A conversation with R’ Yitzchok Gruzman about what motivates him to bring out shliach after shliach to his area. * How he picks the new shluchim. * How they handle conflicts. * How a statement from the mayor changed his way of thinking.
“A few months ago, at the big event we held in the center of town for the Simchas Beis HaShoeiva, the deputy mayor came over to me. He’s a good friend and a talented guy. We began talking about the work of Chabad in Rishon L’Tziyon and he said, ‘Tell me, how many are you?’
“I was happy at the opportunity to tell him about our work and said, ‘We are 28 shluchim in 18 Chabad Houses.’
“‘What?!’ he exclaimed. ‘I can’t believe it! Are you kidding?’
“‘G-d forbid,’ I said with a big smile.
“‘But there are 300,000 people in Rishon L’Tziyon,’ he pointed out. ‘How can 28 shluchim reach 300,000 Jews?’
“Here I had been patting myself on my back, but this man is someone who works in the trenches. His job entails providing services to the residents. If he was saying this, he knew what he was talking about. If occasionally I had looked around and felt good about the empire of shluchim that had developed, I was suddenly faced with the truth - how far we are from the goal.”
CHAI (18) PLUS YECHI (28)
R’ Yitzchok Gruzman, shliach in Rishon L’Tziyon, is the man identified with the approach of “opening the ranks” in shlichus. He has been in Rishon L’Tziyon for 26 years. When he first arrived the city was much smaller. In recent years it has rapidly developed and doubled in size. R’ Gruzman has brought shliach after shliach to the city. A Chabad shul, mosdos, a thriving k’hilla of Anash, 18 Chabad houses and 28 shluchim are now an integral part of the city landscape.
“My vision for the upcoming year is for every shliach to bring another shliach, at least one. There are still entire areas that receive services from one Chabad house. I want to reach the point where there will be at least one shliach in every neighborhood.”
Is this somewhat of an obsession on your part?
I don’t know why you call it an obsession. I know that I am simply terrified. I am very afraid of the day the Rebbe will appear and demand of me, “Yitzchok, you’re in that city for over 25 years. What did you accomplish? How many Jews are connected to Torah and mitzvos?” I do everything I can so I can answer those questions calmly.
WE CAME TO THE DIN TORAH IN AN EMBRACE
R’ Gruzman started out on shlichus in Ashkelon, by R’ Lieberman. “I worked for a number of years in Ashkelon. We had tremendous siyata d’Shmaya, but for various reasons I thought it was the right thing to leave. In Rishon, a small Chabad k’hilla was starting to form, just a few families, and they were looking for a shliach who would do outreach. When R’ Lieberman heard that I wanted to leave for Rishon he took me to a din Torah.
“We showed up there in an embrace. The rav could not understand what was going on since people usually come to fight, not to hug. R’ Lieberman wanted the rav to tell me to stay in Ashkelon and I wanted to start working in Rishon.”
The friendship between R’ Lieberman and R’ Gruzman did not wane over the years. “Until today we are very close. R’ Lieberman is my ‘mori v’rabi’ in shlichus.”
In the end it was decided they would write to the Rebbe. The Rebbe’s answer was to do as a beis din rabbanei Chabad in Eretz Yisroel advises.
“We convened a beis din and they tried to dissuade me. They described in the blackest of terms the difficulties and failures that awaited me if I went out on my own. It was only after they saw that I was really serious that the rav announced that the beis din gave its blessings to my shlichus in Rishon and they wished me lots of success.”
WE HAD TO DELEGATE
Who was the first shliach you brought out?
R’ Chanan Kochunovski. He came as a bachur to help on Simchas Torah. He went to bring simcha to the shuls in Ramat Eliyahu and they loved him. He came to me right after Simchas Torah and said, ‘Yitzchok, after I get married I want Ramat Eliyahu.’
Was this a strategy of yours or did it just work out that way?
