By COLlive reporter
With the pandemic not allowing for Merkos Shlichus bochurim to visit remote Jewish communities and individuals this summer, community news service COLlive.com launches a new series of interviews with Chassidim who share memories of their own visits in past years.
This week’s interviewee is R’ Noochie Gross, a long-time community activist in Crown Heights:
A few weeks before Purim of 5742 (1982), Mottel Krasnjanski (today a Shliach in Melbourne, Australia) and I were thinking of traveling to Hawaii and spreading the joy of Yom Tov there. At the time, there was no Chabad presence on the islands, and we figured this would be an amazing beginning.
We wrote into the Rebbe asking if we should travel there and were hoping to receive the Rebbe’s approval.
A few days later, we were told that an answer is awaiting us. The Rebbe wrote to us “יברר מקודם האפשריות להדפוסי תניא שם ואם לא נדפס עדיין,” that we should inquire in advance the possibility of printing a Tanya in Hawaii if it still hasn’t been printed there.
The answer surprised us. Until then, the Rebbe’s request was to print a Tanya in every COUNTRY that Jews reside in. It was only 2 years later that the Rebbe requested that the Tanya also be printed in every CITY.
We immediately booked a flight and began preparing our trip, looking into the options of printing a Tanya. Rabbi Sholom Jacobson supplied us with negatives (a strip or sheet of transparent plastic film) of the entire Tanya, and our journey began.
Upon arriving in Hawaii, we learned that printing a Tanya would be quite expensive. The printer wanted a total of $8,000 to print 1,000 pocket-size books. And we would have to give a $4,000 deposit.
With no choice, I took out a $4,000 loan and the printing began. Eventually, though, with the Rebbe’s Secretary Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky‘s help, the Rebbe’s Chief of Staff Rabbi Mordechai Aizik Hodokov reimbursed us for the entire printing.
We rushed the printing, and managed to have one copy printed and bound in time for the Rebbe’s birthday on Yud Alef Nissan.
In addition, our Shaar Blat was featured in the Tanya the Rebbe distributed, at the Yud Alef Nissan Farbrengen that year. Our Tanya was unique, that it was sold in Kehot for many years.
THE DOCTOR’S LETTER
Once we were in Hawaii, we did many activities for Purim and even made preparations for Pesach. We traveled to Oahu, Maui and Kauai.
One story that stands out is the following:
We heard about a few Jewish families who lived on a small island, and since we were there before Pesach, we decided that will send over some Matzah to these families. The Matzah was sent over by boat, and we hoped that they’d receive it.
Upon returning from Merkos Shlichus, the head of Lubavitch Youth Organization (“Tzach”) Rabbi Dovid Raskin called us in, and showed us a letter which was sent to the Rebbe from a Jewish person living on this island.
The man was a doctor and he said he was amazed that Lubavitch thought of him and provided Matzah for Pesach. He thanked the Rebbe for this gift.
The Rebbe responded with a long English letter, encouraging this Yid to influence other Jews on the island. The Rebbe added, that in certain aspects, an ordinary Jew can be even more influential than the Shluchim sent.
THE DIPLOMAT’S CHANGE
At times, we didn’t see the results in our Shlichus till decades later, which reminds me of the following episode.
Shortly after the horrific terrorist attacks in Mumbai in 2008, I bumped into Rabbi Avrohom Berkowitz. Avremi had just returned from Mumbai and said he had special regards for me.
At a Shabbos meal in Mumbai, those present were asked to introduce themselves. One individual stood up and said that he worked for the Israeli Consulate in Mumbai.
He went on to tell how he was born on a Kibbutz in Israel to a very secular family, and didn’t have any Jewish affiliation. That changed when two Chabad bochurim met him in Hawaii in 1982 and asked him to lay Teffilin.
“The Teffilin touched a nerve,” he recalled. “I ended up buying a pair of my own, and have never missed a day since!”
“Today, I lead a Frum lifestyle, and have influenced many others as well to adopt a Frum way of life,” the man continued.
I was thrilled to hear this, and what amazed me most, was that for 25 years we had no idea the true effect which our Shlichus accomplished.
that year yud alef nissan the rebbe gave out a tanaya that had those shaar blat of those tanyas
Noochie Gross is a gem to our community. I would love to hear more stories from him. He’s a real chassidishe Yid
Such a inspiring story iyh we can continue this work