shemtov of the change in plans. I was back at the Tamaroff dealership at 9:00 a.m. and Mr. T was pleased to inform me that his manager had found an 18 ft. motor home that he could loan us but it would take a few hours to fully prepare it for the trip. This would include cleaning it, servicing it, filling it with both fuel for driving and bottled gas for heating and cooking. I realized that this would mean a departure of not earlier than 3:00 p.m., which in turn meant that we wouldn’t arrive at our destination until sometime in middle of the night, but I agreed. This would only leave Friday for setting up a base where we would stay, set up the Sukkah and get the word out that we were in town. I thanked G-d that at least we had someone with a bit of clout waiting to help set us up, when we’d arrive there. Mr. Marvin Tamaroff gave me the motor home, shook hands, and wished me well on the trip. I immediately drove home, packed up the motor home and only then, did I realize the disaster we so narrowly averted, as there was no way in the world that we would have been able to fit everything into the station wagon as initially planned. It barely fit into the motor home! Once we were ready to leave, we drove the couple of blocks to Chabad headquarters where Rabbis Kagan and Shemtov were waiting and we took pictures for the newspapers as we bid them farewell and they wished us success as we drove off into the sunset at 5:00 p.m. This was before GPS, Waze or Google maps, and we had to rely on spiral bound AAA triptik maps to show us how to get where we were going. As mentioned earlier the three hundred Jews were spread out over nearly 16,500 square miles. The largest concentration of Jews was in a tri-city area called Ishpeming, Marquette & Negaunee. The three cities were within about a 10-20 proximity from one another. Between these three cities there were 45 Jewish people. All the other towns had a sprinkling of 10, 15 or 25 Jews per town. The remaining people were just spread out in this heavily wooded area. The Sam Cohodas family lived in Ishpeming but Marquette boasted Northern Michigan University and most of the Jews living in that tri-city area. So our first destination was Ishpeming to meet with Mr. Bill Cohodas, to ask him to get us permission to park the motor home, and set up the sukkah somewhere in the center of campus. The beginning of the trip itself was uneventful and in fact quite nice. We were driving north in Michigan during the colorful season change, and it was truly a very beautiful scenario. However, as we started getting closer to the Mackinaw Bridge, connecting the peninsulas, I realized that there were fewer and fewer gas stations on the highway. Even those that we did see were closed for the night. I was getting a bit nervous, because my gas meter was showing that I would soon need to refuel. As we crossed over the Mackinaw Bridge (still a three to four hour drive to Ishpeming) I realized we were in a bit of a serious situation. B”H, we’d found a gas station at the side of the road, but unfortunately the sign of their hours of operation showed they were closed for the night and would re-open only at 6:00 a.m. Being low on fuel, and realizing I had no idea where and even if we would find another gas station before we completely ran out of fuel, there was no other option. I pulled over to the pump and parked there for the remainder of the night. When the station opened for business in the morning, we filled up and were once again on our way. As we were driving, it became more and more apparent that the stop we had made was indeed the right choice, for we were driving through a complete forest with absolutely no services available. Travelling through the forests felt almost like the stories of previous generations of chassidim in Europe, travelling to their rebbeim. We arrived at the Cohodas business at around 11:00 a.m. Friday morning. At that point I knew there really was not much time to make whatever arrangements would be needed in order to set up for yomtov and Shabbos. I left my wife and kids in the motor home, so my wife could continue cooking the holiday meals, while taking care of the children, and I went up to meet Mr. Bill Cohodas. He met me with a warm smile and hand shake and we spent the next few minutes getting to know each other and my explaining what the purpose of my trip was. He then turned to me and asked, “So rabbi, how can I help you?” I explained that at this point, all that I can hope to do before yomtov starts, is to find a spot in the center of the Marquette University campus where I can park the Motor home and set up the pre-fab sukkah. We would need the permission of university police with their understanding that no matter what, we would not be able to move the motor home nor the sukkah from Friday an hour before sunset until Sunday night an hour after sunset. Mr. Cohodas, definitely a man with clout, started calling around until he found the right important university official, himself a Jew, who would be able to help get it done. I saw the Cohodas clout at work, as the university official was complaining that it couldn’t be done, while Cohodas pushed him to nevertheless give it a try. The conversation ended with the university official saying he would try and would get back to him shortly. As Mr. Cohadas was explaining this to me, the door opened and an elderly person walked through. It was obvious that this was Bill’s uncle, Mr. Sam Cohodas. I stood up, and extended my hand to shake his, and Mr. Cohodas ignored it and walked by without acknowledging me. I suddenly understood – when his close friend Emma Schaver called him, he couldn’t refuse her request to help. So instead he pushed me off to his nephew so he wouldn’t need to have anything to do with me. Unfortunately, his nephew also understood the same implication. The change in Mr. Bill Cohodas’ demeanor was immediate. He said to me, “rabbi, there’s really nothing we can do to help you. Quite frankly no one here is interested in what you have set out to do, and my advice to you is to just turn around and go back to Detroit.” I tried to explain with a smile, that even if I would want to do so, at this point it was impossible since it would take longer to get there than the five hours remaining until the holiday would begin. He very coldly shrugged his shoulders with indifference and said “That’s your problem, do what you want.” I knew that our meeting was now officially over. I asked if I could please use his office phone to make some phone calls. He suspiciously asked me where I was planning on calling? I responded, “Only local calls,” so he pointed to another office with an empty desk and a phone. I thanked him and explained that I needed to get something from my vehicle and would be right back. I went down to get the list that Polly had so thoughtfully sent us and to inform my clueless wife about this major change in our situation. It was already after 1:00 p.m. and we were left to fend for ourselves. Candle lighting was at 6:30 and the clock was ticking. I didn’t have much time left to find a place where we could park the motor home and set up the sukkah -- a place that we wouldn’t have to worry about having to move during the 49 hours duration of the holiday. I sat by the desk going through Polly’s list, thanking her from the bottom of my heart for the detailed information she’d sent me about each person/family. This should help me find someone who would be open to allow us to park our motor home in their driveway without fear of being asked to move it during the two days of yomtov. I had a lot to thank Hashem for. Had I stuck with my original plan of traveling with my station wagon, even if we would have somehow packed everything in, we at this point would have been totally “homeless” without any place to be for yom tov. And we definitely would have had good reason to start panicking. G-d sent us a motor home, so at least we were completely self-contained, (or so we believed,) and only needed to find a place to park ourselves. No real need to panic. Going through the list of forty-five Jewish people living in the Marquette-Ishpeming-Negaunee area, we only found one couple, that I thought might be worth a try to see if they would agree for us to park ourselves on their property. You see, the info Polly supplied us with, about Dr. Robert and Meryl Danziger was as follows: ‘Robert is professor of music at Marquette University. His wife teaches music privately as well. They have three little daughters. The Danzigers refuse to openly admit that they are Jewish. And when we [the Eisenbergs] invite their family for a Shabbat meal, they spend the entire time arguing against religion. I think they may be playing devil’s advocate.’ I was ecstatic. True they argued against religion, but at least you could detect some “life” and “animation” about Judaism, while everyone else seemed cold and indifferent. So I called their home number, supplied in the list, and spoke with Mrs. Danziger. I explained that I was a rabbi travelling through the Upper Peninsula and had gotten stuck in the tri-city area for the holiday. We are completely self-contained for sleeping, eating, etc. but we needed a driveway where we could park our motor home, and would not need to move it during the two day holiday. Mrs. Danziger explained that they were not religious people and we would feel very uncomfortable there. I explained that they needn’t worry, we would be staying to ourselves and they could feel free to behave as usual. She could detect that I was somewhat desperate, so she said she would need to ask her husband, who was at work, and I should call her back in fifteen minutes. I called back and she started by once again mentioning that they were not at all religious and her husband would be going into work the next day, (Shabbat,) as usual. I assured her that we would not infringe on their plans in any way. She then said that her husband had said that he would have no problem parking on the street in front of their house, so that we would not have to move our vehicle during yomtov, and thus we were invited to come over. It took us twenty minutes to drive over from Ishpeming to their house in Marquette. Of course, until now, my discussion with Mrs. Danziger was only by phone. Sure I initially introduced myself as a rabbi, but she probably was thinking of a conservative type rabbi, definitely a clean shaven rabbi, so imagine her shocked look when she opened her door to my knocking and saw a man with a long beard, long black coat, and the whole Chassidic get up. She once again, tried to convince me, that “boy, am I in the wrong place!” However, by this time it was close to 4:00 p.m. and there was no time left to look elsewhere. I parked in the driveway and started looking around to determine where I could put up the sukkah, and realized that the only area that would not be directly under any trees, which would invalidate the kashrus of the sukkah, was in their backyard. She gave me her ok to build it there. That meant that after putting up the sukkah, I had to make an eirev from it to the motor home in the driveway, so we would be able to carry our food from one place to the other on Shabbos. There is nothing that works to break the ice between strangers better than children. As was mentioned in Polly’s letter, the Danzigers had three daughters. It turned out that they were exactly the same ages as my three older ones, Rachel just under 6; Amy just under 5; and Julie just under 3. They all immediately became “best friends.” So while I was putting up the Sukkah, Leah was showing all six children how to cut up decorations to put on its walls. (Chabad custom is not to put up decorations, but especially not to hang them from the schach. In this situation, we felt it would be beneficial to have the children participate by making decorations.) We finished the sukkah, and Leah was able to light the Shabbos and holiday candles exactly on time. When I was ready to make Kiddush, I invited the Danzigers to join us in the Sukkah, but they declined. However, after they had put their children to sleep, Bob and Meryl joined us in the sukkah as we were finishing our meal. We spoke for a while and then Leah started cleaning up. Meryl got up to help her as well, as I started bentsching, (saying the grace after meals.) Once again, my ignorance of anything to do with camping, and driving motor homes, immediately became apparent. I had no idea that both the heat and cooking came from the same bottled LP gas, which for some inexplicable reason I thought that I had enough to last me for the whole 11 day trip. Well, my wife had been cooking the Yom tov meals, for the hours that I spent at Cohodas’ place, and while I was putting up the sukkah. Also, of course, a couple of burners were left on keeping the Shabbos food warm. By the time the meal was over, the fire on the burners had gone out and the inside of the motor home was cold. It was then that we came to the stark realization that our LP gas had run out. The Upper Peninsula is in the north, and quite cold already at this time of year. In fact, it generally snowed there at Sukkos time, something else we hadn’t known before making this trip. Meryl stepped into the motor home and realized right away that we had no heat. She asked what happened, and I explained that this was really the very first time in our lives that I was driving a motor home and I was totally ignorant of the maintenance required for such a trip. She told us she had an attic in the house, which was warm, and if we didn’t mind sleeping on mattresses on the floor, we could join them in the house. I had promised her originally (on the phone) that we would not infringe in any way on their private lives, so I declined, explaining that we had thermal blankets (which we’d bought that day) and warm clothes and had no problem sleeping in the motor home. She became annoyed and sarcastically said, “If you want to be martyrs, that’s your business. But there is no way I am allowing your kids to catch pneumonia and they are definitely sleeping inside the house!” At that point I realized we couldn’t refuse her. So we all moved into their cozy attic. We woke up Shabbat morning to the sound of music. As I mentioned earlier, Meryl is a music teacher. She was at the piano, while her three daughters - from under three to under six– were all playing violin beautifully. I have to admit, that although halachically forbidden to enjoy music being played on Shabbos, mother and daughters were really making beautiful music. I learned and prepared for davening and davened inspired by the combination of Shabbos, yom tov, the shlichus, and especially how Hashem was personally taking care of all our needs. By the time I finished davening and was getting ready to go out to the sukkah for our holiday meal, Bob had already returned from work and when we invited them to join us in the sukkah for the meal, this time they accepted. The whole Shabbos afternoon, while the children enjoyed each other’s company, Bob, Meryl, Leah and I had a wonderful discussion, getting to know each other. They had many questions about Jewish customs and traditions, yet, despite Polly’s assertion, there were no arguments. One of the points that came up, during our discussion, was that the following year Bob was going on Sabbatical and was in the midst of deciding which one of the many offers he received, from around the world, he should accept. As he was mentioning this, he chuckled and said, “I actually even received an offer from Israel,” obviously dismissing it out of hand as if saying, “Why would I even consider that?” I asked him straight out, “why wouldn’t you consider it?” He said, “They have no musical culture, not like Germany, whose offer I am seriously considering accepting.” I was appalled at his misinformation, and tried to get him to reconsider. He obviously wasn’t buying my claims that Jewish music was actually very beautiful. “Besides,” I tried to entice him, “in Germany you and your family will not know anyone, while in Israel I can introduce you to many people whom I personally know there.” It did not change his mind in the slightest. Motzai Shabbos, the second night of yomtov, I was getting ready to daven maariv and go out to the sukkah. Meryl, realizing we had no warm food offered that Leah could cook on her stove. Leah explained about the laws of kashrus and that we therefore could not take her up on her kind and hospitable offer. Meryl really was concerned that we had no warm food, and would be eating in the sukkah in such cold weather, and practically with tears in her eyes, asked if there really was no way that she could help us warm up our food. We were sitting in their living room and they had a fireplace, so I said, “Well if you have an existing fire from which we could light the wood in your fireplace, I guess Leah could cook and warm up food there.” Bob asked if the fire in the furnace could be used for that, to which I answered in the affirmative, and he immediately went to work (not halachically forbidden work) to set it up, and Leah was able to prepare a nice, tasty warm meal. I then smilingly turned to them and said, “Since you made this possible, you cannot refuse to join us in the sukkah for the meal.” And so, once again, we all ate together in the sukkah. Sunday morning, was the first day that yomtov that we could make a blessing on the lulav and esrog. Bob did not have to go in to work that morning so I explained about the arba minim and its meanings and then both families made the brochos and did the shake. After davening, in which Bob followed along, we all went out to the sukkah for the afternoon holiday meal. After the meal, I wanted to go around to the Jewish families in the area to do mivtza lulav. So I asked Bob how I could find the street addresses of the Jews in Marquette. Bob answered, “Are you kidding me, there’s no way you will find your way around to these places by yourself. I will take you around.” So Bob joined me for mivtza lulav. In fact, he did most of the work. He would knock on the door and introduce me to the family in the house, (they all knew him.) He explained my mission to them as well as the meaning of the mitzvah of lulov and esrog. And I would just have to make the blessings with them and help them shake. Believe me, it was awesome to watch the enthusiasm with which Bob threw himself into this project. Not one of the Jewish homes refused us entry, (thanks to their knowing Bob personally,) and not one refused to make the blessings. What an emissary of the Rebbe, he was that day. That night, after havdalah, I searched and found the only flatbed trailer available to rent in the entire vicinity, and rushed to pick it up. I then dismantled the Sukkah and rebuilt it onto the trailer, making it into a sukkah mobile. As we got ready to leave on the whirlwind trip around the U.P., Leah and I profusely thanked the Danzigers for the, literally, lifesaving hospitality that they extended to us. They further extended their amazing hospitality by telling us that they were leaving in the next few days for a two week vacation, but they were going to leave their house unlocked, so that if we need it during our trip, we should just come in and make ourselves at home. Truly incredible, especially since we did need to use it for the last days of yomtov, Sh’mini Atzeres and Simchas Torah. The rest of the trip was one phenomenally successful trip. We visited many of the cities spread throughout the U.P., Escanaba; Gladstone; Houghton/Hancock; Iron Mountain; Ironwood; Ishpeming; K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base; Marquette; Munising; Negaunee; Newberry; Rapid