The Chabad House was constantly growing. I already had eight employees and I realized that even if I worked nonstop, I would not be able to get to everything I wanted to get to. So I knew that if we wanted to move forward, we had to delegate and bring out more independent shluchim.
Do you think this is true for other shluchim?
Definitely. I’m not talking about a shliach on a yishuv or in a small neighborhood. I’m talking about shluchim to cities, suburbs or huge neighborhoods, with tens and hundreds of thousands of people. What percentage of the people do you reach? Let’s say you have an enormous impact and everyone in the city knows you. On how many can you have a real influence? With how many families are you actively involved?
THE REBBE WANTS US TO CONQUER
Fine, that’s the standard you established. But who says this is the standard? There are shluchim in big cities who are the only shluchim there and they have successful Chabad houses with a staff, a nice place in the center of town, an Internet site, so whoever is looking for them will find them. Why bring so many people?
Listen, there are two approaches here. You can look at shlichus as being the Rebbe’s representative to the city. Like a consulate. The American consulate in Eretz Yisroel needs to provide consular services to American citizens. Occasionally it arranges official events on American holidays. It has clerks with regular hours and it does its work quite well. It does not seek to turn Eretz Yisroel into the US or to arouse the American identity hidden within all those who are American citizens.
But the Rebbe speaks about conquering. You cannot conquer alone. Even if you are the bravest soldier, the most esteemed commander, the most capable warrior, you cannot conquer a city on your own. It is just not possible. In order to conquer, you need soldiers, as much manpower as possible. As far as I’m concerned, as long as there are children in Rishon who see a picture of the Rebbe and say, that’s Rabbi Nachman, I know I am far from the goal.
Still, can you understand shluchim who are afraid to bring new people into their territory and give them independence?
I can understand it because I also have an animal soul, but they themselves know that it’s coming from the left side.
On the other hand, thirty shluchim in a city is not a recipe for anarchy?
I don’t know what you’re calling anarchy. Everyone works well with one another and if there are any conflicts, we sit down and resolve the problems.
Ah, so you’re a magician …
Really not. When you are able to look just at what would be best for the inyan and are able to set your ego aside, it works out.
You describe an ideal which is hard for me to believe. You want to tell me that you put a shliach in a neighborhood where there already is a shliach and it goes smoothly?
First of all, by us there is no such thing as infringing on the territory of another. This is important to the Rebbe. When we wrote to the Rebbe about my moving to Rishon there was no answer for a long time. We tried to think of what could be delaying the answer. I checked and checked and finally discovered that there was someone from Kfar Chabad who was doing some outreach in Rishon and he called himself “Beis Chabad Rishon L’Tziyon.” I stopped everything I had been doing and went to speak to him. I said I was thinking of coming to Rishon on shlichus but I would not do so without his full agreement. He agreed and even said he would stop calling himself “Beis Chabad Rishon L’Tziyon.” Two hours after the man gave his consent I received the Rebbe’s answer.
That’s rule number one with me. I don’t impose anything on anyone. Everything is done with the full consent of all involved. Rule number two is that you are responsible to the Rebbe to maximize the outreach in your designated area.
I’ll give you an example. There was a shliach in a small neighborhood. A few years ago the city decided to develop the area and the neighborhood quickly tripled in size. It was obvious to me that the shliach could not handle the neighborhood on his own and I suggested that he bring another shliach to work with him. He balked. I told him, fine, just face the Rebbe and tell him that you take responsibility to do the work of another shliach.
After a while he came back to me and asked me to bring another shliach but I wasn’t willing. I told him, write it to me and sign that you are willing and that you are requesting of your own free will that another shliach join you. It was only after he signed that we hired another shliach.
How do you choose a shliach? How do you know whether he will be successful?
It’s hard work and I’m always looking. I look at young men in shul, in the community, and when I notice someone whom I think will be successful, I offer him the job.
And if you don’t think he’ll be successful?
