The Impact of Mivtzoim Visits

Photos: Menachem Aron & Mendy Reicher

Each Friday afternoon, students of the Rabbinical College of Australia (YG-Melbourne) and Mesivtah take part in Mivtzoim, visiting workplaces, shopping centres and offices to share a word of Torah, and to encourage their fellow Jews to fulfil an extra Mitzvah.

On Sunday, the eve of the 15th of Av – 21 July, over 50 people regularly visited on Mivtzoim gathered to thank their Friday volunteers. The warm atmosphere was palpable in the hall as everyone began arriving and greeting one another.

The formal part of the evening began with Tehillim for the welfare of Eretz Yisroel, led by Mesivtah Student Menachem Wolf. Following that, Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant, president of the Rabbinical Council of Victoria and rabbi of Jewish Care, delivered greetings on behalf of the rabbinate. Rabbi Kluwgant cited the Gemoro which discusses whether Eliyahu Hanavi could arrive on Erev Shabbos due to the busy nature of the time, and spoke of the Bochurim who use specifically this busy time to visit their “clients”.

Rodney Morley, who is the managing director of Rodney Morley Persichetti real estate, and whom The Australian refers to as “the prince of property”, spoke of his increasing adherence to Torah and Mitzvos, and thanked all the boys who visited him each Friday over the years. He fondly recalled how twenty years ago, he arrived at the offices of Rabbi Joseph Gutnick to finalise a lucrative real-estate deal. Rabbi Gutnick announced that he would not sign the deal before Mr Morley and his Jewish associates laid Tefillin. By that day’s end, Mr Morley concluded another three independent business deals, netting him one of the most successful days of his business career.

Yeshivah Gedolah student Dovid Mendelow captivated the audience with the drama of his Mivtzoim encounters in Taiwan and Vietnam, which initially seemed like “an epic failure” but quickly turned into a resounding success. He pointed out that all could participate in the Tefillin Campaign, initiated by the Rebbe in the prelude to the Six-Day-War, and not just the “black-hatted type”.

Mivtzoim coordinator Shmuel Slonim provided a count of the year’s Mivtzoim activities, including 120 Tefillin, 100 sets of Shabbos candles and 700 publications per week. Annual figures included the distribution of 3,000 donuts and 700 Menorahs on Chanukah, 700 Shalach Manos packages on Purim, and 2,000 Matzos on Pesach.

Chabad-Youth director Rabbi Moshe Kahn movingly encouraged each and every person in the crowd to enhance their Mitzvah observance, and to further devote themselves to at one of the Ten Mivtzoim. He recounted the eventual success of a dedicated Bochur who persistently sought a Jew with whom to put on Tefillin in the rural Victorian township of Licola which boasted an official population of only eight people, all who were not Jewish. Every day of camp, this particular Bochur made the trek to the General Store to find out whether any Jews has perhaps visited the township that day, and every day the response was negative. On the last day of camp, as the buses were just about to drive the staff and campers back to the city, a car pulled up. The driver got out and said, “I was just at the General Store on my drive through this town, and the folks at the store asked me if I was Jewish. When I responded that I was, they told me you guys are looking for me, so I just came by to see what you wanted from me.” In no time at all, the township of Licola experienced its first Bar Mitzvah in history.

Special thanks to Rabbi Moshe Kahn and all the Yeshivah Gedolah and Yeshivah College Shluchim for organizing the event, to Michael of Chabad Youth for catering, to Levi Gutnick and Sholom Loebenstein for coordinating various aspects of the event, to Levi Berger for the music, and to Mrs. Oliver for providing the centerpieces.

Video: Menachem Aron of Maron photography