River; Sault Ste. Marie – both Canadian and USA sides; and St. Ignace. We would spend the nights driving from one city to another, and the days were spent from morning until late at night visiting people. In each town, we met with the local newspapers and gave them a prepared news release with pictures. We specifically mentioned that Tamaroff Motors in Southfield had sponsored the trip. We requested, and received from each newspaper three copies of the articles they published. One copy was for the report sent to the Rebbe, one copy for our office records, and the third copy for a specially prepared book of a report and pictures of the entire trip that was presented to Mr. Marvin Tamaroff for the loan of the motor home which saved us, big time. We got no more than 2 hour naps within any 24 hour period during the entire 11 days. There were also individual Jews living separately along the way that we visited. I even remember going an hour out of the way to visit one Jew living on the shore of a river, though I don’t remember where. Although four towns had old shuls still standing, they were not operative anymore. It was in Iron Mountain or Escanaba that we heard from one of the well-established families, that before we came they were all “warned” from Ishpeming that a rabbi was coming to raise money and it was recommended that their homes not be opened to us, nor any encouragement given. However, when word got out that not one word of money was actually mentioned, everyone was warm and friendly. We returned to Marquette on Hoshana Raba, returned the trailer and once again parked the motor home in the Danziger driveway and spent Shmini Atzeres and Simchas Torah in their home, as they had offered us to do. Simchas Torah it snowed... a lot! It’s a good thing we didn’t have to eat in the sukkah, because it wouldn’t have been kosher with all the snow piled up on it! Although we advertised Simchas Torah festivities only one university student showed up; so the two of us danced and farbrenged. On the one hand I was kind of disappointed that it was only the two of us dancing, but on the other hand I was ecstatic that if not for our trip to the U.P., this one student would not have had a Simchas Torah at all.
After Simchas Torah, we headed back to our home in Oak Park. Although constantly on the move throughout this whole whirlwind trip, when we reached Oak Park I was totally invigorated and took no days off before getting back into my regular schedule of work. A number of us shluchim, who could not spend the holidays of Tishrei with the Rebbe, because of our obligations to the Chabad programs we were running, would fly in for Shabbos Beraishis so that we could at least bask in some of the holiday spirit at the Rebbe’s court. So the Thursday after we returned from our trip to the U.P. I flew into New York. Feeling very grateful to the Danzigers, I wanted to show them a token of our appreciation by sending them a gift that I felt they would truly appreciate. At that time there were two volumes of Chabad nigunim with notes and explanations and historical tidbits. Unfortunately, the first volume was out of print. Not to be deterred, I went into the Chabad library and copied the entire book and had it bound professionally. I also bought the second volume, which was in print, and I wrote a heartfelt letter, explaining our gratitude for all that they had done for us. I then sent the package to them in the Upper Peninsula. Meanwhile, when we returned from the trip to the U.P., besides my regular responsibilities I now focused on two other fronts. One, I really wanted to get on with my “dream” of getting a Chabad House On Wheels, and two, I wanted to help supply the communities in the U.P. with their Jewish needs, at least for each of the holidays, (i.e. sending Chanukah menorahs and candles for Chanukah; shalach monos for Purim; matzos for Pesach; etc.) When I returned the motor home to Mr. Tamaroff, I thanked him and presented him with a book I’d prepared displaying a detailed report, with pictures and local newspaper coverage of the entire trip. He was very pleased, and knowing that I was still awaiting his response, about helping us get a Chabad House On Wheels motor home, he said, “now this vehicle I would be willing to gift to you for your project.” The offer was not unexpected, so I had my response ready. I explained that for this type of a trip, this motor home was as perfect as could be, and I can’t thank him enough. However, for our main project on campuses around the state, this is not what we need, but rather what I had already explained to him earlier. He said, “Ok, but I still need a little more time to think about it.” After numerous other meetings, just before Chanukah, I had a scheduled meeting with him at 6:00 p.m. Just a day earlier I was in a Toys R Us – to get some Chanukah gifts – when I came across a most amazing toy. It was a Winnebago Motor Home riding toy for toddlers. And the roof lifted off so that the child could play with little people inside. There were two such toys. Realizing the use I could make of it, towards my project, I purchased both of them. The price was right, just $20 each. I had my wife, a talented arts & crafts teacher, redesign the whole inside the way we envisioned the Chabad House On Wheels to be, and she painted the outside with the name across both sides. Our motto, Mitzvos On The Spot For People On The Go! under the name. Pictures of the ten Mitzva campaigns that the Rebbe introduced, five on each side. On Each side, painted with large latters, was the Tamaroff Motors Logo, followed by the words: Donated by Tamaroff Motors, Southfield, Michigan. On the front top, Chabad Lubavitch, and on the back, in a smiley circle, the words Do A Mitzvah. We glued this to a piece of wood, covered with fake grass. I dropped it off at Mr. Tamaroff’s office two hours before my meeting with him. His secretary who already knew me, allowed me to place it on his desk, so he would see it as soon as he entered his office. When I showed up at our meeting, Mr. T met me with a big smile and a warm handshake. It was obvious, that he just needed one more “slight encouragement” to close the deal, so I gave it to him. In two weeks was going to be the Chabad Annual Chanukah Chassidic Concert which drew 3,000 people. I told him, that we would want to announce his tremendous donation at that concert. I continued, that right at that moment, while we are meeting, there is the finalizing meeting of the sponsors of the concert, and I would like to take him there and pre-announce to our main supporters his donation. Mr. Tamaroff agreed, and we drove to the meeting to make the great announcement. B”H, by the time we got to the meeting, their main order of business was winding down. Otherwise, I think Rabbi Shemtov would have been rightfully upset, because with the announcement of this innovative project and Mr. T’s donation, we “stole” the show from the rest of the evening. Of course, Mr. Tamaroff’s shining moment came two weeks later when the new project was publicly announced at the concert. The Winnebago that Mr. Tamaroff donated was a 27 foot motor home, without anything in the main section, so that it could be custom designed as we desired. We already had the detailed plans of what we wanted, so Mr. Tamaroff called the president of the Winnebago Company in Iowa and told him what was needed and asked him to donate the whole works. The cost of all the additions was $10,000, so the president agreed to cover half. Mr. T. agreed to cover the other $5,000 (in addition to his cost of the vehicle which was already $25,000.) The deal was done and I was to drive the vehicle to Iowa in two weeks and leave it there for a month until it would be ready. In the Interim, I was able to find a good artist and have him paint the outside of the new Chabad House On Wheels. Three months later, we had a beautiful wine and cheese tasting event at the Tamaroff showroom to officially launch the newest innovative Chabad project, Chabad House On Wheels, bringing Mitzvos On The Spot For People On The Go! That summer I brought two rabbinical students to drive the Chabad House On Wheels up to the Upper Peninsula on a more extensive visit. I gave them a copy of Polly’s original notes with my added notes from our trip. I asked them to pass on special regards to a number of people with whom we had had formed a special connection. I told them the whole story with the Danzigers and that I want them to give them very, very, special regards. After their trip, they gave us their reports. When it came to the Danzigers, I had forgotten that they had been planning to go on Sabbatical, but I was surprised to hear they had gone on Sabbatical to Israel. On the one hand I was very pleased that it seemed that our discussion had borne fruit. On the other hand, I was disappointed that they hadn’t spoken to us before going, so that I could help introduce them to friends. Another year went by. I had at least one contact in each of the Jewish communities. I made a deal with each one, that I would send a pre-fab sukkah and a set of the arba minim, if they would set up the sukkah and let all the Jews in town know that they are welcome to come make a blessing in the sukkah and shake the lulav and esrog. Thank G-d, I was able to arrange that in several towns. The next summer, I brought another pair of rabbinical students to make the trip. We gave them basically the same instructions, and the report was now updated to include the accomplishments of the previous pair of bochurim. Expecting that by now the Danzigers were back from their academic Sabbatical year, I told these bochurim also how important the Danzigers were to us, and reiterated that we wanted our very special regards transmitted to them. When