For many years, Jewish tourists who went to the tiny island called Isla Mujeres in northern Mexico were surprised to find out that this popular tourist spot did not have a Chabad presence. * Not any longer. Four years ago, R’ YY Ben Shimon and R’ MM Dayan opened a Chabad House there. * They tell about searching for a big menorah on the rooftops, about someone who donated $10,000 for Pesach outreach, about a tourist named Menachem Mendel whose story moved the tourists, and much more
Isla Mujeres is a pretty island, five miles long, with gorgeous beaches, in northern Mexico. Isla first gained international attention for its outstanding aquatic conditions. There is clear, warm water, abundant marine life, reefs and caves, and snorkeling sites abound. Most of Isla’s residents’ livelihood is from diving and fishing.
The island is divided into two sections. The southern part is where most of the hostels and hotels are and that is where the Chabad House is located. The Garrafon Reef Park, known worldwide for its beauty and snorkeling, kayaking and hiking, is in the northern part. There are breathtaking views and iguanas that freely roam. The park has a dolphin reef where you can swim with the dolphins and feed them. “Thousands of Israelis and other Jews visit the island every year,” says R’ Yosef Yitzchok Ben Shimon.
The Chabad House is on Hidalgo Street which is one of the main arteries of the island. The shluchim help tourists and Jewish visitors both materially and spiritually. At the Chabad House they receive information about hotels, stores, and attractions at a special price and can avail themselves of shiurim on Chassidus and Halacha. There is an active shul, kosher restaurants, and special events on Shabbos and Yomim Tovim.
“The Chabad House is open from early morning until late at night. The tourists find it a warm place that provides them with all their needs.”
The Chabad House was opened four years ago, on Chanuka, by R’ Yossi Ben Shimon and R’ Mendy Dayan, who went to the island as bachurim on Merkos Shlichus. The Chabad House is located in a spacious, two story building. On the first floor is a vegetarian restaurant which sells falafel, and there are offices. On the second floor is the shul, a meat restaurant, a kitchen, a place for tourists to sit down and phone service to Israel. The thousands of Israeli tourists who visit the island head for the Chabad House in order to take part in their activities and to enjoy the homey atmosphere.
On Isla you can open a window on every side of the building and see the ocean. This island is one of the ten most beautiful islands in the world according to the ratings on every tourist and vacation website worldwide.
“There are attractions, but the tourists who come here come mostly to relax. This provides us with plenty of work to do, because people are more open to asking questions and we are ready to answer and teach,” says R’ Yossi.
THE REBBE DIRECTED US TO SHLICHUS ON THE ISLAND
Although the Chabad House has been in existence for only four years, it is already a bustling place that is busy around the clock. The beginning was no picnic and the shluchim had to be determined in order to achieve this kind of success.
“We started our shlichus in Mexico in Playa del Carmen, by R’ Chaim Brod. We were there for about a year and learned how the Rebbe’s shlichus is supposed to look.
“Throughout that year, we were asked by tourists, again and again, why there wasn’t a branch of Chabad on Isla. People would stay on the island thinking they could spend Shabbos with Chabad, and were surprised to discover Chabad was not there. For example, after Pesach, about thirty tourists went to the Chabad House in Playa and expressed their dismay that on Pesach, when they were on Isla, such a famous island, they had nowhere to celebrate the holiday.
“When half a year later, the day after Yom Kippur, a group came into the Chabad House with the same complaint, saying they had nowhere to daven on the holy day, I began to think about opening a Chabad House on Isla.
“However, I had one concern. There had been couples who went there on shlichus but encountered hardships, and they didn’t last there. The problem is that unlike other islands frequented by tourists, progress still hasn’t reached it. American investors have not arrived yet, and the ones who run tourism on the island are local Mexicans.
“After Mendy and I finished our shlichus on Playa, we looked for a place of our own. When we returned to 770 we wrote to the Rebbe. We mentioned Isla and two other places, enumerating the pros and cons of each place. We asked for guidance and a bracha.”
When Mendy and Yossi read the answer, they were stunned.
