COMING HOME ON SHLICHUS

R’ Adir Salama was born and raised in the Revivim neighborhood of Rishon L’Tziyon and he returned there as a shliach two years after he married. * His knowledge of every corner of the neighborhood has helped him make impressive achievements. * He has advice for his fellow shluchim about how to get money and in a timely fashion.

It was a Friday afternoon a decade ago. R’ Adir Salama, then a young man and a newly minted baal t’shuva had discovered the world of Chabad Chassidus and had gone to learn in the Chabad yeshiva in Ramat Aviv. That is when he made the decision that he would not leave the neighborhood he had grown up in, Revivim. He regularly spent off-Shabbasos from yeshiva in his old neighborhood and shared with his friends, acquaintances, and relatives what he learned in yeshiva. The first activity he did was to set up a t’fillin stand at the entrance to the high school he had attended.

One day, moments before he folded up the stand after putting t’fillin on with dozens of people, the maintenance man walked out of the school pushing a garbage cart. The janitor, an older Russian Jew, went over to Adir and said, “I need a bracha.” Some time earlier, the doctors had found a malignant tumor that threatened his life and he was about to start treatments.

R’ Salama took a volume of Igros Kodesh out of his car and guided the man in how to write to the Rebbe. Boys who remained standing nearby heard about their janitor’s illness for the first time and felt sorry for him. They put some coins into the pushka in his merit. The answer he opened to from the Rebbe was astounding. It was addressed to a Chassid who gave money to Yeshivas Toras Emes and the Rebbe blessed him with health and blessing in body and soul.

“According to the Rebbe’s answer, it seems you should donate money to Yeshivas Toras Emes and that will be the vessel for the bracha for health,” I told him, and he gave me an envelope with a donation. Then we said goodbye and he went back into the school building and I folded the stand and went to my parents’ house to get ready for Shabbos. I wondered how I would send the donation to the yeshiva in Yerushalayim and thought I might ask one of the rabbis in Ramat Aviv to take care of it for me.

“When I arrived at the entrance to my parents’ home, I saw a Lubavitcher standing on the street and talking to someone. I debated whether I should go over to him and in the end I just went into the house. A while later, when I left the house for the mikva, I saw that he was still standing there, so I decided to go over to him.

“He was the shliach in the next neighborhood, R’ Eliyahu Segal, and he just happened to mention that he was the son of the rosh yeshiva of Toras Emes in Yerushalayim! Boy was I excited to hear that and he did not understand why. I told him about the Rebbe’s answer to the janitor and of course I gave him the envelope. This was wonderful Divine Providence which stayed with me during my first days on shlichus in the neighborhood. I learned at that time that [when it comes to shlichus] events tend to unfold in a manner that is above nature. Since then, I see Divine Providence every step of the way.

“That janitor had a miraculous recovery and until today he is still working in the school. I meet him whenever I do mivtza t’fillin over there.”

COMMUNITY BACKGROUND

Revivim, where Adir and Miri Salama are shluchim, is located in the northeastern section of Rishon L’Tziyon. In 1948, a group called “Revivim” was formed in Rishon L’Tziyon by youth who had come from Germany and by members of the HaNoar HaOved youth movement who were educated on Kibbutz Givat Brenner. The purpose of forming the group was to make new settlements in the south of the country, one of them being Kibbutz Revivim. The organization of these youthful pioneers in Rishon L’Tziyon is what led to the choosing of that name for the new neighborhood which was forming at that time in the city. One of the landmarks of the neighborhood is a water tower built like an hourglass.

After six years of outreach, one can see the imprint of the Chabad House on every corner of the neighborhood. In the center of the neighborhood there is the Chabad House which is humming with shiurim, t’fillos and farbrengens. There is outreach to all segments of the population, old and young. There is a large Chassidic library, an Aron Kodesh that looks like the one in 770 and traffic at all hours of the day. R’ Salama is a dynamic shliach, full of ideas, and a people person. The fact that he grew up in the neighborhood and is already a third generation there is a great bonus.

