Don’t Forget ‘Small Town’ Shliach

Dear Friends,

People who know us are aware that we live in Miami, have a comfortable house, a beautiful Shlichus and a wonderful growing family.

What they may not know is that due to the small community we live in, and the small donor base we have, we basically just manage to cover our programs, classes and community Shabbat dinners and Holiday events with the donations we get from our local pool of donors.

What they might not know is that after eleven years of living here in this beautiful city with less than 500 Jews, yet most, if not all, who know us and are in some way involved, we are still conducting services in our living room, dining room and backyard, at times in tents.

What they may not know is that it is a struggle to cover what might not seem like a large Chabad budget, yet sometimes it’s to large for us. (And yes, there are many nights we don’t sleep.)

What they might not know is that this shliach devotes half his day to teaching in the local Chabad School to make ends meet, and devotes his summers to making Camp Gan Israel Miami the best place to be.

What they may not know about is the 74 year old man who put tefillin on for the first time ever, or the woman in her 80th year of life who lit Shabbos candles for the first time. How about the couple who lit chanukah menorah for the very first time in their home because the father is Christian and the mother is a Jew, yet the whole family considered themselves non Jews because of the way their dad was raising them. These are the individuals we meet daily.

What they may not know is that every night of the week there are classes going on while the kids have to stay quietly in their rooms almost on a nightly basis…

Our younger children thinks that it’s normal to set up the house as a Shul each week. It’s normal for them to always shlep folding tables and chairs in and out and move the Aron Kodesh on a weekly basis…

My kids know that each Jew that walks through our door is literally another treasure and get so excited when we meet a Jewish person whom we’ve never met before. Their faces light up!

We know that we aren’t the only ones trying to reach the “kol echad viechad”. There are many shluchim in big towns and small towns that are doing the holy work of shlichus daily.

However the shluchim in big towns usually have a larger donor base and a larger budget with a lot more local potential.

We know what we have and what we are working with and we have chosen to have mesiras nefesh and stick with it, even if at times we don’t cover what we need to. And there are many times like that. Yet,there are also times when we’ve had open and revealed miracles, such as an anonymous donor showing up on our doorstep and writing us a check for $5,000 just when that was the amount we needed to cover the remainder of our program.

Even if at times it means we will need to cover a program on our own, or ask our parents for help so our kids can go to New York for the kinus, we would never give up what we do.

Because we love what what we do with a passion.

We have goals BUT we need Anash. We need our friends. We need our family. We need our community, but the “small town” Shliach and Chabad House really needs YOU in order to make big things happen and get out of their living room.

So can you be there for the Small Town Shluchim? And please don’t ignore them. And don’t be turned off from giving to these campaigns. If anything this makes your dollar, or 5 dollars go further than you ever could’ve imagined.

Please click here to donate.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts,
Rabbi Mendy and Tzippy Weiss