“The first two lines began with the Rebbe expressing his joy about the opening of the center on the island. It is a letter addressed to Chabad activists in Morocco. The letter goes on to bless the activities there and that the acclimation be easy and successful. The Rebbe notes that Chanuka is coming up and gives a bracha that the activities during Chanuka be successful. We looked at one another in amazement. The day we wrote the letter was just two weeks before Chanuka. We hadn’t considered starting so quickly but we felt the Rebbe wanted it.”
The two young, dynamic shluchim felt that the letter was clearly directing them to Isla, for that was the only place mentioned in their letter that is on an island.
“In consultation with mashpiim, we decided this is a place we need to prepare for the Rebbe’s hisgalus. The initial money we had to raise was $10,000, just to start out,” said R’ Yossi. “I went to Mexico City where I have relatives and raised half the amount and Mendy raised the same amount in Florida. We were just young bachurim but we were very determined and ambitious.
“We arrived on the island for Chanuka with a few s’farim and other essential things for the maintenance of Jewish life. We found a room in a hotel and hung our Chabad House sign with a note in Hebrew about where the keys are when we are not there. We immediately began walking around and looking for the best place to put up a menorah. We heard that a few years earlier, R’ Barak Chetzroni of Canada had been active there over Chanuka and he said that the big menorah that he built was on a roof on some street on the island.
“We had some Israelis join us and we went from roof to roof. The locals, who are not used to Chabad activities, were quite surprised to see bachurim in suits and hats jumping from roof to roof. In the end, after a lot of searching, the menorah was found. It was repainted and set up in the center of the island with many tourists gathered round, as moved as we were. It was the first day and our first event on Isla, and since then the outreach has grown. The shluchim from Playa helped us a lot at first, and we always consult with and are helped by them.”
In the first months the room at the hotel served as the Chabad House. In the morning, the beds were folded and became chairs and on Shabbos the shluchim would rent a restaurant on the island and have the davening and Shabbos meals there. It was impossible to continue like this and they looked for a building where all their activities could take place. That wasn’t easy to find.
They finally found a suitable building which they renovated. It’s on a main street so that whoever goes to the island drops in.
“Good friends helped us buy the tables and chairs. On the first Shabbos we used candle light. Friends who turned into real partners from R’ Motti Anati’s community, who came to the Chabad House, made a nice donation with which air conditioners were bought. The island is near the equator and it is summer weather most of the year. On Purim day, the tourists, who included men of means, raised money to take care of the lighting and a kitchen was built which feeds hundreds of tourists a week.”
VICTORY OF LIGHT OVER DARKNESS
“The Rebbe says that holy things always come with difficulty, and ‘all beginnings are difficult.’ One Friday, about half a year after we started working here, while we were in the middle of getting ready for Shabbos and were expecting dozens of tourists that night, two policemen knocked at the door. They came in and told us that we have ten minutes to get out. They produced a warrant to close the place. We were in shock but we held on to the directives of the Rebbe and continued getting ready for Shabbos.
“Ten minutes went by and another policeman came with a warrant and a roll of police tape. The policeman went up to the top floor, closed the doors, and stuck police tape on them. ‘If this tape is removed you will get a stiff fine,’ the officer warned us. Within a few minutes we were outside the building and all the doors were locked. The owners of neighboring stores stood around us, happy at our misfortune.
“The policemen told us to go to the municipal offices which we did. We were sure that we would pay some fine and the place would be reopened, but that’s not what happened. They sent us from one clerk to another and each one accused us of baseless crimes. We had an immediate need for a lot of money for fines and the tourists who were on Isla at the time helped us in truly moving fashion. Surprisingly, one of the tourists, whose goal was to travel without spending money while relying on others, took out his credit card and made a nice donation.
“When two weeks passed and we saw that things were not moving, we called upon some people from the community in Mexico City. One of them sent us some lawyers to help us confront the municipal powers that be. Throughout this time, we received brachos from the Rebbe through the Igros Kodesh which we found encouraging.
“In the end, after the administration realized that we might soon publicize a big article in the most popular newspaper in Mexico that the municipality was working against Jewish sites on the island, they recanted on all their ridiculous demands and within two weeks, on Erev Shabbos, we were allowed to return to our place. Of course we immediately began our Shabbos preparations with the tourists happily helping us. We had a big farbrengen after Shacharis in which we told of the miracles that Hashem did for us and good resolutions were made.
