‘CHAI CLUB’: THE YOUNG REVOLUTION IN VIENNA

After his year on k’vutza, Rabbi Shneur Zalman Raskin planned to travel to Florida to learn in the local smicha program. However, Divine Providence brought him on shlichus to Vienna, Austria, where he established the ‘Chai Club’ organization for young people on the ‘Beis HaLevi’ campus. Rabbi Raskin tells about the difficulties in adapting during the early years, the truism he heard from his father that helped him deal with the situation, and a series of miraculous occurrences in raising funds for his activities. In a fascinating interview with “Beis Moshiach”, he discusses some original ideas for instilling Chassidic teachings in the hearts of young Jews, the tremendous spiritual influence from visits to 770, and spreading the announcement of the Redemption throughout the City of Music.

Translated by Michoel Leib Dobry

This past Adar Sheni, the shliach Rabbi Shneur Zalman Raskin organized a successful Shabbaton for Jewish teenagers. It’s been more than a decade since a wide range of activities began for young people in Vienna, Austria, sponsored by the ‘Chai Club’ organization, and the Shabbaton is just one of a long chain of programs conducted throughout the year. “A Shabbaton like this costs a lot to organize, and I raised the entire amount with a great deal of sweat and toil. We made certain to provide plenty of good stuff from the material side. On the spiritual side, Rabbi Shlomo Raskin from Frankfurt, Germany gave an inspiring lecture to the participants about the tremendous importance of observing kashrus.”

After that Shabbos, Rabbi Raskin was feeling a bit low. The expenses had been rather high for that event, and he thought in his heart that they might not have been justified. Although he had heard from the participants how much they enjoyed the learning program, he still felt that it represented a lost opportunity. “Later, in the middle of a visit to the local kosher supermarket, I met a young man who had participated in the Shabbaton. Since he lived with his parents on the city’s outskirts, I was very surprised to see him. When he saw me, his face lit up. ‘Thank you for the Shabbaton you organized. I enjoyed it very much,’ he said. I assumed that he was finished, but he wasn’t. He told me that just a few minutes earlier he had bought challos from the kosher bakery. In addition, during the past week, he had been stringently putting on t’fillin and eating only kosher food. He then added that he was also planning to keep Shabbos and take part in the minyanim at the shul near his house. This whole spiritual arousal came as a result of that Shabbaton. The feeling of a lost opportunity disappeared in an instant. I now realized that this young man creating a complete revolution in his life had made all the expenses from that Shabbaton worth the investment.”

‘Chai Club,’ the organization headed by Rabbi Raskin, is a success story by any measure. Anyone familiar with his activities on behalf of Jewish youth is amazed by the thought and planning that goes into them – and the resulting achievements. Yet, Rabbi Raskin spoke with us openly and wasn’t afraid to mention some of his failures and the many difficulties he encountered in establishing this flourishing array of activities. In this way, he hopes to help other shluchim who work with young people.

“YOU ARE THE DOCTOR IN THE REBBE’S EMERGENCY ROOM”

These activities began about eleven years ago with the arrival of Rabbi Raskin on shlichus in Vienna after his k’vutza year. “At the time, I thought that I would be traveling to learn in the smicha program in Florida, and all the arrangements had already been made. Then, I heard that two of my former classmates were flying to Vienna. They were looking for a third person to join them on this shlichus to serve as melamdim in a cheider to be opened later that year for children in the local Bucharian community. After receiving the Rebbe’s bracha, I changed my plans and joined them. After working as a teacher for about a year, I returned home to Eretz Yisroel and became a chassan.”

Before his return flight, Rabbi Raskin was called in by ‘Beis HaLevi Chabad’ directors Rabbi Pinchas Gadilov and Rabbi Yaakov Ostonizov, and they asked him to come back to Vienna and establish a program of youth activities for the ‘Beis HaLevi – Chabad’ campus, under the auspices of the Rebbe’s shliach in Vienna, Rabbi Yaakov Biderman.

