By Leon Cohen
of The Chronicle staff
At the very beginning of the Six Day War in 1967, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, decreed that Lubavitch Chasidim could help Israel by encouraging Jewish men to perform the commandment of putting on tefillin.
A student named Yoseph Samuels decided to begin at once. Across the street from his Brooklyn yeshiva was a bank that had a high level official who was Jewish. So there Samuels went, visited the man in his office and helped him lay tefillin.
Decades later, Rabbi Yoseph Samuels, now director of Chabad of Downtown in Milwaukee, still remembers that “great experience.”
It showed how the Rebbe’s directives “help us discover how wonderful a Jewish soul is; how if you approach them with love, they will open up,” Samuels said in an interview at The Chronicle office.
This March, Samuels will begin his 30th year of work in Milwaukee with his wife and partner, Chashy, to reach and teach the “wonderful Jewish souls” they have found in the Milwaukee area.
The Joseph and Rebecca Peltz Center for Jewish Life in Mequon will mark the occasion by honoring the couple at a “Celebration Dinner” on Wednesday, March 4, beginning at 5 p.m., at the center, 2233 W. Mequon Rd.
Other honorees are Pamela and Ron Kohlenberg, who will receive the Community Service Award, and Jan and Aaron Katz, who will receive the Pillar of Chesed Award.
Until Moshiach comes
Rabbi Menachem Rapoport, executive director of the Peltz Center, said he wonders “why hasn’t [Samuels] been honored” previously in the community.
“He’s one of the greatest scholars Milwaukee has today,” Rapoport said, but “what’s most phenomenal about him is his love for people and his dedication to people as individuals.… His connection is not via any medium, but is person-to-person.”
One reason may be Samuels’ own reluctance. The center had approached Samuels “several times” for honors, but “we couldn’t get him to agree.” Even for this 30th year milestone, “it took a lot of arm twisting,” Rapoport said.
Indeed, Samuels himself said that the Peltz Center actually is “honoring all these wonderful people who put on tefillin and study Torah and permit me to do the things I do. That’s whom they’re honoring.”
As for his wife, the rabbi said she “is my complete partner.” Moreover, “there are a lot of people she teaches and who consult with her and confide in her.”
Karen Forman, co-chair of the dinner with her husband Marty, said she has known Chashy Samuels for more than 20 years, when the Formans moved to the Milwaukee area from Chicago.
“She was the first person to welcome me at her home with a Shabbat dinner,” said Forman. “Every conversation I’ve ever had with her has really reflected her gentleness and sincerity and great faith.… She is the most understated and humble person with so much wisdom and spirituality.”
Rabbi Samuels has always regarded himself as primarily a teacher, ever since the Rebbe told him, “You should be involved in Jewish education” shortly after his marriage to Chashy in 1969.
He served as a teacher in a Lubavitch day school in Miami, Fla., and worked at the Chabad in Seattle, Wash. He had known Rabbi Yisroel Shmotkin, director of Chabad of Wisconsin, earlier, and when Shmotkin asked Samuels to come to Milwaukee in 1980, the Rebbe gave his blessing.
At first, Samuels was education director and taught at a community high school that didn’t last. In 1990, he opened Chabad of Downtown, creating an operation that is funded independently from the general Milwaukee Chabad operation, but that still coordinates with it, Samuels said.
In that operation, Samuels teaches classes and individuals, and is open for downtown workers who want to study or pray during their lunch hours. He also officiates at life cycle events; and he travels to Richland Center, about a hour’s drive northwest of Madison, “a few times a year” to meet with the small Jewish community there.
Yoseph and Chashy have seven children, of whom the youngest is still in high school and the oldest son directs a Chabad operation in Simsbury, Conn.
As for the future, Samuels said he plans to “welcome the Moshiach [Messiah] whenever he should appear, which hopefully will be very, very soon.” Until then, “there are always more Jews to reach, learn with and interact with.”
The celebration dinner costs $50 per person. For more information, contact the Peltz Center for Jewish Life, 262-242-2235
Showing posts with label Wisconsin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wisconsin. Show all posts
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Monday, December 22, 2008
Milwaukee menorah parade marks start of Hanukkah
Associated Press
4:52 PM CST, December 20, 2008
MILWAUKEE - A parade of cars with menorahs mounted on the roofs will celebrate the start of Hanukkah in the Milwaukee area Sunday.