I do as the beis din did. I describe the hardships to him and I don’t exaggerate, it’s really not simple. Many men look at it from the outside and see only the glow of life on shlichus, but they don’t understand that it’s extremely difficult, unremitting work. The shliach is usually busy with less than glamorous activities; being photographed with a tie is an infrequent part of his work…
Those who are not suitable and are not ready for it usually fall by the wayside. Those who listen, understand, and are ready to do it anyway, are usually successful.
Are you sometimes surprised?
Yes, only for the good. I had someone who really wanted a neighborhood. He was a gentle sort and I couldn’t really see how he would be successful. I tried to push him off a few times but he insisted. I saw that he was very serious and he knew precisely what he wanted. His seriousness is what swayed me in the end and we signed. I must say that all my negative predictions proved wrong. He turned out to be very talented and he is very successful.
FAITH IN HASHEM IS NEEDED
You can’t ignore the fear that shluchim have in bringing out another person. When a shliach is supported by a small number of balabatim, sometimes, bringing out another person to work with him or nearby means a direct hit on his parnasa!
In principle, you might be right. I’m not denying it. But it is for this reason that we are Jews of faith. We believe that one mitzva brings another mitzva. Aside from that, when we ask a taxi driver to keep Shabbos and he says, but this is my parnasa, what do we tell him? We say parnasa is from heaven and that a person’s livelihood is designated on Rosh HaShana. When we ask a shoe salesman to come to a shiur, we tell him, one person cannot affect another person’s parnasa.
What happens then when it affects us? We know how to tell other people about emuna and bitachon, we know how to demand it of our balabatim, but then when it comes to ourselves we chicken out. Where is our emuna?
A short while ago I had a couple here, very wealthy people who live in one of the exclusive neighborhoods of Tel Aviv. They came to me through mutual friends. I could have kept them close to me, maintained them on a low flame from a distance and turned them into regular donors of my Chabad House. Instead, I sent them to the shliach in their own neighborhood and asked them to support him. They were amazed that I was “passing them on.” I explained that they needed a daily hug from the shliach and from here I could not provide them with that. I asked them to donate to the shliach in their neighborhood so they would get from him what they needed to really get close to the Rebbe and Torah and mitzvos.
Okay, we got the principle, but how do things work out practically? For example, dealing with the local government offices. There are shluchim who enable independence but are sticklers when it comes to every official government request being done through the central Chabad House. I know it’s not like that with you. That doesn’t create chaos?
There are two approaches. It makes a lot of sense for all official requests to be done through one channel. By me, it happened that several people made formal requests simultaneously. The previous mayor called me and said we can’t work that way because it makes them crazy. He asked me to coordinate all requests and submit them as one entity.
I heard this from the mayor and thought, if that is his political interest, then mine is the opposite and I asked all the shluchim to submit all applications on their own.
And it worked. R’ Dudi Kaplan put up a building, R’ Eli Segal is right before the finishing stage, other shluchim are at some stage or another of putting up buildings or building preschools. It’s all with property grants from the city. If we would have coordinated our requests, we would have gotten one piece of property for Chabad. With each asking separately, they all got. I can’t say whether it would work this way in other places, but by me it works boruch Hashem.
To conclude, what message do you have for your fellow shluchim?
I am not in a position to convey messages. The shluchim are all devoted to the Rebbe and work for the sake of heaven. I am sure that each one knows what he needs to do and consults with his rav as the Rebbe said to do.
I can only say that what guides me in shlichus is – what you cannot do today don’t postpone for tomorrow; give it to someone else to do today.
I was recently asked to put up a mezuza at a store in a huge mall on the outskirts of the city. I was embarrassed that I had never been there. I wondered, how is it possible that as a shliach responsible for this location in the world, I had never visited there before? But I can’t go everywhere. That’s why I try to bring someone to those places where I can’t go myself.
There is no time. Moshiach is in the doorway. We must live with the reality that the Rebbe is about to appear and will ask us what we did. What will we tell him? We didn’t manage to reach that place? We had a five year plan, a ten year plan? We thought we’d do something there eventually? I really shudder at the thought of facing the Rebbe and mumbling excuses.