these bochurim returned, again we were given a great report on how successful this program continued to be. However, once again we were surprised to learn that the Danzigers had not yet returned and in fact had requested, and been granted, an extension of their Sabbatical year. Another year passed. The next summer’s pair of rabbinical students finally returned with a report from the Danzigers. They were now back in Marquette and they were planning on putting up their own sukkah. They also requested that I come up to the U.P. on Monday of the intermediate days of Sukkos, because they wanted to host a Sukkos party and they would like me to speak. I answered that it would be my pleasure. So three years after our “maiden” trip to the Upper Peninsula, we returned to see the “fruits of our labor.” The changes were truly awesome. Three of the four synagogues, which had been closed on our first trip were now operational at least for holidays, some Shabbosim, and when people needed to say kaddish. Some of the cities also had functioning Hebrew Sunday schools. Our efforts were definitely bearing fruits, as Judaism was being revived throughout the U.P. However, the most pleasurable effect we witnessed was with the Danzigers. First of all, to what lengths they went to make sure there was a sukkah. Three times they put up their sukkah and there were such strong winds – there was actually a sandstorm, and the sand covered the road -- that the sukkah was blown down all three times. Bob just wouldn’t give up and he put it up a fourth time. We arrived at the Danzigers late in the morning and Bob was at work. So we sat with Meryl in the den and Meryl filled us in on a most amazing story of what was happening with them since we had been there four years previously. When they received my gift, Bob studied the musical notes and went into his home studio and started playing the music. From then on, every day when he returned home from work he would go into his office. He asked not to be disturbed during that time. For forty minutes every day he would play from the Sefer HaNigunim -- 20 minutes he would play the Alter Rebbe’s Arba Bavos and 20 minutes he would alternate playing different nigunim. Meryl said that those forty minutes were sacred. One day, after the forty minute session, he came out of the office and said, “Change of plans. Instead of Germany we are going to Israel for the Sabbatical.” They loved Israel so much that they asked the University, and were granted, an extension to remain in Israel for another Sabbatical year. They tried to continue keeping kosher and Shabbat when they returned to Marquette. Meryl took us up to her daughters’ rooms where we saw Tzivos Hashem stickers “We want Moshiach Now!” decorating their rooms. She then told us an interesting anecdote that had happened to Bob just a few days earlier. There was a planned concert with a well known musician. Unfortunately, he was flying in at the very last moment. There was a fierce storm and the plane could not land. Meanwhile there was a large turnout for the concert, but a no-show of the maestro. Of course, the organizers announced a new date for the concert and that the same tickets would be valid. However, they didn’t want the public to leave without any gain, so they asked Bob to give an impromptu concert. Meryl told us, that he played numerous pieces but he also played four nigunim from the sefer nigunim. When he played the Alter Rebbe’s Arba Bavos, he got a 20 minute standing ovation. The other three nigunim also brought about a tremendous response, much more than any of the other famous songs that he played. Songs that in the past drew great applause, paled in comparison to his playing the nigunim. When Bob came in from work there was a very warm reunion between the two of us. The next summer, when I sent the next pair of rabbinical students, they returned with the news that the Danzigers could not live with the lack of Judaism they now realized was in Marquette, so they had made Aliya. We tried many times through the years to track them down, unsuccessfully. A few years ago, we tried again on the internet, only to learn that unfortunately there was an obituary for the passing of Bob, may he rest in peace. Listed was Meryl and daughters as his surviving relatives, with a telephone to reach them. I called Meryl and said, “I don’t know if you remember us, but this is Rabbi Lipszyc who visited you in the U.P. in 1976.” “Remember you?” She replied, “You are part of our family history!”
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Story#43. It was Yom Kippur 1976. It was the first Yom Kippur, since my having come to Michigan (in the summer of 1970,) that I spent yom tov at Chabad headquarters in Michigan, on Nine Mile Road in Oak Park. Rabbi Kagan a”h and I yblcht”a, had just finished our involvement with the latest three projects of expansion, Chabad House at U of M (Ann Arbor), Chabad of West Bloomfield, and Chabad of Grand Rapids. The three of us, Rabbis Kagan, Shemtov and myself, were sitting in shul during the break between musaf and mincha, shmoozing about the previous accomplishments, when we looked at each other and asked, “So what do we do for an encore?” Rabbi Kagan then mentioned an interesting letter he had received, as editor of the publication “A Thought for the Week.” The letter was from a woman in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Polly Eisenberg. Michigan is made up of two parts. The mainland is shaped like a mitten with a thumb sticking out. Then there is a part that is connected by land to the western neighboring state of Wisconsin, but the part that sticks out over northern Michigan is actually part of Michigan, although only connected by the Mackinaw Bridge. That part of Michigan is known as the Upper Peninsula. It is a heavily wooded area of nearly 16,500 square miles and there are about 300 Jewish people spread out over the entire Upper Peninsula. So Polly Eisenberg wrote that from the publication A Thought For The week that she received weekly, she understood that Chabad is worried about every Jew, and that we make ourselves available to be there for every Jew. So she asked, “Why aren’t we doing anything to help the 300 Jews in the Upper Peninsula keep connected?” She then did a most amazing thing. She included a complete list of every single Jew, the name, address, and telephone numbers (this was before cell phones, email, etc.) She included relationships with each other (ex. Sam Cohodas from Ishpeming is a cousin with the Cohodes’ from Iron Mountain, even though they spell their names differently.) Even more wondrous, she added another couple of lines by each family describing each family member. All this was done in a very neat and clear handwriting. This was not a general typed list, this was obviously painstakingly put together by herself. I have no words to describe her merits in this story. So there it was Monday, Yom Kippur afternoon with Rabbi Kagan filling Rabbi Shemtov and myself in on the details of this letter. So I said maybe someone should take a trip up to the Upper Peninsula for Sukkos, with a sukkah-mobile, and visit the three hundred Jewish people, and get an idea of how we can help them reconnect to their Jewish roots. Both Rabbis Kagan and Shemtov turned to me with smiles on their faces and said, “As we all know the one who proposes an idea is the one who is supposed to execute it.” Never one to let a challenge nor an adventure to pass me by, I agreed. It is interesting to note, that it never even dawned on me to ask my wife first. I knew if it was in the shlichus of the Rebbe she was at least as gung-ho for an adventure as I was. Monday night, after Yom Kippur I came home and told my wife about our “planned” trip. Although we had no clue to the challenges we would face, one thing we knew for sure was that we could not rely on finding any kosher food there. So I gave her the job of preparing for all the holiday meals and food to eat for the entire 11 day trip. Rabbi Kagan passed on Polly’s letter to me for follow up. Of course, her personal info was there as well, so I called her, only to learn that she was leaving to Chicago and would not be there during our trip. However, she was thrilled to hear that we were responding with action. On Tuesday morning I ordered a prefab sukkah with bamboo mats to cover the top, from NY to be delivered overnight. After all, since Yom Kippur was Monday, it meant that the Sukkos holiday would begin Friday night. In the meantime Rabbi Shemtov, all excited about this unique undertaking, went to his biggest supporter Mrs. Emma Schaver and told her about it. Imagine his surprise and pleasure when she told him that the “recognized patriarch” of the Upper Peninsula, Mr. Sam Cohodas, was an old schoolmate of hers, and they’ve kept in touch. So Emma Schaver said she would call him that same day and ask him to help me with whatever I would need during my stay. After she spoke with Mr. Sam Cohodas, she called Rabbi Shemtov back and told him that Sam apologized that he himself was too busy to be of any substantial help, but he would pass the “responsibility” to help me, to his nephew Bill Cohodas, who I should ask for when we get there. He assured Mrs. Schaver that his nephew managed his business and was quite capable of helping with whatever we needed done. There is a well-known saying, “Man plans and G-d laughs.” But that is only true when the plans involves man’s personal desires. When however, man plans a project to help others, and he has no clue as to what he is doing, nor what challenges he should expect to face, then G-d puts into motion all that would be needed for the success of the project despite the ineptness of the planner. And now for our “plan,” that was so out of whack, that it was totally not viable. At this time of our