Six months after their wedding, the Raskins returned to Vienna and started their activities with local Jewish youngsters, primarily among the Bucharian community. The difficulties during the first two years were mainly psychological in nature. One of the biggest problems was the language barrier. Rabbi Raskin speaks Hebrew, while most of the young people spoke German. Another complication centered on the problem of tznius, due in large measure to ignorance and a lack of knowledge. Even the manner of conduct was quite foreign to the young couple. As someone educated in a Chabad community, Rabbi Raskin had a hard time dealing with these problems. “The person who gave me a great deal of encouragement was my father, Rabbi Shlomo Raskin, director of ‘Beis Chana’ in Tzfas. He told me something that has remained emblazoned in my memory: ‘You are a doctor in the Rebbe’s emergency room. These young Jewish boys and girls are coming to you, and your job is to stabilize their condition and send them to appropriate learning programs.’”

After a year of fine-tuning their outreach work, the activities became firmly established. “Every Shabbos we had an ‘Oneg Shabbos’ with about eighty youngsters divided into five groups. I led the older group and I would tell stories about the tremendous self-sacrifice of Chassidim behind the Iron Curtain. These stories have a powerful influence. They imbue the kids with a great deal of Jewish pride and help them develop a deep sense of Jewish identity.

“On Sundays we work with another group of young people, age thirteen to seventeen. Each meeting lasts for four hours. Besides the standard activities, there are also some big events, such as Shabbatons and trips to other countries. We have already been to Venice, Amsterdam, Budapest, and even New York City. Each of these trips provides an opportunity for young people to meet peers from other locations throughout the world in Chabad club programs. They require a great deal of preparation, both in spiritual and material terms.”

EXPERIMENTAL ACTIVITIES

Rabbi Raskin invests considerable effort into the content of these meetings and activities. Children and other young people look upon this club as an open environment where they can sit, talk, and meet together. Torah classes and special workshops based on important Jewish themes are held on the premises. Rabbi Raskin invests much energy in their preparation. For example, during a recent shiur, he wanted to teach the attendees about the prohibition against stealing. “I wanted to teach them the Rebbe’s sicha about how even if this is a mitzvah understood by human intellect, we observe it because it is G-d’s Will. I surprised the students by opening with a question: ‘Any of you who have stolen something once – raise your hand.’ Naturally, everyone was quiet – and somewhat perplexed. I then asked: ‘Anyone here ever thought of stealing?’ Again, no one said a word. Then, I showed them a test film made in a park in the United States. A Caucasian actor stood there and tried to steal a bicycle. People passed by and saw that he was trying to steal, but they ignored him. Out of two hundred passersby, only one called the police. Afterward, they replaced the actor with someone dark-skinned trying to steal the bicycle, and the local police station was swamped with phone calls. Finally, the potential thief was portrayed by a young woman. In this case, not only didn’t people call the police, they even stopped others to help the woman try and steal the bicycle…

“Afterward, we held a discussion on the film. I explained to them that when we rely merely upon human intellect, the intellect can come up with all kinds of explanations why it would be correct and appropriate to steal in certain circumstances. Therefore, it is imperative that we fulfill the mitzvos because of G-d’s unchanging command.

“We design all our activities and Torah classes with a hands-on approach. Only recently, we played a game on our mobile phones. We divided everyone into groups and asked them to use their devices to take pictures of various concepts in Judaism, and the first one to come back with a certain number of pictures – wins.

“Here’s another example: To instill the subject of kashrus in more practical terms, we went to the local (non-kosher) supermarket. Dividing into groups, each participant was given a list of grocery items and told to buy only kosher products. Each group had to look carefully at the regularly updated local kashrus guide to know which items are kosher. The group that properly completed the task first, i.e., all the grocery items are kosher, received a basket of kosher l’mehadrin candies. This activity teaches the young people to recognize that there are numerous kosher products at their local neighborhood store that they can buy, thereby enabling them to fulfill the mitzvah of kashrus with little effort or hesitation.”

Rabbi Raskin tells how according to this approach, the positive influence upon young people is far more intense than when he speaks to children in a classroom environment. “In recent years, I have benefited from the assistance of a dedicated staff of counselors in addition to program alumni from non-religious backgrounds. Once, at the end of one of our activities, I offered all the children some high-quality chocolate, and everyone took some – except for one girl who really was a big chocolate lover. ‘As a result of your Torah classes,’ she explained, ‘I have been very stringent in recent months in eating only kosher food. I also make certain to wait between eating meat and dairy, and I ate meat only a short while ago…’”

PURIM AND CHANUKAH MIRACLES IN VIENNA

Rabbi Raskin’s activities are characterized by a mind-set of l’chat’chilla aribber. While there is order and organization, nevertheless, the lack of a sufficient budget in advance can diminish the originally scheduled program. “A few years ago, not long before the Purim holiday, I sat down to prepare a festive program for the young people with whom we work. The proprietors and business owners who support our activities were most helpful in providing the necessary funds we needed to finance this event.