About 50 vehicles are expected to drive from Red Arrow Park downtown along Lake Michigan to the Bayshore Town Center mall. A parade of similar vehicles from the suburb of Mequon will join the parade north of the city.
The international Chabad Lubavitch group organizes similar parades worldwide. The Milwaukee parade is organized by Lubavitch of Wisconsin.
The 3 p.m. parade will be followed at 4:30 p.m. by a menorah lighting celebration at the Bayshore mall.
The eight-day holiday known as the Festival of Light celebrates how a one-day supply of oil found when the Jews recaptured the Temple in Jerusalem miraculously lasted eight days.
4:52 PM CST, December 20, 2008
MILWAUKEE - A parade of cars with menorahs mounted on the roofs will celebrate the start of Hanukkah in the Milwaukee area Sunday.
About 50 vehicles are expected to drive from Red Arrow Park downtown along Lake Michigan to the Bayshore Town Center mall. A parade of similar vehicles from the suburb of Mequon will join the parade north of the city.
The international Chabad Lubavitch group organizes similar parades worldwide. The Milwaukee parade is organized by Lubavitch of Wisconsin.
The 3 p.m. parade will be followed at 4:30 p.m. by a menorah lighting celebration at the Bayshore mall.
The eight-day holiday known as the Festival of Light celebrates how a one-day supply of oil found when the Jews recaptured the Temple in Jerusalem miraculously lasted eight days.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Rabbis agree with IRS rules, say shuls shouldn’t endorse candidates
By Leon Cohen and Andrea Waxman
of The Chronicle staff
Some 33 Christian pastors in 22 states — including one in West Bend, according to an Associated Press report — recently attacked what they believe to be restraints on freedom of speech in religious institutions during elections.
But their effort receives little sympathy from a group of Wisconsin congregational rabbis interviewed by The Chronicle last week.
The pastors participated in a project of the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, which the AP described as a conservative legal group.
The pastors devoted their sermons on Sept. 28 — which they called “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” — to endorsing candidates in the coming presidential election.
They did this to protest Internal Revenue Service rules instituted by Congress in 1954. These rules strip tax-exempt status from non-profit organizations, including religious institutions — and organizations like The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle — that endorse political candidates.
ADF contends, according to a release on its Web site, that these rules violate First Amendment freedom of speech rights of clergy; and the Pulpit Freedom Sunday project seeks to provoke a legal challenge to the rules.
“I think they are wrong,” said Rabbi Shaina Bacharach, spiritual leader of Congregation Cnesses Israel (Conservative) in Green Bay.
The IRS rules help to preserve lines separating church and state, and “I don’t like to see those boundaries crossed,” she said.
In fact, “I think Congress is doing us a favor” with these rules, said Rabbi Shlomo Levin of Lake Park Synagogue (Orthodox) in Milwaukee.
“Politics is polarizing and the clergy’s role should be to tone down the debate,” he said. “We should be humble and admit that it’s difficult to make good decisions.”
Rabbi E. Daniel Danson of Mount Sinai Congregation (Reform) in Wausau added, “When religious institutions move in lockstep with a party, they lose their voice.”
Moreover, just as certain Talmud rulings “build a fence around” Torah laws, so do these IRS rules “build a fence around the Constitution,” Danson said.
Moreover, at least one rabbi would maintain silence about candidates even if the IRS rules were changed to allow religious institutions to endorse them.
Rabbi Shmaya Shmotkin, spiritual leader of the Chabad Lubavitch-affiliated The Shul (Orthodox) in Bayside, said, “It’s been a long-standing policy of Lubavitch, instituted by the Rebbe, that as an institution we are not to be involved in politics.”
“The reason is the way we view our role: to enhance and serve every single Jew, regardless of ideology or political leanings,” he said.
“Anything that could potentially deter from that mission or make someone with a different view uncomfortable is in our view detrimental.” Therefore, “even if by law we were able to, we wouldn’t do it.”
Addressing issues
That is not to say that all local rabbis ignored the election when they spoke from the pulpit during the autumn holidays season.
Rabbi Jacob Herber, spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Israel (Conservative) in Glendale and president of the Wisconsin Council of Rabbis, said he has spoken “about issues related to this campaign and specifically about the harmful and dangerous rhetoric that is taking place.”
“I put [these messages] in the context of the charged political rhetoric [in Israel] that preceded the assassination of [Prime Minister] Yitzhak Rabin [in 1995],” Herber said.
