By Tzemach Feller – COLlive Magazine

Miriam Mintz passed away as a Chabad Shlucha. She was just 30 years old when she returned her soul to her Maker on 4 Av, 5784. Her levaya began at the Talmudical Academy of Baltimore in Maryland and then passed by Lubavitch World Headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, New York. Both of these locations reflected her remarkable journey to becoming the co-director of a new Chabad Center.

Miriam didn’t grow up familiar with Lubavitch. She was raised in a loving, caring and Litvish home in Baltimore, Maryland. Her parents are a Ner Yisroel family, and while they had some exposure to Lubavitch—Miriam’s mother began lighting candles following the Rebbe’s call for even young girls to light Shabbos candles—they were firmly set in their way of life.

Miriam went to school at Bais Yaakov of Baltimore and continued her education at Me’ohr Bais Yaakov Teachers Seminary in Yerushalayim. She was passionate about her Yiddishkeit, her minhagim, and her zest for educating the next generation of yirei Shamayim.

Miriam got her Master’s in Education and began working as a special educator at Baltimore’s Talmudical Academy, where she was beloved by students and staff alike. “She was a powerful person; very fun, very passionate,” her friend Chana Bluming remembered. But she was firmly not Lubavitch. She said she had had very few positive encounters with Lubavitch growing up. “She later recalled that she didn’t like seeing the stickers of the Rebbe all over the place; it would bother her,” Bluming remembered.

Then she met Mendel Mintz, a firebrand Lubavitcher who became known for his activism. He creates gatherings of thousands to be inspired by the teachings of the Rebbe. Mendel has thrown his heart and soul into hafotzas hamaayanos, and Miriam knew that. When Mendel’s name came up as a potential Shidduch, Miriam was, at first, hesitant to go out with a Lubavitcher.
“More and more we delved into what it means to be a Lubavitcher chossid, and she realized that she doesn’t have to understand everything on day one,” said Mendel Mintz. “It would be a learning experience—and she really wanted to learn.”

Mendel, for his part, had his own hesitation.

“When Miriam’s name came up, on my end, I wasn’t sure—what would the Rebbe’s perspective be on marrying someone without a Lubavitch background?” he relates. The week Miriam’s name came up, the JEM “Here’s My Story” included a maaneh of the Rebbe. A shidduch had come up for a Lubavitch woman, and he wasn’t Lubavitch. She asked the Rebbe whether to go out, and the Rebbe said, “No one can foretell a person’s destiny. Perhaps it will be your privilege to marry a G-d-fearing person of fine character who — specifically through your influence — will learn [of the beauty of the chassidic way of life] and become a Chabad chossid.”

For Mendel, that wasn’t just a sign. It was also his method. He never imposed any minhag Chabad on Miriam, confident that she would learn and become a chossid on her own.

When they were dating, Mendel told Miriam that he had a dream: to move out on shlichus, to join the Rebbe’s army. A few dates later, Miriam said, “By the way, you don’t have to give up on that dream. I’m ready to move out on shlichus.”

As they dated, Miriam had some questions about Lubavitch, and Mendel connected her with Rabbi Shais Taub. After Miriam spoke with Rabbi Taub, he told Mendel, “One day she will be telling Lubavitchers “‘This is what the Rebbe really said.’”

As they began dating more seriously, Mendel shared a link with Miriam. It was a four-and-a-half-hour farbrengen with Rabbi Y.Y. Jacobson and Rabbi Taub. “I sent it to her and suggested she listen to a bit of it to understand where Chabad was coming from. Four-and-a-half hours later, she messaged me, ‘Done.’” Her curiosity had compelled her to watch the entire farbrengen.
They decided to get engaged, and Mendel suggested they make their engagement official with a visit to the Ohel, as is the Chabad custom. Miriam acquiesced, but “she didn’t like the idea of family and friends standing there, all the ‘paparazzi.’ She said, ‘This is like yechidus—we should go ourselves.’” And they did.

“Miriam felt she got the cream of the crop—the best bochur in Lubavitch,” Chana Bluming recalled. “She was very proud of her husband’s work. Whenever she would talk about it, her face would light up.”

And yet, marrying Mendel didn’t mean she had to follow her husband’s path. “She married me—she didn’t marry this lifestyle,” Mendel Mintz said simply. “Anything she did, she did because she wanted to.”

She began learning Chassidus for a half hour each night with Mendel, and was slowly drawn into the world that her Lubavitch friends had given her glimpses of over the years. “She was a learner. She got me to learn. I thought I was teaching her, but in truth, she made me understand Lubavitch hashkafos in a much deeper way. Certain things we were raised with, when someone challenges you, it inspires you to dig deeper.”

Bit by bit, she understood the hashkafos and minhagim of Chabad chassidim. “When a girl isn’t born into it, and decides to take on one hora’ah after the next, when they choose to do it, not because this is all they know, but because they understand it—that’s unique,” Mendel Mintz said.

