Yosef Samuels: Binding Jews To Judaism

By: Mimi Notik

It all started 40 years ago.

One Monday morning, Yosef Samuels woke abruptly to his father’s announcement that war had broken out in Israel. The year was 1967, and Samuels was a young yeshiva student. He hurriedly made his way to 770 Eastern Parkway, the Brooklyn address of the Lubavitch World Headquarters, to join others in seeking guidance from the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson.

But when he got to the doors, he was halted by Rabbi Dovid Raskin, head of the Lubavitch Youth Organization. Addressing the student’s jumpiness, Rabbi Raskin simply told him, "You have to go put tefillin on people."

Indeed, in his public remarks on the previous Shabbat, the Rebbe addressed the mitzvah of tefillin with a unique vigor. Quoting various Talmudic passages, he spoke about tefillin ensuring the safety of our brothers and sisters in Israel. That Shabbat, the Rebbe gave specific instructions to go out and find other Jewish men to perform the important mitzvah. But his orders took some digesting.

"Nobody knew what the Rebbe wanted," said Samuels, "Who knew how to approach a stranger and tell him to roll up his sleeve? You can’t just do something like that!"

Samuels knew what he had to do. A bank stood across from 770; without delay, Samuels marched right in. With bravery he didn’t know he had, him, the yeshiva student went straight to the president of the bank. "You know there’s a war?" he asked him. The bank president nodded yes and, in an unimaginably ideal response, asked, "What can I do?"

Now, many years later, Samuels tells the rest of the story with wonderment in his voice: "Here was a banker looking at a penniless yeshiva boy. But when I told him about tefillin, he got up and took me upstairs to his private office." It was there in that office that Samuels put tefillin on someone for the very first time.

It was a moment that shaped the rest of his life.

Since that day in the small office atop a Brooklyn bank, Samuels has virtually never put his tefillin bag down, committed to a lifestyle that has by now touched close to a hundred thousand lives.

"Whatever I do is connected to tefillin," said Samuels. "It is the air I breathe."

Wherever he is, there are his tefillin: at community events, hospitals, shopping centers, on planes and anywhere else imaginable. When guests are expected for Shabbat, he phones them to ensure they come before sundown, lest they miss the opportunity to put on tefillin.

When he gives a class, his students often leave with more than new information – they take away a lasting inspiration from a mitzvah that, as he clearly sees it, effectuates a strong connection that rejuvenates their inherent bond with Torah and mitzvot.

"The Six Day War was a very powerful time," he said. "There was a massive spiritual awakening among the people."

He recalled visiting universities on Fridays. With a small group of friends, he would stand for hours putting tefillin on students. One time, at Queens College, they had a line that snaked down countless steps and into the cafeteria. Once, the swarms of people wanting to put on tefillin kept Samuels and his fellow yeshiva students there until they had to rush back home for Shabbat. They were still driving when sundown, and the onset of Shabbat, was moments away. They had no choice but to park, lock everything into the car and continue home by foot.

"Someone who puts on tefillin with others has the opportunity to really see the greatness of people, of their souls," he explained. "This affects the way he interacts with people, friends and family, bringing a renewed respect for everyone. When one rolls up his sleeves, you’re watching the greatness of a Jew."

"People often become serious and very emotional," he added. "No one wraps tefillin without some deep emotion. Nobody walks away from it apathetic."

Plenty of Jews have found their Jewish connection to Judaism through Samuels’s tefillin. One such person, Scott Heifetz, became close to the rabbi while mourning the loss of his father, a college professor who learned with Samuels. After the funeral, the son discovered his father’s tefillin bag and asked Samuels what he should do with them.

The rabbi’s natural response changed Scott’s life: "Well, you have to put them on." Today, Heifetz lives a religious life and testified that "putting on tefillin is certainly a catalyst for doing other mitzvot."

Samuels says he is still looking to inspire others. "There is so much to accomplish, we need more to join."

Mimi the mythbuster's Myth #7: Chabad Goes to the Middle of Nowhere

Visit mimi's blog at www.livefromthehilltop.com

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I was visiting some friends from a non-Chabad seminary and found myself in a class on the subject of Jewish outreach. The teacher was dispensing a lot of struggling advice and inspiration on the topic. In all her explaining and descriptions, she aimed to encourage the young women in the class to be involved in outreach in some form.

Then, she said something that I had hear many times before, but, in this particular context, caught my attention.

"However you want to reach out, you can do it" she said, "you don't have to be like Chabad and go out to the middle of nowhere."

Everyone looked at me - the Chabadnik in the classroom.