life, Leah and I were a young husband and wife with four little children. Our oldest, Elkie, was nearly six years old. Bashie, our second child, was almost five. Hudie, next in line, was almost three, and Chanie was 6 months old. We owned an 8 seater station wagon -- this was before SUVs and larger family vehicles had come into being. The plan was to squeeze in our family, all of our supplies, (food, clothes, etc.) for the upcoming 11 day trip, and on top of all that a 4’x4’ pre-fab sukkah with 6 foot long bamboo sticks to cover the sukkah. Each time I think back to that scenario, I literally tremble, thinking how I could even think it would all fit into a station wagon, let alone to travel ten hours straight to our first stop in the Upper Peninsula. To continue, our “plan,” was that Wednesday night we would pack up the station wagon and in the wee hours of Thursday morning we would leave. Hoping to arrive at our destination sometime in the afternoon, would give us time to meet with Bill Cohodas and arrange a place for us to set up the Sukkah, etc. Furthermore, when we would get to our destination we would rent a trailer to hitch to the back of our station wagon, and on which we would open our pre-fab sukkah and voila! We were ready to roll. It did not even dawn on me to check ahead and see if there was a place in the U.P. that rented out trailers. That Leah, at that time just as starry-eyed, (would she have married me if not?) and I, were totally unrealistic, but I still wonder -- how did the more down to earth and practical Rabbi Shemtov think that we could pull this one off?!? So now G-d had to step in to make it work. Please step back to before Rosh Hashana. In a meeting with Rabbi Shemtov, I presented a plan I had for future projects in Michigan. A little historical knowledge is in order. Although the Rebbe’s tefillin campaign was almost a decade old, (it started in May 1967,) it was just in the early 70’s when the Rebbe started adding other mitzvos to the campaign, (Shabbat candle-lighting, tzedaka, etc.) The idea of weekly mitzvah tanks (as they were called at the time,) in the war against assimilation was just beginning. Regular panel trucks were rented, signs were hung on the outside of the vehicles, announcing the purpose of these trucks, and inside was a folding table and a couple of folding chairs and the Chabad “soldiers” were ready to roll. The idea I presented to Rabbi Shemtov, was to get a motor home, a beautiful recreational vehicle, especially fitted with all that a Chabad House on campus had to offer, and call it Chabad House On Wheels – or C.H.O.W. for the Soul, with our motto emblazoned on the side: Mitzvos on the Spot for People on the Go! To be honest, Rabbi Shemtov was less than enamored by the idea, but he agreed that I could proceed with my plan. Together with my wife, we laid out a plan of what we wanted in the motor home, so that with little effort we could have multiple functions in the motor home. It could be set up as a synagogue, with a small Aron Hakodesh to serve as the home for a small Torah that we had bought from a Russian immigrant; a lectern to be the amud for the leader of prayers; tables and benches for the congregants; and a macramé mechitza down the middle. With minimal effort the shul scenario could be changed to that of a dining room, a classroom, a library, or even to a bedroom to sleep six. Thus a complete Chabad House On Wheels to travel from campus to campus, where no full time Chabad House had yet been established. I had been shopping around recreational vehicle dealerships in the Yellow Pages, when I came across Tamaroff Motor Homes. Our office secretary mentioned that the owner was Jewish, so I figured why not give it a try. I gave Mr. Tamaroff a call and made an appointment with him for 6:00 p.m. the Wednesday evening before Rosh Hashana, which began on Friday night. [As is always the case, the two days of Rosh Hashana, the first two days of Sukkos, and the final two days of Shmini Atzeres and Simchas Torah always fall on the same day of the week.] Of course, the first time one meets a potential donor, one doesn’t ask him outright to donate a $35,000 vehicle. So I presented Mr. Tamaroff with the entire plan and asked him to head up a committee to make it happen. Being a businessman, he well understood that if he agreed, it would cost him. So he responded that he needed time to think it over. When I asked when I could get back to him, he said in two weeks. Thus, the Wednesday night after Yom Kippur, the night before I was getting ready to leave on the Sukkos trip to the U.P., found me once again in Mr. Tamaroff’s office. When he said that he needed still yet more time to decide, I meanwhile filled him in on our upcoming trip. He was somewhat impressed and offered that if I wanted, perhaps he could loan me a used motor home for the trip. Of course I was very interested, so Mr. T called his service manager who explained that all the personnel had already left for the day, so he could not check if he had an available used motor home until the following morning. Mr. T apologized and asked if I could return Thursday morning? Somehow, I felt it was important enough to put off our departure for this, and I agreed. I went home and informed both my wife and Rabbi Shemtov of the change in plans. I was back at the Tamaroff dealership at 9:00 a.m. and Mr. T was pleased to inform me that his manager had found an 18 ft. motor home that he could loan us but it would take a few hours to fully prepare it for the trip. This would include cleaning it, servicing it, filling it with both fuel for driving and bottled gas for heating and cooking. I realized that this would mean a departure of not earlier than 3:00 p.m., which in turn meant that we wouldn’t arrive at our destination until sometime in middle of the night, but I agreed. This would only leave Friday for setting up a base where we would stay, set up the Sukkah and get the word out that we were in town. I thanked G-d that at least we had someone with a bit of clout waiting to help set us up, when we’d arrive there. Mr. Marvin Tamaroff gave me the motor home, shook hands, and wished me well on the trip. I immediately drove home, packed up the motor home and only then, did I realize the disaster we so narrowly averted, as there was no way in the world that we would have been able to fit everything into the station wagon as initially planned. It barely fit into the motor home! Once we were ready to leave, we drove the couple of blocks to Chabad headquarters where Rabbis Kagan and Shemtov were waiting and we took pictures for the newspapers as we bid them farewell and they wished us success as we drove off into the sunset at 5:00 p.m. This was before GPS, Waze or Google maps, and we had to rely on spiral bound AAA triptik maps to show us how to get where we were going. As mentioned earlier the three hundred Jews were spread out over nearly 16,500 square miles. The largest concentration of Jews was in a tri-city area called Ishpeming, Marquette & Negaunee. The three cities were within about a 10-20 proximity from one another. Between these three cities there were 45 Jewish people. All the other towns had a sprinkling of 10, 15 or 25 Jews per town. The remaining people were just spread out in this heavily wooded area. The Sam Cohodas family lived in Ishpeming but Marquette boasted Northern Michigan University and most of the Jews living in that tri-city area. So our first destination was Ishpeming to meet with Mr. Bill Cohodas, to ask him to get us permission to park the motor home, and set up the sukkah somewhere in the center of campus. The beginning of the trip itself was uneventful and in fact quite nice. We were driving north in Michigan during the colorful season change, and it was truly a very beautiful scenario. However, as we started getting closer to the Mackinaw Bridge, connecting the peninsulas, I realized that there were fewer and fewer gas stations on the highway. Even those that we did see were closed for the night. I was getting a bit nervous, because my gas meter was showing that I would soon need to refuel. As we crossed over the Mackinaw Bridge (still a three to four hour drive to Ishpeming) I realized we were in a bit of a serious situation. B”H, we’d found a gas station at the side of the road, but unfortunately the sign of their hours of operation showed they were closed for the night and would re-open only at 6:00 a.m. Being low on fuel, and realizing I had no idea where and even if we would find another gas station before we completely ran out of fuel, there was no other option. I pulled over to the pump and parked there for the remainder of the night. When the station opened for business in the morning, we filled up and were once again on our way. As we were driving, it became more and more apparent that the stop we had made was indeed the right choice, for we were driving through a complete forest with absolutely no services available. Travelling through the forests felt almost like the stories of previous generations of chassidim in Europe, travelling to their rebbeim. We arrived at the Cohodas business at around 11:00 a.m. Friday morning. At that point I knew there really was not much time to make whatever arrangements would be needed in order to set up for yomtov and Shabbos. I left my wife and kids in the motor home, so my wife could continue cooking the holiday meals, while taking care of the children, and I went up to meet Mr. Bill Cohodas. He met me with a warm smile and hand shake and we spent the next few minutes getting to know each other and my explaining what the purpose of my trip was. He then turned to me and asked, “So rabbi, how can I help you?” I explained that at this point, all that I can hope to do before yomtov starts, is to find a spot in the center of the Marquette