CHILDHOOD IN REVIVIM

R’ Salama took a long and winding road until he reached the light of Chassidus. At the age of bar mitzva he learned with a rabbi in the neighborhood and was interested in Yiddishkait. He began attending minyan at the shul and even regularly attended shiurim. “Instead of paying attention in school, I read Musar [moral] works and stories of tzaddikim,” he says with a smile.

Later on, he attended a Litvishe yeshiva and was turned off. “The threatening approach didn’t work for me. In my parents’ home and that of my grandparents I experienced G-d as a merciful G-d, not as Someone waiting for His sons to sin so He can pounce on them with severe punishments.” 

He was so turned off that at 18 the only thing he kept was not smoking on Shabbos, a decision he stuck with even when he was drafted into a combat unit.

“One day, during my army service, my friends and I experienced a miracle. We were manning a post when two terrorists got in and shot in every direction. The bullets whistled above the soldiers’ heads. One of them was hit in the chest and what saved him was his dog tag which took a direct hit. We lost two comrades in this terrorist incident at the end of which the terrorists were killed.”

After two years of service, Adir was injured in training and did not return to his unit. Because he went AWOL he was in prison for two and a half months where he met the chaplain, the shliach, R’ Yoel Shemtov. Adir began attending Tanya classes. “I felt that this book had been written for me. I suddenly felt that Judaism was a good fit for my soul. After a while, I decided to learn in yeshiva.

“R’ Shemtov heard of my decision and he recommended the yeshiva in Ramat Aviv. I went there for a two week trial and stayed for two years.”

After five months of learning in yeshiva, R’ Salama felt strong enough to start reaching out to others.

“Every off-Shabbos I would go to my parents and didn’t rest for a minute. This started on Thursday with a shiur in Tanya and a farbrengen, and on Friday I would go on mivtza t’fillin at the local high school that I had attended. On Shabbos I would review the Rebbe’s sichos in shul between Mincha and Maariv.”

This was R’ Salama’s routine until he flew off on K’vutza. Before he left, he was surprised with a big goodbye party organized by his friends.

“About two hundred people from all over the neighborhood came to the farbrengen. There were niggunim and a special Chassidishe atmosphere. Shluchim from nearby neighborhoods were also there.”

When his year on K’vutza was over, a shidduch idea came up. After meeting Miriam several times, they decided to marry and the wedding took place in Oholei Torah in Crown Heights.

“We lived in Crown Heights for a year and a half where I finished learning for smicha by R’ Labkowski. Then we returned to Eretz Yisroel, to Revivim, with our oldest daughter, in order to prepare another place in the world for the hisgalus of the Rebbe MH”M.

“While I was in 770 for two years, I was bothered by the fact that when I had started working in Revivim many had become interested in Judaism, and then I had walked away from it all and hadn’t left anyone to continue the work. What bothered me the most was that I had left in the middle of teaching Tanya to dozens of people. We were already in the middle of Chapter 10. 

“On the flight back to Eretz Yisroel with plans to settle in the neighborhood, I began learning the daily Tanya and was flabbergasted. It was Chapter 10 at just the place we had stopped two and a half years ago. I considered this incredible Divine Providence that the shlichus was meant to continue from the place we had left off.

“We soon found an apartment near the main shul. A Litvishe rav who lectured there every week asked me to replace him because he was leaving Rishon L’Tziyon. People were happy to meet me again and were ready to learn and listen to Chassidus.”

R’ Salama says that he merits constant providence from the Rebbe and endless brachos. That is how he received (from the gabbai of the shul) the land which is nearby so he could start a Chabad House there to serve the residents of the neighborhood. He also received the city permits quickly, donations came in too, and the Chabad House is up. Every person in Revivim knows that this place is his home and he can walk in whenever he likes. There are shiurim and t’fillos for men, women, and children, who have special weekly programs aside from seasonal ones. 

Last year, a magnificent Aron Kodesh was built in the Chabad house which was made to look like the one in 770. In this too, R’ Salama went L’chat’chilla Aribber.

