Joey Newcomb’s Rewarding Concert Was Paid With a Single Dollar

by COLlive reporter

Five years ago, Rabbi Levi and Chaya Plotkin launched Ckids Gan Israel Florida with the goal of giving Jewish kids who spend the year in public school and receive little to no Jewish education – a fully immersive Jewish experience through a sleepaway overnight camp.

“One of the very first things the Rebbe did after becoming Rebbe was to open Gan Yisroel for secular children,” Rabbi Plotkim told COLlive.

“At camp, we see again and again the unbelievable and powerful impact camp has on these kids. For 24 hours a day, they’re surrounded by real, authentic Yiddishkeit – and all in a way that’s genuinely fun and exciting. I can’t think of a single camper who wasn’t deeply impacted by the experience.

If sleepaway camp is the accelerated version of a full year-round Jewish education, then hosting a concert with one of Jewish music’s biggest stars – someone who could uplift the kids and deeply connect with them – is the expedited process of that experience. With the camp growing rapidly and offering scholarships to many campers who otherwise wouldn’t attend, such a concert seemed financially out of reach.

But the Rebbe has his ways.

This past Sukkos, while visiting family in Toronto, Rabbi Plotkin joined a farbrengen late at night with Rabbi Yosef Leib Vechter, mashpia at Mesivta Lubavitch in Toronto. The farbrengen took an unexpected turn when singer Joey Newcomb walked into the sukkah, guitar in hand.

Joey had finished performing earlier at a Simchas Beis Hashoeva arranged by Levi Ackerman, and then drove half an hour to join a farbrengen with a small group of bochurim in the sukkah.

The farbrengen soon turned lively, and Joey – who learns Chitas, teaches Chassidus, and visits the Ohel regularly – shared how he had always wanted to receive a dollar from the Rebbe. Seizing the moment, Rabbi Vechter turned to him and said, “If you come perform for the precious neshamos at the Plotkins’ camp in Florida, I’m sure he’ll get you a dollar.”

Joey immediately agreed, and the wheels started turning. The dollar of the Rebbe was generously donated by Plotkin’s paternal grandparents, Rabbi and Mrs. Shmuel Plotkin, and arrangements were made.

Sure enough, nine months after giving his word at that chassidishe farbrengen, Joey Newcomb was standing on stage at Ckids Gan Israel Florida. And sure enough, the only payment Joey took home, was that one special dollar, gifted to him by Plotkin at the end of the event.

“The concert was absolutely insane,” Mrs. Chaya Plotkin said. “The kids, the staff, Joey – everyone was on fire. Just seeing 72 public school children singing niggunim, dancing, and screaming songs about mitzvos and Jewish pride was surreal. Longtime staff said it was one of the most emotional experiences in all of camp history.”

Joey, who was visibly emotional after the concert and receiving the dollar from the Rebbe, said he wants to come back next year – but this time with his wife.

“I got paid only one dollar for this concert,” Joey said, “but it was one of the most rewarding concerts I’ve ever done.”

The following day, Rabbi Levi Plotkin noticed a camper sitting alone at the piano, playing Joey’s song “Yidden” – a moving track about the holy and precious neshamos of the Jewish people that had become a major hit at camp and a concert highlight.

“I’m the only Jewish kid in my school,” the boy explained to an emotional Plotkin. “This song means so much to me. I’m bringing it back home with me.”