Miriam was soon the one reminding her husband to bring his tefillin along wherever they went, just in case the opportunity arose to do mivtzoim. She encouraged Mendel to get a menorah for their car, and joining the Baltimore car menorah parade was the highlight of Chanukah for her. She loved visiting Crown Heights and joining the Chabad events on y’mei d’pagra. And she stood behind her husband in everything he did, encouraging him to expand his activities more and more.

Wanting Shlichus 100%

Together with Mendel, she decided that they would dedicate their lives to going on shlichus—to join the Rebbe’s Army. They reached out to Rabbi Shmuel Kaplan, the Regional Director of Chabad in Maryland, who connected them with Rabbi Nochum and Hindy Light, who direct Chabad of Anne Arundel County, an area of Maryland south of Baltimore.

“The Mintzes contacted us to see if there was any area of our shlichus that wasn’t being focused on; where they could contribute,” Hindy Light related. We came up with this area where we knew some people from there, but because it’s so far from our Center, people did not get involved much. It was an opportunity for them because they’d be close to Baltimore and she’d be able to continue teaching. She was an incredible educator, and she’d be able to do both teaching and the new shlichus at the same time.”

The couple would establish a Chabad House serving the Jewish community in Pasadena and Glen Burnie, suburbs of Baltimore in northern Anne Arundel County. The Mintzes sent groups of Merkos shluchim to the area, finding Jewish families who hadn’t yet connected with Chabad and helping determine the best location for their permanent move.

They visited the community several times. During one of the visits, the Lights were hosting a class, and the attendees came and said hello to the young couple. “We’re more of a small-town shlichus type, and it was exciting for the community to meet a new couple, to have our shlichus growing,” Light said.

Miriam’s innate talents shone from the outset. “Just from those short encounters, people really felt connected and excited about meeting her and getting to know her more,” Hindy Light related. “It had such an impact, she had that koach to really connect with people in a special way.”

“While she was excited to go, at the same time she was realistic about the challenges of opening up a Chabad Center from scratch,” said Hindy Light. “She really wanted to do it 100%.”

Hindy Light says she saw beautiful signs along the way to this appointment. “We went to the Ohel to ask for a bracha to expand the shlichus, and that day a letter was publicized addressed to a Jew in Annapolis,” Hindy Light recalled. “I’ve never seen such a letter before. that was a beautiful sign from Hashem.”

The Mintzes and Lights had spent many hours on Zoom discussing the pros and cons of various potential locations, as well as what programs the new shluchim would focus on. They had brought up Pasadena and Glen Burnie, and during that meeting Miriam had suggested that she would start a Mommy and Me program. “That night we got a request from a woman in Glen Burnie asking us to start a Mommy and Me,” Hindy Light related. “It was so clear that this was the right direction and the right thing to do.”

This past Gimmel Tammuz, Miriam farbrenged until 3:00 a.m. with her friends. “Miriam was excited to go on shlichus,” Chana Bluming related. “She was very excited to tell me how she’s moving to where my cousins are shluchim.”

The Mintzes went to the Ohel and said l’chaim with their Shliach Oseh Shliach. “When we finalized the shlichus and made a l’chaim, she shared that she was so excited to join the Merkos training session for new shluchos—she really wanted to be in it completely, and to really be there for the Yidden in that community,” Hindy Light said.

Miriam had been thrilled to hear that Merkos would be offering shlichus training in the summer, and immediately signed up for it—long before their shlichus position was official. As it happened, the training began the day after their shlichus contract was signed.

“It’s unbelievable: she wasn’t born into this idea; she really embraced it, and with so much simcha and so much energy. It’s really inspiring,” Hindy Light said.

During the new shluchos seminar, which Miriam thoroughly enjoyed, Merkos surveyed the new shluchos, asking what they hoped to gain from the seminar. Miriam wrote simply, “How to genuinely love a stranger just because they’re Jewish.” She took pages and pages of notes. She was looking forward to joining a meet-and-greet barbecue the Lights were planning, officially introducing the new couple to the community.

A few weeks before they were to move, she told Mendel’s grandmother, “At this point, I’m more excited to move on shlichus than Mendel is.”

Miriam was scheduled to undergo a standard outpatient fertility procedure on Monday, Rosh Chodesh Av. They traveled to New York on Sunday to daven at the Ohel and took the opportunity to bring their signed Shlichus contract to the Rebbe, asked for a Bracha for their new Shlichus, a Bracha for them to successfully build a family together, and to spend long happy years together.
Unfortunately, their plans were cut short, as the procedure caused complications that ultimately took Miriam’s life.

Miriam’s sudden passing leaves a void that is felt throughout Baltimore and Crown Heights.

“I will never understand the ways of Hashem,” Mendel said. “I don’t know why I was so lucky to have had Miriam for the time I did. She affected me in ways people will never understand.”