I cracked a smile, partially for the sake of some response, but mostly because I love nothing more than the feeling of being a notable Chabadnik.

Of course, the Chabad mention got my attention - but, inside, the teacher's words had me thinking.

Chabad goes to the middle of nowhere, eh?

Why are people who believe in a place called "nowhere" giving classes on spreading Judaism to the world?

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What the teacher meant to say is that she believes in a place called nowhere, and - never having visited a Chabad emissary herself - finds it very hard to suggest to her class to do such a thing.

But, the teacher is right.

Going to the middle of nowhere is indeed one of the most absurd things I've heard.

The truth is, I wouldn't suggest it to anyone myself.

I mean, if you are nowhere, you're going to have a pretty hard time reaching out.

So how, then, does Chabad do it?

The truth is, Chabad goes to places that everyone else thinks is nowhere, and shows the world how it truly is a somewhere .

Chabad does this because we can't tolerate that there is an actual place - not a "nowhere!" - without Jewish influence. It is our strong adversity to this nowhere concept that sends us into farm towns, ice worlds, and the seemingly empty spaces of the world.

It's like we have some insider information. While everyone walks around ignoring the reality of all kinds of hometowns by referring to them as "nowhere", Chabad just knows that there must be a house to buy, a building to turn int a shul, and Jews to invite for Shabbos - all in this place that everyone insists doesn't exist.

You refer to a place as "nowhere," and the Chabadnik doesn't get it. Nowhere just isn't in the Chabad language.

Nowhere is when you're lost in a car, and your friend asks you on the phone, "where are you?" You're completely lost and have to admit, "I'm nowhere."

Nowhere is the place you were when you walk in past curfew and your mother asks, "where have you been?"

But, really, nowhere is what you call other places when you think that where you are is the only place that is worthy of being on the map.

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When the Rebbe sent emissaries to various places, he was saying, "There exists a place. A somewhere. Go there."

Because Chabad doesn't go to the middle of nowhere, the most barren cities have Mikvahs.

Because Chabad doesn't go to the middle of nowhere, Jews in Fairfield, Iowa have pictures of the Rebbe next to their Menorah.

Because Chabad doesn't go to the middle of nowhere, there is Kosher meat for a growing Jewish "hick town."

Because Chabad doesn't go to the middle of nowhere, you can be stranded anywhere in the world and still have a place for Shabbos.

Because Chabad doesn't go to the middle of nowhere, a Shliach has to tell his visiting ambassadors to take a left at "Conshohocken Rd."

Around the world, Chabad emissaries are uprooting the notion of nowhere, even among the cities own inhabitants.

Dave has been living in his small southern town for quite some time now. Although he likes the quiet life, he often things about moving to a somewhere, a city bubbling with more life - and certainly more Jewish life. One day, he walks into the local dry cleaners and finds a Rabbi picking up his suit. They get to taking, and - you know the rest of the story. Later, he reports how awesome it was to run into a bearded Jew in the middle of nowhere. He recalls that, at that very moment, he realized that his little hometown is a somewhere. He doesn't have to move to New York now. There is a Chabad house right around the corner - he aint goin', well, nowhere.

In Eugene, Oregon, a Rabbi teaches the Parsha to college students. In Bellingham, Washington, Jews are being treated to the most celebratory holiday parties. In Guatemala City, traditional parents are able to send their children to a fun Jewish camp. In Aiya Napa, Cyprus, Israeli's are hearing Kiddush for the first time. In Amersfoort, Netherlands, family purity is becoming a reality for many Jewish women. In Omaha, Nebraska, Jews are getting answers to their biggest questions.

Meanwhile, an uninformd teacher in Israel is referring to such places as "nowhere."

Someone needs to clue her in to the fact that there are thousands of these so-called-nowheres that have Chabad houses open for visitation 24 hours, 365 days of the year.

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When our Rebbe sent the first Shliach to a place without a synagogue, without a Jewish school, and maybe even without a normal grocery store, the newly designated Shliach would pause in a moment of deep contemplation, unable to imagine the vacant scene in which he would soon arrive.

"Wow," he would think to himself as his eyes widened, "the Rebbe is really sending me somewhere."

From our own living rooms to the expanive fields in the south to the crowded streets in Bejing, the Rebbe's vision made every square inch of this world into a place where magic happens. He forced us to change the way we think of a happening place, a place worth being inhabited. He challenged us to spread holiness and give, no matter where we make our steps. The Rebbe saw a world where there was a home for every Jew - so that, when a Jew finds himself feeling like he is in the middle of life's nowhere, he will still find a Chabad house - somewhere.