University campus where I can park the Motor home and set up the pre-fab sukkah. We would need the permission of university police with their understanding that no matter what, we would not be able to move the motor home nor the sukkah from Friday an hour before sunset until Sunday night an hour after sunset. Mr. Cohodas, definitely a man with clout, started calling around until he found the right important university official, himself a Jew, who would be able to help get it done. I saw the Cohodas clout at work, as the university official was complaining that it couldn’t be done, while Cohodas pushed him to nevertheless give it a try. The conversation ended with the university official saying he would try and would get back to him shortly. As Mr. Cohadas was explaining this to me, the door opened and an elderly person walked through. It was obvious that this was Bill’s uncle, Mr. Sam Cohodas. I stood up, and extended my hand to shake his, and Mr. Cohodas ignored it and walked by without acknowledging me. I suddenly understood – when his close friend Emma Schaver called him, he couldn’t refuse her request to help. So instead he pushed me off to his nephew so he wouldn’t need to have anything to do with me. Unfortunately, his nephew also understood the same implication. The change in Mr. Bill Cohodas’ demeanor was immediate. He said to me, “rabbi, there’s really nothing we can do to help you. Quite frankly no one here is interested in what you have set out to do, and my advice to you is to just turn around and go back to Detroit.” I tried to explain with a smile, that even if I would want to do so, at this point it was impossible since it would take longer to get there than the five hours remaining until the holiday would begin. He very coldly shrugged his shoulders with indifference and said “That’s your problem, do what you want.” I knew that our meeting was now officially over. I asked if I could please use his office phone to make some phone calls. He suspiciously asked me where I was planning on calling? I responded, “Only local calls,” so he pointed to another office with an empty desk and a phone. I thanked him and explained that I needed to get something from my vehicle and would be right back. I went down to get the list that Polly had so thoughtfully sent us and to inform my clueless wife about this major change in our situation. It was already after 1:00 p.m. and we were left to fend for ourselves. Candle lighting was at 6:30 and the clock was ticking. I didn’t have much time left to find a place where we could park the motor home and set up the sukkah -- a place that we wouldn’t have to worry about having to move during the 49 hours duration of the holiday. I sat by the desk going through Polly’s list, thanking her from the bottom of my heart for the detailed information she’d sent me about each person/family. This should help me find someone who would be open to allow us to park our motor home in their driveway without fear of being asked to move it during the two days of yomtov. I had a lot to thank Hashem for. Had I stuck with my original plan of traveling with my station wagon, even if we would have somehow packed everything in, we at this point would have been totally “homeless” without any place to be for yom tov. And we definitely would have had good reason to start panicking. G-d sent us a motor home, so at least we were completely self-contained, (or so we believed,) and only needed to find a place to park ourselves. No real need to panic. Going through the list of forty-five Jewish people living in the Marquette-Ishpeming-Negaunee area, we only found one couple, that I thought might be worth a try to see if they would agree for us to park ourselves on their property. You see, the info Polly supplied us with, about Dr. Robert and Meryl Danziger was as follows: ‘Robert is professor of music at Marquette University. His wife teaches music privately as well. They have three little daughters. The Danzigers refuse to openly admit that they are Jewish. And when we [the Eisenbergs] invite their family for a Shabbat meal, they spend the entire time arguing against religion. I think they may be playing devil’s advocate.’ I was ecstatic. True they argued against religion, but at least you could detect some “life” and “animation” about Judaism, while everyone else seemed cold and indifferent. So I called their home number, supplied in the list, and spoke with Mrs. Danziger. I explained that I was a rabbi travelling through the Upper Peninsula and had gotten stuck in the tri-city area for the holiday. We are completely self-contained for sleeping, eating, etc. but we needed a driveway where we could park our motor home, and would not need to move it during the two day holiday. Mrs. Danziger explained that they were not religious people and we would feel very uncomfortable there. I explained that they needn’t worry, we would be staying to ourselves and they could feel free to behave as usual. She could detect that I was somewhat desperate, so she said she would need to ask her husband, who was at work, and I should call her back in fifteen minutes. I called back and she started by once again mentioning that they were not at all religious and her husband would be going into work the next day, (Shabbat,) as usual. I assured her that we would not infringe on their plans in any way. She then said that her husband had said that he would have no problem parking on the street in front of their house, so that we would not have to move our vehicle during yomtov, and thus we were invited to come over. It took us twenty minutes to drive over from Ishpeming to their house in Marquette. Of course, until now, my discussion with Mrs. Danziger was only by phone. Sure I initially introduced myself as a rabbi, but she probably was thinking of a conservative type rabbi, definitely a clean shaven rabbi, so imagine her shocked look when she opened her door to my knocking and saw a man with a long beard, long black coat, and the whole Chassidic get up. She once again, tried to convince me, that “boy, am I in the wrong place!” However, by this time it was close to 4:00 p.m. and there was no time left to look elsewhere. I parked in the driveway and started looking around to determine where I could put up the sukkah, and realized that the only area that would not be directly under any trees, which would invalidate the kashrus of the sukkah, was in their backyard. She gave me her ok to build it there. That meant that after putting up the sukkah, I had to make an eirev from it to the motor home in the driveway, so we would be able to carry our food from one place to the other on Shabbos. There is nothing that works to break the ice between strangers better than children. As was mentioned in Polly’s letter, the Danzigers had three daughters. It turned out that they were exactly the same ages as my three older ones, Rachel just under 6; Amy just under 5; and Julie just under 3. They all immediately became “best friends.” So while I was putting up the Sukkah, Leah was showing all six children how to cut up decorations to put on its walls. (Chabad custom is not to put up decorations, but especially not to hang them from the schach. In this situation, we felt it would be beneficial to have the children participate by making decorations.) We finished the sukkah, and Leah was able to light the Shabbos and holiday candles exactly on time. When I was ready to make Kiddush, I invited the Danzigers to join us in the Sukkah, but they declined. However, after they had put their children to sleep, Bob and Meryl joined us in the sukkah as we were finishing our meal. We spoke for a while and then Leah started cleaning up. Meryl got up to help her as well, as I started bentsching, (saying the grace after meals.) Once again, my ignorance of anything to do with camping, and driving motor homes, immediately became apparent. I had no idea that both the heat and cooking came from the same bottled LP gas, which for some inexplicable reason I thought that I had enough to last me for the whole 11 day trip. Well, my wife had been cooking the Yom tov meals, for the hours that I spent at Cohodas’ place, and while I was putting up the sukkah. Also, of course, a couple of burners were left on keeping the Shabbos food warm. By the time the meal was over, the fire on the burners had gone out and the inside of the motor home was cold. It was then that we came to the stark realization that our LP gas had run out. The Upper Peninsula is in the north, and quite cold already at this time of year. In fact, it generally snowed there at Sukkos time, something else we hadn’t known before making this trip. Meryl stepped into the motor home and realized right away that we had no heat. She asked what happened, and I explained that this was really the very first time in our lives that I was driving a motor home and I was totally ignorant of the maintenance required for such a trip. She told us she had an attic in the house, which was warm, and if we didn’t mind sleeping on mattresses on the floor, we could join them in the house. I had promised her originally (on the phone) that we would not infringe in any way on their private lives, so I declined, explaining that we had thermal blankets (which we’d bought that day) and warm clothes and had no problem sleeping in the motor home. She became annoyed and sarcastically said, “If you want to be martyrs, that’s your business. But there is no way I am allowing your kids to catch pneumonia and they are definitely sleeping inside the house!” At that point I realized we couldn’t refuse her. So we all moved into their cozy attic. We woke up Shabbat morning to the sound of music. As I mentioned earlier, Meryl is a music teacher. She was at the piano, while her three daughters - from under three to under six– were all