I grew up in Crown Heights and of course, I constantly heard about being a Shliach - an emissary to bring and share the light of Torah with others, but it felt too monumental for someone like me, who didn’t grow up with it.
My teacher in yeshiva showed me a talk of the Rebbe where he explains that every Jew can – and should – be a shliach. If you know Alef, teach Alef. It opened my mind to a world of possibilities, and I began to view shlichus as a personal life goal.
As a student, I assisted Rabbi Uzan, the shliach in Abuja, Nigeria, for the month of Tishrei which include the High holidays and the Sukkot and Simchat Torah holidays. He served the Jewish needs of the entire country, so he sent me to Lagos for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
My wife worked for Rabbi Uzan, helping him run programs. A couple years later, he thought it would be a good idea if we met. So while most couples would be taken aback at the mere suggestion of going on shlichus to Africa, for us, it was familiar.
Lagos is the largest city in Africa and is home to hundreds of Jews. Most of these are Israeli Jews, who moved here for business purposes in the early 80’s.
Unfortunately, only those who were familiar with traditions kept them. There was no rabbi or community leader reaching out to teach about Judaism and our rich heritage.
Baruch Hashem, that ended a few years ago, when we opened the Chabad House in Lagos, the second Chabad House in Nigeria. Today, the Chabad House offers a wide range of programs and services continuing to assure the necessities for Jewish life for the whole community.
Whenever there are school holidays, even if it’s just for a couple of days, we organize a camp, so we can give the children a thrilling taste of Yiddishkeit tailored just for them.
During one of these camps, we took the children on a boating trip. Knowing how the speeding winds would make short work of the Kippahs perched unfamiliarly on the boys’ heads, my wife advised they all wear a snug baseball cap to keep their yarmulkes secure. Amir* didn’t have a baseball cap.
“Put your kippah in your pocket while we’re on the boat,” my wife recommended.
Amir looked hesitant. “Does Rabbi Mendy do that when he’s on a boat?” he asked.
My wife chuckled and admitted that I didn’t.
“Well, then I won’t either!” Amir declared, marching proudly onto the boat, his hand holding his Kippah securely in place.
One mitzvah always leads to another, and Amir’s dedication to Yiddishkeit was mirrored by his family. They asked us to help them keep a kosher Pesach - a request which completely blew us away! While groceries here carry some kosher products, keeping kosher is a challenge on the best of days - let alone for the week of Pesach!
They were all in and were determined to kosher their kitchen. To make it easier on them, we ordered a variety of kosher for Passover products from Israel. The entire story underlined the importance of every positive Mitzvah and Jewish encounter.
During the year of Hakhel, The Shluchim to Abuja, Nigeria, Rabbi Israel and Haya Uzan, flew to Lagos with their family, and we prepared a full Shabbaton for the Shluchim and the entire Lagos community.
At the Shabbos kiddush, an American Jew named Michael, who was visiting Lagos as the representative of the Academy Awards of Hollywood (“Oscars”), heard about the gathering and joined.
He told the story of how his parents were saved from the concentration camps by a Christian who made them promise that if they make it safely to the United States, they must convert to Lutheranism.
As I began making kiddush, Michael emotionally asked that I have his father in mind for kiddush. After some L’chaim, Rabbi Uzan arranged for Michael to celebrate his Bar Mitzvah the following Shabbos.
Sukkos is a week-long opportunity for continual mitzvos. We decided to build ten sukkahs, and place them in strategic spots around the city. We got to work early, knowing it would take time to prepare such complicated arrangements. We found 10 hosts who each agreed to keep a sukkah in their backyard, and began negotiations for the materials we’d need. Communication was very slow. Between the language barrier, unreliable power and phone lines, and the strangeness of our request, the summer passed quickly without any progress being made.
It was just days before Sukkos, and I had no materials on hand to build any of the ten sukkahs. I decided it was time for a heart-to-heart talk with the Boss.
“Hashem,” I said, “I’m doing this for You and for Your children. I’ve done everything in my power to make this happen. If You want it to happen, I leave it in Your hands.”
Sukkos was Sunday night. On Friday morning, a dedicated community member managed to get bamboo mats from another supplier in another country. In a miraculous turn of events, all our materials were ready for assembly just before Sukkos.
I spent the entire erev Yom Tov running from one location to another, setting up each of the ten sukkahs. I was exhausted, but it was all worth it when I received the reports. Each of the ten sukkahs helped dozens more Jews gain the inspiration of Sukkos to carry through the rest of the year.
*Names changed to protect privacy / Reprinted from www.dollardaily.org
Rabbi Mendy and Mazal Sternbach, direct the Chabad Center in Africa’s most populous city of Lagos, Nigeria