Rabbi Laurie Zimmerman, spiritual leader of Congregation Shaarei Shamayim (Reconstructionist-Renewal) in Madison, also has spoken about issues relating to the elections.
In fact, on Yom Kippur, she discussed why immigration reform should be considered a Jewish issue, and “from now until the election, I will talk about the economy,” she said.
Rabbi Joseph Prass, associate rabbi at Congregation Shalom (Reform) in Fox Point, reported that his synagogue sponsored a Yom Kippur study session about the elections with Mordecai Lee, former state senator and now professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
The idea, Prass said, was to talk about the issues through a Jewish lens. “People were allowed to discuss this election, but … it was not meant to lead to one candidate or another.”
However, some local rabbis did try to avoid even dealing with political issues in their High Holidays addresses.
Rabbi Benzion Twerski of Congregation Beth Jehudah (Orthodox) said, “All my sermons were personal growth-oriented” during the holidays, ranging from the Jewish people’s “mission to the world” to repentance and how sinning is “beneath the majesty that is our souls.”
Rabbis for Obama
Some of the rabbis differed on whether they should publicly endorse candidates on their own, as rabbis but not as spiritual leader of their synagogues.
Rabbi Joshua Ben Gideon of Beth Israel Center (Conservative) in Madison did not address the election in any of his High Holidays sermons.
But he is one of eight Wisconsin signers among the 500 rabbis nation-wide who have signed onto a public letter from a group called Rabbis for Obama in support of Democratic presidential nominee Barak Obama. (The others are Rabbis Renee Bauer of Madison, Marc Berkson of River Hills, Jonathan Biatch of Madison, Dena Feingold of Kenosha, Michael Remson of Kenosha and Roxanne Shapiro of Fox Point, as well as Herber.)
However, as one can see on the Rabbis for Obama Web site, the rabbis are listed by name and locale, not by their institutional affiliations.
“I am expressing support for a candidate,” said Ben Gideon, but not in the name of a congregation, and “that is different than preaching from the bimah about a candidate.”
But Bacharach and Danson both refused to sign onto this. “I don’t believe I should publicly advocate for either candidate,” said Bacharach.
And although Danson said that “people I have respect for” signed onto the Rabbis for Obama letter, he declined because “this is one hard disconnect, supporting somebody officially even if not as rabbi of whatever congregation, from how it is publicly perceived.”
At present, there is no similar group of rabbis announcing support for Republican nominee John McCain
of The Chronicle staff
Some 33 Christian pastors in 22 states — including one in West Bend, according to an Associated Press report — recently attacked what they believe to be restraints on freedom of speech in religious institutions during elections.
But their effort receives little sympathy from a group of Wisconsin congregational rabbis interviewed by The Chronicle last week.
The pastors participated in a project of the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, which the AP described as a conservative legal group.
The pastors devoted their sermons on Sept. 28 — which they called “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” — to endorsing candidates in the coming presidential election.
They did this to protest Internal Revenue Service rules instituted by Congress in 1954. These rules strip tax-exempt status from non-profit organizations, including religious institutions — and organizations like The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle — that endorse political candidates.
ADF contends, according to a release on its Web site, that these rules violate First Amendment freedom of speech rights of clergy; and the Pulpit Freedom Sunday project seeks to provoke a legal challenge to the rules.
“I think they are wrong,” said Rabbi Shaina Bacharach, spiritual leader of Congregation Cnesses Israel (Conservative) in Green Bay.
The IRS rules help to preserve lines separating church and state, and “I don’t like to see those boundaries crossed,” she said.
In fact, “I think Congress is doing us a favor” with these rules, said Rabbi Shlomo Levin of Lake Park Synagogue (Orthodox) in Milwaukee.
“Politics is polarizing and the clergy’s role should be to tone down the debate,” he said. “We should be humble and admit that it’s difficult to make good decisions.”
Rabbi E. Daniel Danson of Mount Sinai Congregation (Reform) in Wausau added, “When religious institutions move in lockstep with a party, they lose their voice.”
Moreover, just as certain Talmud rulings “build a fence around” Torah laws, so do these IRS rules “build a fence around the Constitution,” Danson said.
Moreover, at least one rabbi would maintain silence about candidates even if the IRS rules were changed to allow religious institutions to endorse them.
Rabbi Shmaya Shmotkin, spiritual leader of the Chabad Lubavitch-affiliated The Shul (Orthodox) in Bayside, said, “It’s been a long-standing policy of Lubavitch, instituted by the Rebbe, that as an institution we are not to be involved in politics.”
