LIHUE — As part of their community outreach training to smaller Jewish communities, two “Roving Rabbis” are on island through July to share their love for Jewish life. Rabbis Chaim Cohen of Montreal and Berel Namdar, of Gothenburg, Sweden are
LIHUE — As part of their community outreach training to smaller Jewish communities, two “Roving Rabbis” are on island through July to share their love for Jewish life.
Rabbis Chaim Cohen of Montreal and Berel Namdar, of Gothenburg, Sweden are part of a seven-decade old program of the Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbinical. Both were ordained two years ago at the Rabbinical College of America in Morristown, N.J.
The two are reaching out to members of the Jewish community with home visits and at monthly Shabbat services around the island.
Rabbi Michoel Goldman of Princeville said this is the seventh year Kauai has hosted the “young, energetic, charismatic Rabbinical interns. Their goal is to connect, nurture and inspire our local Kauai Jewry.
“Each year, they have had incredible success, with the most inspiring encounters with fellow local Jews, many of whom look forward all year for this visit,” Goldman said. “It may be their only connection to their roots and 3,300-year old heritage. For many, these one-on-one encounters are a turning point.”
Goldman said there may be about 1,000 Jews on Kauai, but no one knows for sure. The Jewish Virtual Library estimated the statewide Jewish population at 7,280 in 2013.
“There are not many religious Hisidics on island, but for us to come here and see the diversity is very beneficial and we feel very welcome here,” said Cohen. “The next step comes after we leave, when we follow up to see if they need something in the future.”
Cohen was born and raised in Montreal, where his father leads a synagogue and the director of the rural seminary. Namdar was born in Brooklyn, but raised in Sweden, where his father became the head rabbi in Scandinavia.
Their visit is in part to address the specific challenges of smaller Jewish communities by listening, talking and hopefully reinvigorating people with their Jewish connections.
The two have met with up to 35 people at one time at Shabbat services and meet with individuals and families the rest of the week.
The response has been good and the two said they are also learning a lot and are happy to see there is a sense of connection here.
The mission is two-fold, said Cohen. They provide information to people who are interested in knowing about Judaism. The proactive element is to reach out to people at whatever level they practice and identify themselves as a Jew.
They also provide the Tefillin, which involves strapping small black boxes containing scriptures relating to the obligation to maintain a relationship with God. It is strapped to the head and the arm each morning.
“The Tefillin is about aligning our two faculties of the mind and the heart as a commitment to God,” Namdar said. “There is a lot of turbulence in our life when there is no alignment of the heart and the mind. We think too much, or feel too much, and life is life.”
As Roving Rabbis, the two are following in the path of Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson of righteous memory (1902-1994).
Also known as “The Rebbe” (religious teacher), he spent more than half a century working to rejuvenate Jewish communities and individuals in the aftermath of the Holocaust.
“What inspires me from day-to-day is the teaching of The Rebbe,” Cohen said. “He was a person who sought out every single Jew, and he could see their souls. He saw the good and saw the uniqueness of everyone.”
As one of more than 4,000 emissaries to small Jewish communities, Cohen has traveled to Oklahoma City and Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. He has also met with Jewish communities in Sweden, Dijon, France, and Chengdu, China.
Namdar has worked in Sweden, Norway, and St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. He was in Oklahoma during the tornado disasters in 2013.
Over the centuries, the Jewish settlements around the world have evolved and intermixed with host cultures.
The challenge is to reach out to people who identity as Jews, and to find common ground to move forward into the 21st century.
Many communities observe the root principles of Jewish faith and they bring an approach that says everyone matters, and everyone counts.
“It is a stronger message that people relate to when the message is that we are all God’s creation, Cohen said. “This shows that we have more in common than we do not.”