playing violin beautifully. I have to admit, that although halachically forbidden to enjoy music being played on Shabbos, mother and daughters were really making beautiful music. I learned and prepared for davening and davened inspired by the combination of Shabbos, yom tov, the shlichus, and especially how Hashem was personally taking care of all our needs. By the time I finished davening and was getting ready to go out to the sukkah for our holiday meal, Bob had already returned from work and when we invited them to join us in the sukkah for the meal, this time they accepted. The whole Shabbos afternoon, while the children enjoyed each other’s company, Bob, Meryl, Leah and I had a wonderful discussion, getting to know each other. They had many questions about Jewish customs and traditions, yet, despite Polly’s assertion, there were no arguments. One of the points that came up, during our discussion, was that the following year Bob was going on Sabbatical and was in the midst of deciding which one of the many offers he received, from around the world, he should accept. As he was mentioning this, he chuckled and said, “I actually even received an offer from Israel,” obviously dismissing it out of hand as if saying, “Why would I even consider that?” I asked him straight out, “why wouldn’t you consider it?” He said, “They have no musical culture, not like Germany, whose offer I am seriously considering accepting.” I was appalled at his misinformation, and tried to get him to reconsider. He obviously wasn’t buying my claims that Jewish music was actually very beautiful. “Besides,” I tried to entice him, “in Germany you and your family will not know anyone, while in Israel I can introduce you to many people whom I personally know there.” It did not change his mind in the slightest. Motzai Shabbos, the second night of yomtov, I was getting ready to daven maariv and go out to the sukkah. Meryl, realizing we had no warm food offered that Leah could cook on her stove. Leah explained about the laws of kashrus and that we therefore could not take her up on her kind and hospitable offer. Meryl really was concerned that we had no warm food, and would be eating in the sukkah in such cold weather, and practically with tears in her eyes, asked if there really was no way that she could help us warm up our food. We were sitting in their living room and they had a fireplace, so I said, “Well if you have an existing fire from which we could light the wood in your fireplace, I guess Leah could cook and warm up food there.” Bob asked if the fire in the furnace could be used for that, to which I answered in the affirmative, and he immediately went to work (not halachically forbidden work) to set it up, and Leah was able to prepare a nice, tasty warm meal. I then smilingly turned to them and said, “Since you made this possible, you cannot refuse to join us in the sukkah for the meal.” And so, once again, we all ate together in the sukkah. Sunday morning, was the first day that yomtov that we could make a blessing on the lulav and esrog. Bob did not have to go in to work that morning so I explained about the arba minim and its meanings and then both families made the brochos and did the shake. After davening, in which Bob followed along, we all went out to the sukkah for the afternoon holiday meal. After the meal, I wanted to go around to the Jewish families in the area to do mivtza lulav. So I asked Bob how I could find the street addresses of the Jews in Marquette. Bob answered, “Are you kidding me, there’s no way you will find your way around to these places by yourself. I will take you around.” So Bob joined me for mivtza lulav. In fact, he did most of the work. He would knock on the door and introduce me to the family in the house, (they all knew him.) He explained my mission to them as well as the meaning of the mitzvah of lulov and esrog. And I would just have to make the blessings with them and help them shake. Believe me, it was awesome to watch the enthusiasm with which Bob threw himself into this project. Not one of the Jewish homes refused us entry, (thanks to their knowing Bob personally,) and not one refused to make the blessings. What an emissary of the Rebbe, he was that day. That night, after havdalah, I searched and found the only flatbed trailer available to rent in the entire vicinity, and rushed to pick it up. I then dismantled the Sukkah and rebuilt it onto the trailer, making it into a sukkah mobile. As we got ready to leave on the whirlwind trip around the U.P., Leah and I profusely thanked the Danzigers for the, literally, lifesaving hospitality that they extended to us. They further extended their amazing hospitality by telling us that they were leaving in the next few days for a two week vacation, but they were going to leave their house unlocked, so that if we need it during our trip, we should just come in and make ourselves at home. Truly incredible, especially since we did need to use it for the last days of yomtov, Sh’mini Atzeres and Simchas Torah. The rest of the trip was one phenomenally successful trip. We visited many of the cities spread throughout the U.P., Escanaba; Gladstone; Houghton/Hancock; Iron Mountain; Ironwood; Ishpeming; K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base; Marquette; Munising; Negaunee; Newberry; Rapid River; Sault Ste. Marie – both Canadian and USA sides; and St. Ignace. We would spend the nights driving from one city to another, and the days were spent from morning until late at night visiting people. In each town, we met with the local newspapers and gave them a prepared news release with pictures. We specifically mentioned that Tamaroff Motors in Southfield had sponsored the trip. We requested, and received from each newspaper three copies of the articles they published. One copy was for the report sent to the Rebbe, one copy for our office records, and the third copy for a specially prepared book of a report and pictures of the entire trip that was presented to Mr. Marvin Tamaroff for the loan of the motor home which saved us, big time. We got no more than 2 hour naps within any 24 hour period during the entire 11 days. There were also individual Jews living separately along the way that we visited. I even remember going an hour out of the way to visit one Jew living on the shore of a river, though I don’t remember where. Although four towns had old shuls still standing, they were not operative anymore. It was in Iron Mountain or Escanaba that we heard from one of the well-established families, that before we came they were all “warned” from Ishpeming that a rabbi was coming to raise money and it was recommended that their homes not be opened to us, nor any encouragement given. However, when word got out that not one word of money was actually mentioned, everyone was warm and friendly. We returned to Marquette on Hoshana Raba, returned the trailer and once again parked the motor home in the Danziger driveway and spent Shmini Atzeres and Simchas Torah in their home, as they had offered us to do. Simchas Torah it snowed... a lot! It’s a good thing we didn’t have to eat in the sukkah, because it wouldn’t have been kosher with all the snow piled up on it! Although we advertised Simchas Torah festivities only one university student showed up; so the two of us danced and farbrenged. On the one hand I was kind of disappointed that it was only the two of us dancing, but on the other hand I was ecstatic that if not for our trip to the U.P., this one student would not have had a Simchas Torah at all.
After Simchas Torah, we headed back to our home in Oak Park. Although constantly on the move throughout this whole whirlwind trip, when we reached Oak Park I was totally invigorated and took no days off before getting back into my regular schedule of work. A number of us shluchim, who could not spend the holidays of Tishrei with the Rebbe, because of our obligations to the Chabad programs we were running, would fly in for Shabbos Beraishis so that we could at least bask in some of the holiday spirit at the Rebbe’s court. So the Thursday after we returned from our trip to the U.P. I flew into New York. Feeling very grateful to the Danzigers, I wanted to show them a token of our appreciation by sending them a gift that I felt they would truly appreciate. At that time there were two volumes of Chabad nigunim with notes and explanations and historical tidbits. Unfortunately, the first volume was out of print. Not to be deterred, I went into the Chabad library and copied the entire book and had it bound professionally. I also bought the second volume, which was in print, and I wrote a heartfelt letter, explaining our gratitude for all that they had done for us. I then sent the package to them in the Upper Peninsula. Meanwhile, when we returned from the trip to the U.P., besides my regular responsibilities I now focused on two other fronts. One, I really wanted to get on with my “dream” of getting a Chabad House On Wheels, and two, I wanted to help supply the communities in the U.P. with their Jewish needs, at least for each of the holidays, (i.e. sending Chanukah menorahs and candles for Chanukah; shalach monos for Purim; matzos for Pesach; etc.) When I returned the motor home to Mr. Tamaroff, I thanked him and presented him with a book I’d prepared displaying a detailed report, with pictures and local newspaper coverage of the entire trip. He was very pleased, and knowing that I was still awaiting his response, about helping us get a Chabad House On Wheels motor home, he said, “now this vehicle I would be willing to gift to you for your project.” The offer was not unexpected, so I had my response ready. I explained that for this type of a trip, this motor home was as perfect as could be, and I can’t thank him enough. However, for our main project on campuses