Before the Yomim Tovim, they brought in their first Torah scroll:

“In the brochure we made when we were building our Chabad House we wrote the costs of each stage of the construction. My wife suggested that we put a Torah on the list, and since then we showed it to every donor, even though the Chabad House had already been built. Then, one of the mekuravos surprised us and said she wanted to buy a Torah for us. She had received an inheritance and gave us a tenth. I was very happy with her donation and we have a Torah with K’sav Ari and the crown is identical to the crown on the Rebbe’s little Torah scroll.”

MIRACLES ABOUND

Writing to the Rebbe through the Igros Kodesh is a central aspect of hiskashrus in Revivim, and the miracle stories keep happening.

“A number of years ago, my mother complained about back pain. Tests showed that she had gall stones. The doctors wanted to operate to remove her gall bladder. For my mother, this would have been her first operation. She had a date set for the operation but panicked and asked me to write to the Rebbe. I wrote and the answer I opened to was in Yiddish and I didn’t understand a word. I told her I’d ask in yeshiva and get back to her.

“The answer was written to a woman who was in a hospital and the Rebbe wrote that Hashem would help her receive the right treatment which would help in her condition. I called my mother and she said she was already on the bed heading for surgery. I told her the answer and we were both amazed by the precision of the answer. The Rebbe wrote “who is now in the hospital” which was the case. 

In another story:

“In the neighborhood lives a young couple whom I knew when I grew up here. The husband is my age and we are good friends for years. Some years had passed since they married and they did not have children. He told me about how sad he and his wife were about the situation. They went to top doctors, did treatments, but nothing had helped. I suggested that he write to the Rebbe but for some reason this wasn’t done.

“One day, I called him about something and he told me he would get back to me the next day because he was busy. The next day he called me and said he couldn’t answer me because he was going with his wife to the hospital. The situation had made her very nervous and she had collapsed. I told him that I would write to the Rebbe for them. I asked him to make a good hachlata which he did. 

“I immediately sat down to write to the Rebbe and ask for a bracha. The answer I opened to was simple and direct. It was a letter to a woman which says that G-d’s blessing for children comes through strengthening and being meticulous in the laws of Family Purity.

“I called him back and begged him to do as the Rebbe said. My wife spoke with his wife and both of them attended shiurim at the Chabad House. The wife even attended the shiur on Taharas Ha’mishpacha that we had. A year later their first daughter was born; a year after that, they had a second daughter. Then they made a sort of thanksgiving party for their girls with no fewer than 600 people, family, and many friends. They invited me to tell about the bracha they received from the Rebbe.”

R’ Salama has many stories. Here is another one:

“In our neighborhood lives a woman who was forty and still hadn’t married. In her younger years she had gone through a tough time from which she had long since recovered, but her history was still known in the neighborhood which made it hard for her to do a shidduch. People thought she would just remain single.

“She came into the Chabad House one day and asked to write to the Rebbe. I explained to her how it’s done and she made a good hachlata, gave tz’daka, and wrote everything on her mind to the Rebbe. She opened the Igros Kodesh and I saw a clear answer with a bracha for starting a home in Israel. I was excited and even wished her mazal tov. I told her that according to the Rebbe’s answer, she was about to find her husband which is what actually happened a few months later.

“Because of her visit to us, she became more committed to mitzva observance. She invited us to the wedding and during the Sheva Brachos she asked me to tell everyone how she came to marry.”

FRIDAY NIGHT ENCOUNTER

Since the Chabad House opened, R’ Salama and his wife have succeeded in drawing many mekuravim around them who have made progress in their mitzva observance, each in his way and at his pace. Some completely changed their lifestyles and some strengthened the observance of basic mitzvos like Shabbos, t’fillin, and Family Purity. When we asked for stories, R’ Salama chose a story about his cousin:

“Every so often we decide to add to our usual Chabad House activities. A few years ago, we decided to give a gift to the Rebbe and to make a big Kiddush in the center of the old industrial area which is near our neighborhood. During the day, the area serves as an industrial zone with factories and work places, but at night the area turns into a place where thousands of kids hang out. The numbers double, I’m sorry to say, on Friday night. We found a good spot in the center of the area, I bought refreshments, I arranged for chairs and tables, and after the Friday night davening I went there along with someone else.