“The reason is the way we view our role: to enhance and serve every single Jew, regardless of ideology or political leanings,” he said.
“Anything that could potentially deter from that mission or make someone with a different view uncomfortable is in our view detrimental.” Therefore, “even if by law we were able to, we wouldn’t do it.”
Addressing issues
That is not to say that all local rabbis ignored the election when they spoke from the pulpit during the autumn holidays season.
Rabbi Jacob Herber, spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Israel (Conservative) in Glendale and president of the Wisconsin Council of Rabbis, said he has spoken “about issues related to this campaign and specifically about the harmful and dangerous rhetoric that is taking place.”
“I put [these messages] in the context of the charged political rhetoric [in Israel] that preceded the assassination of [Prime Minister] Yitzhak Rabin [in 1995],” Herber said.
Rabbi Laurie Zimmerman, spiritual leader of Congregation Shaarei Shamayim (Reconstructionist-Renewal) in Madison, also has spoken about issues relating to the elections.
In fact, on Yom Kippur, she discussed why immigration reform should be considered a Jewish issue, and “from now until the election, I will talk about the economy,” she said.
Rabbi Joseph Prass, associate rabbi at Congregation Shalom (Reform) in Fox Point, reported that his synagogue sponsored a Yom Kippur study session about the elections with Mordecai Lee, former state senator and now professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
The idea, Prass said, was to talk about the issues through a Jewish lens. “People were allowed to discuss this election, but … it was not meant to lead to one candidate or another.”
However, some local rabbis did try to avoid even dealing with political issues in their High Holidays addresses.
Rabbi Benzion Twerski of Congregation Beth Jehudah (Orthodox) said, “All my sermons were personal growth-oriented” during the holidays, ranging from the Jewish people’s “mission to the world” to repentance and how sinning is “beneath the majesty that is our souls.”
Rabbis for Obama
Some of the rabbis differed on whether they should publicly endorse candidates on their own, as rabbis but not as spiritual leader of their synagogues.
Rabbi Joshua Ben Gideon of Beth Israel Center (Conservative) in Madison did not address the election in any of his High Holidays sermons.
But he is one of eight Wisconsin signers among the 500 rabbis nation-wide who have signed onto a public letter from a group called Rabbis for Obama in support of Democratic presidential nominee Barak Obama. (The others are Rabbis Renee Bauer of Madison, Marc Berkson of River Hills, Jonathan Biatch of Madison, Dena Feingold of Kenosha, Michael Remson of Kenosha and Roxanne Shapiro of Fox Point, as well as Herber.)
However, as one can see on the Rabbis for Obama Web site, the rabbis are listed by name and locale, not by their institutional affiliations.
“I am expressing support for a candidate,” said Ben Gideon, but not in the name of a congregation, and “that is different than preaching from the bimah about a candidate.”
But Bacharach and Danson both refused to sign onto this. “I don’t believe I should publicly advocate for either candidate,” said Bacharach.
And although Danson said that “people I have respect for” signed onto the Rabbis for Obama letter, he declined because “this is one hard disconnect, supporting somebody officially even if not as rabbi of whatever congregation, from how it is publicly perceived.”
At present, there is no similar group of rabbis announcing support for Republican nominee John McCain
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Torah vanishes from Bais Menachem
RABBI SAYS NO SIGNS OF FORCED ENTRY
BY JILL KASSANDER, SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH LIGHT
University City police are investigating the disappearance of one of the Torahs belonging to Congregation Bais Menachem — Chabad on Delmar. Rabbi Yosef Landa and the congregation discovered the Torah was missing during Shabbat services on May 24.
"When we opened the ark for the Torah service I realized one of the Torahs was missing," Landa said. "A big gasp went up throughout the congregation."
The synagogue keeps two Torah scrolls in the ark, said Landa. The congregation does not have a daily minyan so the last time he saw both Torah scrolls was the previous Shabbat.
"The Torah which was stolen is the only Torah we actually own," Landa said. "It is a very beautiful, tall Torah with a red mantle, with large letters in the script style of Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, the Ari Zal. The other Torah we have is on loan to us."
Landa contacted the University City police department after Shabbat and officers arrived within a few minutes. They interviewed Landa, filed a report and told him he would be contacted by a detective during the week.