“Business people told us that it generally takes six months to reopen an enterprise that was closed down by the police. They were amazed that it took us only two weeks. We eventually learned that a local couple was responsible for what happened. They were wealthy Mexicans who owned several hotels and businesses. They were nervous about our success and since they were influential in the local government they got them to close down the Chabad House. When the story was over, we did not know how to regard them from that point on, for a large part of our work involves helping tourists with places to sleep.
“We wrote to the Rebbe about this and the answer was all about increasing light and not dealing with darkness. So we prepared a sticker about the Seven Noachide Laws and asked for an appointment to meet with the couple. They agreed to meet and were quite surprised to see that we weren’t angry. Rather than talk about the Chabad House, we told them about the seven mitzvos, about the Rebbe, and about Chabad. They were very excited and wanted to learn more. They became our biggest helpers. When we have a problem with the city, we ask them for help and they resolve everything. They are invited to every event we make and enjoy being partners in our work.”
MAKING SOULS
“We put effort into keeping in touch with our visitors. We are in Eretz Yisroel now and every Shabbos we host tourists who were with us on Isla. Along with reminiscing about the Chabad House, we talk about deepening Jewish identity and moving forward with Torah and mitzvos.”
At this point, R’ Mendy joined the conversation and the two shluchim tell us stories about tourists who became interested in Judaism. R’ Mendy told about “Three tourists came to us on a trip after the army. They came to the Chabad House on Shushan Purim in order to put down their bags until they found a hotel. That night there was a Purim farbrengen in Playa, at R’ Brod’s Chabad House. Shluchim and tourists from Chabad Houses in the area attended. I invited these three guys to the farbrengen and they were happy to join.
“The farbrengen lasted all night in the course of which the three of them made good resolutions. One of them, Netanel, committed to putting on t’fillin every day and after that, he visited the Chabad House every day. From Isla he continued on to Central America and visited another ten Chabad Houses. In each place he became even stronger in Torah and mitzvos and at the end of his travels, before he returned home, he made a long stopover at 770. He became part of Beis Chayeinu, a real Tamim. He spent half a year there, attending shiurim in Chassidus, immersing in a mikva daily, davening and attending farbrengens. After receiving a bracha from the Rebbe, he returned to Eretz Yisroel and opened a souvenir shop in Hertzliya and developed strong connections with the local Chabad activists. His business grew and he returned to 770 two times.”
This is one story out of many about young people who became interested in Judaism, aside from many others who committed to putting on t’fillin regularly or to light Shabbos candles.
I asked how the shluchim were able to bring about such a deep change in people. The answer:
“It’s all from the Rebbe. We are just the channels between the Rebbe and them. The best approach is to do it in a matter-of-fact way, with all your heart. This point was brought home for me by a tourist who came to us from Eretz Yisroel. He is one of the biggest real estate agents and sellers in the center of the country and we consulted with him about a piece of land we wanted to buy. ‘You are uncertain and really don’t know what to do?’ When we said yes, he gave us musar. ‘I’ll tell you what I do before every deal, including deals that I am confident about. I write to the Rebbe through the Igros Kodesh. If there is a positive answer, I know there is a bracha in the deal. If not, then even if it looks good to me, I don’t sign on it. And you, shluchim of the Rebbe, don’t know what to do?!’
“To us this was an amazing lesson about how Elokus is accepted matter-of-factly. You just have to say things straightforwardly, without p’shetlach.”
THE STORY
OF MOSHE LEVY
Shabbos is a terrific day at every Chabad House, especially at Chabad Houses for tourists. Numerous young people want a Jewish atmosphere or a taste of home and they visit the Chabad House for t’fillos and Shabbos meals. But on Isla that feeling is felt daily when the morning begins with a shiur in Chassidus, followed by davening and then breakfast. The good feeling that is created and the fact that nobody is rushing anywhere, makes for great receptivity. People are willing to listen, and many of them get involved through the shiurim and make good resolutions in mitzva observance.
Two years ago, one of the tourists told a moving story. Ido Galili attended a Chassidus class and then shared his personal story. He said that a few years ago he was a commander in the Givati Brigade. There was a time when morale and motivation were low. He gave a lot of thought as to what to do about it and finally decided to address his men on the topic of love for Eretz Yisroel and Jewish history. He spoke and they listened but it did not look as though his talk was a success.
