By Rabbi Menachem Landa
It was a moment I’ll never forget. It was motzei Shabbos, just four weeks ago. I was in the midst of my weekly Motze Shabbos clean-up rituals, when I got the call. My father, Dr. Ben Landa, Benzion Ben Yakov (Hareni Kaporas Mishkovo), had passed away suddenly.
You can read more about my esteemed father and his unique story here.
As I was washing dishes that night, I had been reflecting on the monumental building campaign project my wife Adina and I had announced to our community just two days earlier. (You can read that community email here.)
I had ten days until the closing, and was mulling over the fundraising campaign we had scheduled, mapping out all the hard work it would require during the course of the week ahead.
But Hashem had other plans. Instead of working on campaign messaging and making phone calls to recruit donors, I was suddenly making arrangements to travel to New York for the funeral and shiva of my beloved father.
Saying Kaddish daily in my Makom HaShlichus in Novato, Northern California – especially during COVID – is a challenge, to put it lightly. Over the week of shiva, I spoke to several people who expressed the Rebbe’s hora’ah that doing my shlichus is a greater aliyah for my father’s neshama than reciting kaddish.
When my board asked me if we needed to put our plans on hold, I decided to take this lesson to heart – that we would forge ahead without delay with the purchase of the building and the fundraising campaign needed to make it happen.
I thought about the Rebbe, and how he would respond. He would ask me what my father a”h would want. The answer was obvious. We are not delaying. We are going to make a massive Kiddush Hashem. It required a leap of faith. My father, and his Rebbe, would expect no less.
As the Rebbe wrote to the Kfar Chabad community after tragedy struck, “B’Hemshech HaBinyan, Tinachamu.” “By continuing to build, you will be comforted.”
Three hours after getting up from shiva, we began the signing of the papers, to make the purchase official. The next day, we launched the “Miracle in Marin” campaign to raise the final $200,000 we need in order to complete the closing.
My community really stepped up. 495 donors collectively gave $160,000. We were able to bridge the gap with temporary financing.
We are hoping to close the gap by the Rebbe’s birthday 11 Nissan, and the first time my father met the Rebbe in 1982, making it his spiritual birthday
It is a fitting tribute to my father, who came close to Yiddishkeit and to the Rebbe through unconventional ways. Like Rabbi Akiva who began learning at age forty, my father was able to begin learning Torah at forty thanks to Chabad. And now his son is sharing that light, introducing Torah and Chassidus to many Jews of all ages – and in a county that played a major role in his own spiritual journey.
We will make this miracle happen – for the memory of my father, in honor of his amazing journey, and for the hundreds of Jewish children and adults who will call this new center their home.
Can you help? Your tzedaka will bring more light into the world, and your generosity will make a difference in making this dream a reality. The men, women and children of Novato will be eternally grateful for every donation, small or large.
Today is my father’s Shloshim. Every mitzvah will continue an aliyah for his Neshoma.
And I will personally cherish every donation in any amount made in honor of my father’s memory.
We invite you to be part of the miracle: Visit MiracleinMarin.com