Further research by the Jewish Light has found three thefts of Torahs from Chabad congregations in other states in the past nine months. Asked about the other thefts, Detective Mike Gage who was assigned to the case said he would be looking into the other incidents.
"We will be contacting the other police departments to compare notes and look for possible connections," Gage said.
One of the Torah thefts occurred around the end of September 2007 from Yeshiva High School in Cottage Grove, Minn.
"A Torah scroll was stolen and a video projector," Rabbi Moshe Weiss, the school's director of development said. "The Torah scroll and projector have not been recovered."
In April, a Chabad House in Miami Beach, Fla., was burned down in an apparent case of arson being investigated by fire officials, the police and the FBI according to an article on MiamiHerald.com. It is believed the congregation's Torah scroll was stolen before the fire was set.
Two scrolls were discovered missing from Congregation Bnai Zedek Chabad in Kenosha, Wis., on April 15. The small congregation has only been around for about nine months, said Rabbi Tzali Wilschanski. The rabbi was giving a class in the social hall downstairs and closed the door to the sanctuary before he left for the evening.
"There was no sign of a break-in," Wilschanski said. "I am concerned somebody might have entered the synagogue and hidden in the sanctuary because the deadbolt lock was open in the morning."
The hazzan's oversize siddur, chumashim and the rabbi's laptop computer were also stolen, though the thief left behind the silver ornaments used to adorn to the Torah.
It is not clear whether any of the thefts are connected although there are similarities in some of the cases, such as the missing books. Landa had noticed a couple of books missing about two weeks before the Torah theft.
"I noticed the large oversized siddur used by the hazzan and a large oversized book of Haftarot were missing," Landa said. "We looked everywhere and thought perhaps someone had borrowed them and forgotten to return them."
Now Landa is wondering if the two incidents are related.
"My mind was racing when I saw the Torah scroll was gone though I don't know if the events are connected," Landa said. "All that was stolen were communal articles. They did not take the pushke which has about $30 to $40 in it."
The Torah scroll is valued at $30,000 to $40,000 according to the police report, though Landa said he would have to do additional research to assess the value of that particular Torah.
Landa said he e-mailed other rabbis to alert them to the theft so they could be more watchful at their own congregations.
"This is so disappointing," Landa said. "There was no sign of forced entry. We have an open door policy. People who frequent the congregation know the code to get into the building."
Barry Parnas regularly attends Shabbat services at the congregation and was there when the theft was discovered.
"I remember the Aron HaKodesh, the Holy Ark, being opened and only one Torah being in there," Parnas said. "The first person to respond was Rabbi Landa. I think he said, 'Sefer Torah missing.'"
Sometimes the shul will use the Torah someplace else but it is always back by Shabbat, said Parnas. He said the congregation was very shaken and surprised by the theft.
"A Torah doesn't seem like something that someone would steal," Parnas said. "It seems very odd to me that someone would take it."
Landa and members of the congregation checked around the community just in case someone had borrowed the Torah and other items for a shiva house or to study.
"This is very sad for me personally," Landa said. "I'm holding out hope that I will wake up from this nightmare and the Torah will be back. I assure whoever took it total anonymity. We just want the Torah back — no questions asked."
BY JILL KASSANDER, SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH LIGHT
University City police are investigating the disappearance of one of the Torahs belonging to Congregation Bais Menachem — Chabad on Delmar. Rabbi Yosef Landa and the congregation discovered the Torah was missing during Shabbat services on May 24.
"When we opened the ark for the Torah service I realized one of the Torahs was missing," Landa said. "A big gasp went up throughout the congregation."
The synagogue keeps two Torah scrolls in the ark, said Landa. The congregation does not have a daily minyan so the last time he saw both Torah scrolls was the previous Shabbat.
"The Torah which was stolen is the only Torah we actually own," Landa said. "It is a very beautiful, tall Torah with a red mantle, with large letters in the script style of Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, the Ari Zal. The other Torah we have is on loan to us."
Landa contacted the University City police department after Shabbat and officers arrived within a few minutes. They interviewed Landa, filed a report and told him he would be contacted by a detective during the week.
Further research by the Jewish Light has found three thefts of Torahs from Chabad congregations in other states in the past nine months. Asked about the other thefts, Detective Mike Gage who was assigned to the case said he would be looking into the other incidents.
"We will be contacting the other police departments to compare notes and look for possible connections," Gage said.
One of the Torah thefts occurred around the end of September 2007 from Yeshiva High School in Cottage Grove, Minn.