“At a certain point, I left the other fellow there to tell people about the Kiddush, and I went to get the tables and chairs. In the doorway of one of the clubs, I suddenly caught sight of my cousin who was holding a cigarette. He looked at me in astonishment – what was I doing there?!

“I told him and he loved the idea and wanted to help. After everything was set up and dozens of people had gathered around us, we all sang Shalom Aleichem and Eishes Chayil and then I made Kiddush. The atmosphere was so positive that the young people started dancing with more and more of them joining in.

“This event so inspired my cousin that right after Shabbos he began asking about our work and became a regular attendee at the shiurim and farbrengens. He spent a few Shabbasos at the yeshiva in Ramat Aviv and eventually became a baal t’shuva.”

Within a relatively short time, R’ Salama has made major changes which in other places take a long time. Yet his spacious building, the time spent with the many mekuravim, and the daily activities cost a fortune.

“Our approach, which has proven itself time and again, is to focus on doing, and Hashem sends the money. It may sound fantastical but it’s the reality. When people see a shliach doing things, they are happy to help, even without being asked. You need to strengthen your emuna and it works.”

R’ Salama has many examples to illustrate this:

“After we got the lot, we had to build the foundation for the building. We had to pay the contractor so he could buy material and do the work. There was also the option of our buying the material and bringing a contractor separately which is a more exhausting way of doing it. I tried fund-raising but was unsuccessful. Whomever I spoke to turned me down. When I saw how it was going, I sat down and began learning the D’var Malchus, because I remembered that the Rebbe wrote that when you learn Torah, it brings abundance down from Heaven. I hoped it would be that way and that is precisely what happened. The contractor who had been involved in the project throughout called me as I was learning. He said that his friend who ran a store for building supplies heard about our plans to build a Chabad House, and had decided to donate all the material in the merit of his family. The next day, trucks came and unloaded merchandise. 

“I thanked him and remained seated there for another long while, just amazed by the turn of events. 

“After the building was ready, we were left with a debt of nearly 10,000 sh’kalim and I had no idea where I would get the money from. Two days before I had to pay up, the phone rang and it was a mekurav of mine from Manhattan from the days that I did mivtza t’fillin when I was on K’vutza. He told me that the year after the passing of his father was almost over and he was planning on making a trip to Eretz Yisroel and would be pleased to meet with me.

“I was happy to meet with him after not seeing him for a long time. A day before we met, he called again to say he had an envelope for me and he asked whether I wanted dollars or shekels. I said it did not make a difference. The truth is that I was surprised because although I knew he had a business in Manhattan, he wasn’t rolling in money. 

“He came to my home and gave me an envelope with 2000 dollars, a sum almost identical to the amount I had to pay immediately.”

MOSHIACH AT THE FOREFRONT

R’ Salama doesn’t rest on his laurels. Before Rosh HaShana, he signed a contract to rent a building that is near the Chabad House which he plans to use as a soup kitchen that will provide hot meals for hundreds of poor people, as well as warm clothing and food baskets.

“The Chabad House provides both spiritual and material aid. We have been working a long time in conjunction with the welfare department in the city, and when you become aware of the extent of the poverty, it is hard to remain indifferent,” he says.

The day I visited the Chabad House was a Sunday. This is the day that one of the most popular shiurim is given, on the weekly D’var Malchus.

In general, anyone who visits the Chabad House will immediately feel the special chayus for Inyanei Moshiach and Geula. The many mekuravim accept the messages matter-of-factly.

“We are shluchim and this is the shlichus the Rebbe assigned us, to publicize the Besuras Ha’Geula and to instill the anticipation of the Geula in everything,” says R’ Salama. He says that if this is what the shliach is about, then it doesn’t elicit questions, doubts and challenges from the mekuravim.