around the state, this is not what we need, but rather what I had already explained to him earlier. He said, “Ok, but I still need a little more time to think about it.” After numerous other meetings, just before Chanukah, I had a scheduled meeting with him at 6:00 p.m. Just a day earlier I was in a Toys R Us – to get some Chanukah gifts – when I came across a most amazing toy. It was a Winnebago Motor Home riding toy for toddlers. And the roof lifted off so that the child could play with little people inside. There were two such toys. Realizing the use I could make of it, towards my project, I purchased both of them. The price was right, just $20 each. I had my wife, a talented arts & crafts teacher, redesign the whole inside the way we envisioned the Chabad House On Wheels to be, and she painted the outside with the name across both sides. Our motto, Mitzvos On The Spot For People On The Go! under the name. Pictures of the ten Mitzva campaigns that the Rebbe introduced, five on each side. On Each side, painted with large latters, was the Tamaroff Motors Logo, followed by the words: Donated by Tamaroff Motors, Southfield, Michigan. On the front top, Chabad Lubavitch, and on the back, in a smiley circle, the words Do A Mitzvah. We glued this to a piece of wood, covered with fake grass. I dropped it off at Mr. Tamaroff’s office two hours before my meeting with him. His secretary who already knew me, allowed me to place it on his desk, so he would see it as soon as he entered his office. When I showed up at our meeting, Mr. T met me with a big smile and a warm handshake. It was obvious, that he just needed one more “slight encouragement” to close the deal, so I gave it to him. In two weeks was going to be the Chabad Annual Chanukah Chassidic Concert which drew 3,000 people. I told him, that we would want to announce his tremendous donation at that concert. I continued, that right at that moment, while we are meeting, there is the finalizing meeting of the sponsors of the concert, and I would like to take him there and pre-announce to our main supporters his donation. Mr. Tamaroff agreed, and we drove to the meeting to make the great announcement. B”H, by the time we got to the meeting, their main order of business was winding down. Otherwise, I think Rabbi Shemtov would have been rightfully upset, because with the announcement of this innovative project and Mr. T’s donation, we “stole” the show from the rest of the evening. Of course, Mr. Tamaroff’s shining moment came two weeks later when the new project was publicly announced at the concert. The Winnebago that Mr. Tamaroff donated was a 27 foot motor home, without anything in the main section, so that it could be custom designed as we desired. We already had the detailed plans of what we wanted, so Mr. Tamaroff called the president of the Winnebago Company in Iowa and told him what was needed and asked him to donate the whole works. The cost of all the additions was $10,000, so the president agreed to cover half. Mr. T. agreed to cover the other $5,000 (in addition to his cost of the vehicle which was already $25,000.) The deal was done and I was to drive the vehicle to Iowa in two weeks and leave it there for a month until it would be ready. In the Interim, I was able to find a good artist and have him paint the outside of the new Chabad House On Wheels. Three months later, we had a beautiful wine and cheese tasting event at the Tamaroff showroom to officially launch the newest innovative Chabad project, Chabad House On Wheels, bringing Mitzvos On The Spot For People On The Go! That summer I brought two rabbinical students to drive the Chabad House On Wheels up to the Upper Peninsula on a more extensive visit. I gave them a copy of Polly’s original notes with my added notes from our trip. I asked them to pass on special regards to a number of people with whom we had had formed a special connection. I told them the whole story with the Danzigers and that I want them to give them very, very, special regards. After their trip, they gave us their reports. When it came to the Danzigers, I had forgotten that they had been planning to go on Sabbatical, but I was surprised to hear they had gone on Sabbatical to Israel. On the one hand I was very pleased that it seemed that our discussion had borne fruit. On the other hand, I was disappointed that they hadn’t spoken to us before going, so that I could help introduce them to friends. Another year went by. I had at least one contact in each of the Jewish communities. I made a deal with each one, that I would send a pre-fab sukkah and a set of the arba minim, if they would set up the sukkah and let all the Jews in town know that they are welcome to come make a blessing in the sukkah and shake the lulav and esrog. Thank G-d, I was able to arrange that in several towns. The next summer, I brought another pair of rabbinical students to make the trip. We gave them basically the same instructions, and the report was now updated to include the accomplishments of the previous pair of bochurim. Expecting that by now the Danzigers were back from their academic Sabbatical year, I told these bochurim also how important the Danzigers were to us, and reiterated that we wanted our very special regards transmitted to them. When these bochurim returned, again we were given a great report on how successful this program continued to be. However, once again we were surprised to learn that the Danzigers had not yet returned and in fact had requested, and been granted, an extension of their Sabbatical year. Another year passed. The next summer’s pair of rabbinical students finally returned with a report from the Danzigers. They were now back in Marquette and they were planning on putting up their own sukkah. They also requested that I come up to the U.P. on Monday of the intermediate days of Sukkos, because they wanted to host a Sukkos party and they would like me to speak. I answered that it would be my pleasure. So three years after our “maiden” trip to the Upper Peninsula, we returned to see the “fruits of our labor.” The changes were truly awesome. Three of the four synagogues, which had been closed on our first trip were now operational at least for holidays, some Shabbosim, and when people needed to say kaddish. Some of the cities also had functioning Hebrew Sunday schools. Our efforts were definitely bearing fruits, as Judaism was being revived throughout the U.P. However, the most pleasurable effect we witnessed was with the Danzigers. First of all, to what lengths they went to make sure there was a sukkah. Three times they put up their sukkah and there were such strong winds – there was actually a sandstorm, and the sand covered the road -- that the sukkah was blown down all three times. Bob just wouldn’t give up and he put it up a fourth time. We arrived at the Danzigers late in the morning and Bob was at work. So we sat with Meryl in the den and Meryl filled us in on a most amazing story of what was happening with them since we had been there four years previously. When they received my gift, Bob studied the musical notes and went into his home studio and started playing the music. From then on, every day when he returned home from work he would go into his office. He asked not to be disturbed during that time. For forty minutes every day he would play from the Sefer HaNigunim -- 20 minutes he would play the Alter Rebbe’s Arba Bavos and 20 minutes he would alternate playing different nigunim. Meryl said that those forty minutes were sacred. One day, after the forty minute session, he came out of the office and said, “Change of plans. Instead of Germany we are going to Israel for the Sabbatical.” They loved Israel so much that they asked the University, and were granted, an extension to remain in Israel for another Sabbatical year. They tried to continue keeping kosher and Shabbat when they returned to Marquette. Meryl took us up to her daughters’ rooms where we saw Tzivos Hashem stickers “We want Moshiach Now!” decorating their rooms. She then told us an interesting anecdote that had happened to Bob just a few days earlier. There was a planned concert with a well known musician. Unfortunately, he was flying in at the very last moment. There was a fierce storm and the plane could not land. Meanwhile there was a large turnout for the concert, but a no-show of the maestro. Of course, the organizers announced a new date for the concert and that the same tickets would be valid. However, they didn’t want the public to leave without any gain, so they asked Bob to give an impromptu concert. Meryl told us, that he played numerous pieces but he also played four nigunim from the sefer nigunim. When he played the Alter Rebbe’s Arba Bavos, he got a 20 minute standing ovation. The other three nigunim also brought about a tremendous response, much more than any of the other famous songs that he played. Songs that in the past drew great applause, paled in comparison to his playing the nigunim. When Bob came in from work there was a very warm reunion between the two of us. The next summer, when I sent the next pair of rabbinical students, they returned with the news that the Danzigers could not live with the lack of Judaism they now realized was in Marquette, so they had made Aliya. We tried many times through the years to track them down, unsuccessfully. A few years ago, we tried again on the internet, only to learn that unfortunately there was an obituary for the passing of Bob, may he rest in peace. Listed was Meryl and daughters as his surviving relatives, with a telephone to reach them. I called Meryl and said, “I don’t know if you remember us, but this is Rabbi Lipszyc who visited you in the U.P. in 1976.” “Remember you?” She replied, “You are part of our family history!”
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