"A Torah scroll was stolen and a video projector," Rabbi Moshe Weiss, the school's director of development said. "The Torah scroll and projector have not been recovered."
In April, a Chabad House in Miami Beach, Fla., was burned down in an apparent case of arson being investigated by fire officials, the police and the FBI according to an article on MiamiHerald.com. It is believed the congregation's Torah scroll was stolen before the fire was set.
Two scrolls were discovered missing from Congregation Bnai Zedek Chabad in Kenosha, Wis., on April 15. The small congregation has only been around for about nine months, said Rabbi Tzali Wilschanski. The rabbi was giving a class in the social hall downstairs and closed the door to the sanctuary before he left for the evening.
"There was no sign of a break-in," Wilschanski said. "I am concerned somebody might have entered the synagogue and hidden in the sanctuary because the deadbolt lock was open in the morning."
The hazzan's oversize siddur, chumashim and the rabbi's laptop computer were also stolen, though the thief left behind the silver ornaments used to adorn to the Torah.
It is not clear whether any of the thefts are connected although there are similarities in some of the cases, such as the missing books. Landa had noticed a couple of books missing about two weeks before the Torah theft.
"I noticed the large oversized siddur used by the hazzan and a large oversized book of Haftarot were missing," Landa said. "We looked everywhere and thought perhaps someone had borrowed them and forgotten to return them."
Now Landa is wondering if the two incidents are related.
"My mind was racing when I saw the Torah scroll was gone though I don't know if the events are connected," Landa said. "All that was stolen were communal articles. They did not take the pushke which has about $30 to $40 in it."
The Torah scroll is valued at $30,000 to $40,000 according to the police report, though Landa said he would have to do additional research to assess the value of that particular Torah.
Landa said he e-mailed other rabbis to alert them to the theft so they could be more watchful at their own congregations.
"This is so disappointing," Landa said. "There was no sign of forced entry. We have an open door policy. People who frequent the congregation know the code to get into the building."
Barry Parnas regularly attends Shabbat services at the congregation and was there when the theft was discovered.
"I remember the Aron HaKodesh, the Holy Ark, being opened and only one Torah being in there," Parnas said. "The first person to respond was Rabbi Landa. I think he said, 'Sefer Torah missing.'"
Sometimes the shul will use the Torah someplace else but it is always back by Shabbat, said Parnas. He said the congregation was very shaken and surprised by the theft.
"A Torah doesn't seem like something that someone would steal," Parnas said. "It seems very odd to me that someone would take it."
Landa and members of the congregation checked around the community just in case someone had borrowed the Torah and other items for a shiva house or to study.
"This is very sad for me personally," Landa said. "I'm holding out hope that I will wake up from this nightmare and the Torah will be back. I assure whoever took it total anonymity. We just want the Torah back — no questions asked."
Monday, October 15, 2007
Have prayers and Packers, too
Orthodox Jews worship at Lambeau tailgate
By BILL GLAUBER
Posted: Oct. 14, 2007
Green Bay -
If you're going to have a kosher tailgate at Lambeau Field, you might as well go all the way.
That means you light up the coals of the kosher grill and bring out the kosher hot dogs, beef, chicken and brats.
And you recite morning prayers in Hebrew, even if a rock band is on a nearby stage blaring "Brown Sugar."
So Sunday, Rabbi Shais Taub of the Chabad Lubavitch of Wisconsin led a group of 10 Orthodox Jews on a pilgrimage from Milwaukee deep into Packerland.
They tailgated across the street from Lambeau, in a grass-covered parking lot, next door to Kroll's West, where butter burgers - definitely not kosher - are a specialty.
And they prayed, with some of the men and their sons donning a prayer shawl called a tallit and phylacteries, two small leather boxes containing verses of Scripture.
They stood out amid the familiar green-and-gold sea. And they showed that people can find or express their faith at a house of worship or a house of sports.
Such a place, for morning prayers.
"What's the point?" Taub said. "Number one, Judaism is not relegated to the synagogue or the study hall. When you're a Jew, you're a Jew everywhere. If a group of Jews want to go to a Packer game, we do it like Jews."
"Number two, Jewish pride," he added. "Some Jews should see this and say, 'You know what, there is nothing to hide.' I can be openly and boldly Jewish and do that anywhere on earth and go where I want to go."
The men faced east toward Jerusalem, which also happened to the direction toward Lambeau Field. They prayed, rocking forward and back. Their voices mixed with the more familiar sounds of pre-game rituals at Lambeau.
