Shluchim Help Yeshiva Boys Stranded at Tampa Airport

By COLlive reporter

Severe storms swept through the greater Miami area last week, leading to widespread flight cancellations across Florida and leaving many travelers stranded. Among them was a group of 45 bochurim from a South Florida yeshiva who found themselves stuck at Tampa Airport without food.

Although the boys weren’t Chabad, they knew that Chabad can be found everywhere and that shluchim are always ready to help in any situation. They quickly found the number of the local shluchim and reached out to see if they could help provide kosher food.

“I got the call about the boys being stranded while I was on my way to the Chabad house to arrange the Ma’ariv minyan last night,” Rabbi Leizer Rivkin, senior Shliach to Central Florida, shared with COLlive. “I turned to my wife, Devorah, and asked her, ‘Where do we start?’”

Rabbi Rivkin and his wife promptly turned their attention to the freezers in their house and began rummaging through them. Before long, they were busy cooking up a storm with whatever they could find – hot dogs, burgers, falafel, and pitas.

The next challenge for the senior shluchim was figuring out how to get the food to the boys at the airport. No one was answering their calls, or they were too busy. Rabbi Rivkin realized he would have to go there himself.

“Just as I was trying to figure everything out, two Lubavitch boys whose flights had also been canceled showed up at our doorstep,” Rabbi Rivkin says. “I quickly asked them to join me, and we set off for the airport where they had just come from.”

The shluchim were thankfully able to provide the large group of boys with a full meal, prepared at the last minute, and the boys were extremely grateful for their dedication and selflessness.
“When we set out on shlichus, the Rebbe told us that wherever we go, we should make it “lichtig un varem” – warm and bright,” Rabbi Rivkin says. “Baruch Hashem, we were able to be at the right place at the right time and bring warmth on a stormy, rainy night.”