“Then, about a week before Purim, I was facing a serious budgetary crisis and I didn’t have money to buy some elegant mishloach manos sets for my leading supporters. In addition, I had planned to rent a car to go from business to business – twenty places in all, and it would be extremely difficult to make these rounds via public transportation while carrying these packages.

“On Taanis Ester, I still didn’t know what I would do. I had no money. On Purim morning, I ran to the Chabad shul for Shacharis and the Megilla reading. From there, I planned to return home for the rest of the day’s activities. However, I didn’t feel right about it. While it was clear to me that I would be traveling to each location and reading the Megilla before the businessmen, as I did each year, I didn’t have the heart to go without any mishloach manos for them. These are people who had given me considerable donations throughout the year. While I was in shul, I spoke about this problem to a friend whom I knew could not help me financially, but he was a good listener.

“As I was talking to him, his mobile phone rang. After he spoke with the person on the line for several minutes, he handed me the phone. After speaking for a few minutes, I wasn’t sure if I was dreaming or if this was real. I had just spoken with a young, single, affluent Jew, who had bought a large quantity of expensive mishloach manos sets that he had planned to give out to his close friends. The problem was that while he had already distributed mishloach manos to everyone on his list, he was still left with several dozen sets and he didn’t know what to do with them. When I told him about my situation, he gladly agreed to give them to me. ‘And how will you carry them all?’ he asked me. I mumbled that I would try and see if I could borrow a car from one of my friends. He then suggested that he drive me around on my mivtzaim route. It was simply unbelievable: G-d had miraculously arranged for me both the mishloach manos sets I needed and a car with a driver to boot. More than that, I couldn’t possibly have imagined.

“A short while later, he picked me up from my house and was a great help that day. This young man, who was not a Lubavitcher Chassid, saw for the first time in his life how a shliach of the Rebbe operates during the action-packed Purim holiday, and he was very impressed.

“Divine Providence reveals itself every step of the way,” Rabbi Raskin says, and he chose to share another amazing holiday story with us – this time from Chanukah.

“Chanukah is a holiday with a lot of expenses – eight days long, not just one – and we work each day to spread the holiday’s message. One year, I had specifically prepared a large sum of money for this purpose, however, the activities were considerable and the funds ran out in the middle of the holiday. While I was certain that some donors would come through and help cover the expenses for these and other programs, my expectations were quickly proven to be unrealistic.

“One night during the Chanukah holiday, as the expenses ballooned to several hundred Euros and I didn’t know ‘from where my help will come,’ I asked G-d to come to my salvation. That night, I was on my way back from a full day of activities among the local businessmen. I was sitting very late at night in my car at a traffic light, and I simply raised my eyes Heavenward and pleaded for His help in providing the money I needed to continue my activities and cover the expenses. Finally, I arrived home to light my own menorah.

“After sitting for an hour near the candles, I received a phone call from New York. On the line was the director of CTeen, the Chabad Teen Network, which assists shluchim who work with young people. His office produces educational workbooks and other learning aids, and I buy many of them throughout the year. I was certain that he wanted to interest me in one of his new products. Imagine how surprised I was when he told me that his offices had arranged a Chanukah raffle among all their customers, including shluchim from all over the world who work with young people – and we had won a cash prize of one thousand dollars. His only request was that I give him the details of my bank account to arrange a direct deposit…”

At the ‘Chai Club,’ how do you implement the Rebbe’s teachings on spreading the announcement of the Redemption?

“Even before we start talking about Moshiach, we first have to tell the kids on whose shlichus we are working. They and their parents are quite aware of the fact that we are Chassidim of the Rebbe. Each year, we organize group trips to Beis Chayeinu. Before every trip I make to Crown Heights, we suggest that our young people write letters, which we take with us to the Rebbe.

“We then follow this suggestion with a discussion on the subject of Moshiach, making the listener a potential ‘vessel’ to accept the underlying message. On numerous occasions, I expand on the subject by eliciting a few vital questions: When will it be? How will it happen? How is all this connected to us? And then, we tell them about our strength, even the children’s, in performing good deeds to hasten the Redemption.”