Nearby, a few fans wore blank expressions on their faces, unsure of what was going on. A couple of people snapped photos. And nobody noticed that among the group was former Packers offensive lineman Alan Veingrad, who is now known as Shlomo Veingrad.
Veingrad still stands 6 feet 5, but he has dropped plenty of weight since his playing days. He now has a bushy, gray beard and beneath a Packers cap, he makes sure to wear a yarmulke.
"I think it's important to be proud of being Jewish," said Veingrad, who played for the Packers in the late 1980s and won a Super Bowl ring with the Dallas Cowboys in the 1990s.
Veingrad, now 44, lives in Florida and works as an account executive for a private lending company. He also gives speeches, detailing his quest for a more fulfilling and rewarding life. He became more observant in 2003.
"It's a beautiful thing that you can express your religion," he said.
And that's what the tailgate was all about - religion, food, friendship and, yes, even football.
After praying, Veingrad and a friend poured whiskey into a couple of small cups, said l'chaim and drank the sweet, smoky liquid.
And everyone ate.
Ten of the men and their sons had tickets for the Packers game against Washington. The kids wanted to go into the stadium while the fathers wanted to linger outside at the tailgate.
Not all of the men went into the stadium. Taub didn't have a ticket - it was tough enough to score 10 seats. And the grill guys, Sam Stern and his son, Nathan Stern, remained outside to clean up.
"We're here being Jews," Sam Stern said. "We're enjoying the Packers and enjoying the day."
That means you light up the coals of the kosher grill and bring out the kosher hot dogs, beef, chicken and brats.
And you recite morning prayers in Hebrew, even if a rock band is on a nearby stage blaring "Brown Sugar."
So Sunday, Rabbi Shais Taub of the Chabad Lubavitch of Wisconsin led a group of 10 Orthodox Jews on a pilgrimage from Milwaukee deep into Packerland.
They tailgated across the street from Lambeau, in a grass-covered parking lot, next door to Kroll's West, where butter burgers - definitely not kosher - are a specialty.
And they prayed, with some of the men and their sons donning a prayer shawl called a tallit and phylacteries, two small leather boxes containing verses of Scripture.
They stood out amid the familiar green-and-gold sea. And they showed that people can find or express their faith at a house of worship or a house of sports.
Such a place, for morning prayers.
"What's the point?" Taub said. "Number one, Judaism is not relegated to the synagogue or the study hall. When you're a Jew, you're a Jew everywhere. If a group of Jews want to go to a Packer game, we do it like Jews."
"Number two, Jewish pride," he added. "Some Jews should see this and say, 'You know what, there is nothing to hide.' I can be openly and boldly Jewish and do that anywhere on earth and go where I want to go."
The men faced east toward Jerusalem, which also happened to the direction toward Lambeau Field. They prayed, rocking forward and back. Their voices mixed with the more familiar sounds of pre-game rituals at Lambeau.
Nearby, a few fans wore blank expressions on their faces, unsure of what was going on. A couple of people snapped photos. And nobody noticed that among the group was former Packers offensive lineman Alan Veingrad, who is now known as Shlomo Veingrad.
Veingrad still stands 6 feet 5, but he has dropped plenty of weight since his playing days. He now has a bushy, gray beard and beneath a Packers cap, he makes sure to wear a yarmulke.
"I think it's important to be proud of being Jewish," said Veingrad, who played for the Packers in the late 1980s and won a Super Bowl ring with the Dallas Cowboys in the 1990s.
Veingrad, now 44, lives in Florida and works as an account executive for a private lending company. He also gives speeches, detailing his quest for a more fulfilling and rewarding life. He became more observant in 2003.
"It's a beautiful thing that you can express your religion," he said.
And that's what the tailgate was all about - religion, food, friendship and, yes, even football.
After praying, Veingrad and a friend poured whiskey into a couple of small cups, said l'chaim and drank the sweet, smoky liquid.
And everyone ate.
Ten of the men and their sons had tickets for the Packers game against Washington. The kids wanted to go into the stadium while the fathers wanted to linger outside at the tailgate.
Not all of the men went into the stadium. Taub didn't have a ticket - it was tough enough to score 10 seats. And the grill guys, Sam Stern and his son, Nathan Stern, remained outside to clean up.
"We're here being Jews," Sam Stern said. "We're enjoying the Packers and enjoying the day."
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