As he listened in to conversations emanating from the soldiers’ tents, his instinct was validated. Ido had to do something to raise morale. He went to the command offices where he poked around in the library and found a book that documented all the soldiers who received medals for bravery from the IDF. Most of them were no longer alive but there was one, named Levy, who had received a medal for endangering his life during the Yom Kippur War in order to save his men. Ido read his story, got his soldiers together again, and told them the story. This time, it looked as though he had reached their hearts.
The soldiers were motivated and worked as they were expected to work. Some months later Ido was released from army duty but he was first invited to attend a trip to Poland to the death camps, along with officers from all branches of the army. When they got to the hotel in Poland, they were told that they would be hearing a lecture from a former IDF soldier. How amazed he was to see Moshe Levy himself, who told his story. Ido went over to him after the lecture and told him how happy he was to meet him. He told Levy how his story had raised the soldiers’ morale.
That night, Levy told him his incredible rescue story and then said he had the privilege of meeting with the Lubavitcher Rebbe along with a group of other injured soldiers. Afterward, he had a private audience with the Rebbe in which the Rebbe encouraged him to start putting on t’fillin. The Rebbe even asked him to go to the office where the secretary had a pair of t’fillin waiting for him. And since then, the first thing he does in the morning is put on t’fillin.
“Ido told this story at the Chabad House. It was worth no less than dozens of shiurim in Chassidus. People were moved and impressed. The most moving thing, for me, was hearing from Ido, who is not a religious fellow, that after hearing Moshe Levy’s story he also does not miss a day without putting on t’fillin.”
I asked how the shluchim raise the money they need for their work. They said:
“When you do, the bracha comes. On Erev Pesach of two years ago, we had a lot of expenses and when we arrived a few days before Pesach, we had no money to work with. We wrote to the Rebbe and asked for a bracha. The answer we opened to was all about emuna, that everything is in the hands of heaven. We understood from this to continue as usual and Hashem would provide.
“The day before Pesach, an Israeli showed up and said that he met a very wealthy person who lives on Cancun nearby, who told him that he wants to meet a shliach of the Rebbe. I went with this Israeli while Mendy continued making preparations for Yom Tov.
“We arrived at a beautiful home on Cancun. The older man showed me a dollar he had received from the Rebbe and to my surprise he said he felt great gratitude toward the Rebbe. Whatever I would ask him for help, he said he would happily give me. I was flabbergasted.
“I made a quick calculation of how much money we needed for all of Pesach and said, $10,000. The man got up, went to his room and came back with an envelope with $10,000 in cash. The power of emuna.”
The shluchim note that during the past two years they have made use of professional consultants in constructing a long-term vision in carrying out the directives of the Rebbe, and preparing a game plan for activities and fundraising. They are seeing much heavenly assistance and success with it.
As for spreading the Besuras Ha’Geula:
“We talk about the Besuras Ha’Geula and the Goel matter-of-factly and the tourists accept it. When we proclaim Yechi, and refer to the Rebbe as Melech HaMoshiach, that is also accepted.
“I see how the world is ready for the Geula, even non-Jews. There are many stores on the island that have a picture of the Rebbe in the window. They know that the Rebbe is our father and the father of the entire world. When we come back from 770, they ask us whether we went to visit our father. We buy them books in Spanish about observing mitzvos and they pass the books around. In recent days we have been working on a pilot program for teaching the Sheva Mitzvos in the schools on the island.
“The world is ready for the Geula. When you convey the message properly and with the simplicity of emuna, it draws people in. To them it is obvious that if we left our comfortable lives in Eretz Yisroel and all other religious communities in the world, the reason has to do with the fact that we are on the Rebbe’s shlichus to bring Moshiach.
DEVELOPMENTS
Chabad in Isla is not about to rest on its laurels. They are nearing completion of the process of buying a lot and building a big Chabad House which will have a mikva, a guest house, a shul and hall for events as well as two kosher restaurants, dairy and meat.
At the end of the interview, R’ Yossi thanks his wife, Rivka, for her help and support. She does tremendous work with the female tourists.
A great simcha was recently celebrated as R’ Mendy Dayan married his wife Ruchama. They plan on returning together to Isla to step up the work in preparing for kabbalas p’nei Moshiach.