THE POWERFUL INFLUENCE OF BEIS CHAYEINU

According to Rabbi Raskin, a period of eleven years on shlichus gives you the opportunity to see the fruits of your labors. “Seven years ago, during the previous Hakhel year, I, along with my fellow shluchim Rabbi Binyomin Sufiev and Rabbi Yisroel Netanelov, organized a delegation of four young men for a trip to Beis Chayeinu. They paid a token fee for their participation, while I covered the remaining cost for the tickets and all other accompanying expenses, which were quite substantial. Two of these boys were a bit more spiritual in nature, while the other two were your ‘typical’ youngsters.

“Together with the detailed organization of all the material needs – food, lodging, etc., we also made certain to tend to the spiritual side – meetings with mashpiim and rabbanim, visits to the Chabad library and the broadcast center, and of course, the various wings inside the Lubavitch World Headquarters. When we walked through the main entrance of 770 Eastern Parkway, all four young men were very excited. They had never seen such a sight – hundreds of T’mimim and avreichim sitting and learning Torah. For them, it was a scene out of another century. At the minyanim and the farbrengens that followed, they were even more inspired and we felt that we were on the right track.

“Thus, I was quite unprepared when two of them informed me that their cousin from Queens was waiting for them outside 770, and they planned to join him for a visit at his home. There wasn’t much that I could say, as he was already outside ready to drive off with them. They went to his house and only rejoined the group just before Shabbos. As one might expect, Shabbos in 770 was a day of tremendous spiritual elevation and exhilaration for all of us; the davening and the farbrengens left a powerful impression upon them. The boys were quite thrilled and could not conceal their emotion. So I was rather surprised when as soon as Shabbos was over, these same two boys said that their cousin in Queens had again invited them to his house.

“I reminded them that we had come to the Rebbe, not for a visit to extended family, and this is the reason why I agreed to pay for the trip. ‘We prepared a very detailed program that you agreed to participate in; all these family visits can wait until right before our return to Vienna.’ While I was upset, these boys were about nineteen years old and I really didn’t have the authority to stop them, and they left.

“A few minutes later, the weekly video of the Rebbe appeared on the screen, including a sicha on Parshas Korach. The Rebbe told the story about the staff of Aharon HaKohen sprouting almonds while the other staffs, which had also entered Kodesh HaKodashim, came out just as they went in. The Rebbe asked: Did the other staffs leave Kodesh HaKodashim the same way they entered? Absolutely not. A staff that entered Kodesh HaKodashim cannot go out in the same condition, even if it outwardly appears untouched and in one piece.

“I thought to myself that this applied to those two teenagers. I was quite certain that the trip to 770 wasn’t for naught. After all, the Rebbe declared that anyone who comes to 770, even if it outwardly appears that it had no effect upon him, the effect is undeniably there when he leaves. The Rebbe’s words altered my whole approach. These youngsters had been with us for several days in 770, participated in farbrengens, learned sichos and maamarim: How could one possibly think that their trip had been for naught?

“This is the first part of the story, a source of blessing in its own right. By Divine Providence, three months ago, I bore witness to the next chapter…

“Six months ago we founded an evening kollel in Vienna. The funding comes from ‘Keren Meromim,’ operated by shluchim Rabbi Bentzion Lipsker and Rabbi Moshe Weber from S. Petersburg, Russia. They initiated a kollel network that has created a tremendous Torah revolution at numerous Chabad Houses, particularly in Russia, the Ukraine, and numerous cities throughout Europe. Dozens of young people gather for an hour of Torah study on a different subject each night: Shulchan Aruch, Mishna, Gemara, Chassidus, and the Rebbe’s sichos. The more outstanding participants receive a stipend.

“One night, two young Jewish men came into the office of the director, Rabbi Pinni Gadilov, and asked if they could register with the kollel. These were the same two who had joined me as teenagers on that trip to 770. I was simply overjoyed. While they had been raised in a traditional environment, in the meantime, they had established proper Torah observant homes, their small children receive their education in Chabad institutions, and now they wanted to set time for Torah study in both Nigleh and Chassidus. It’s a fact: Anyone who goes into 770 doesn’t leave without the visit having some influence upon him…”