SOme links to websites postnig our story

Pictures courtesy of my Mommy-in-law, or to use the more sinister-sounding word: Shvigger.


Lubavitch.com

fjc.ru

Crownheights.info

fjc.ru in Russian!

shturem.net in Hebrew!

In other news, the Selingers are coming for Sukkos! Yes!

Our version of the events

The story everyone has been waiting for is here:

What really happened at the Torah celebration.

This is like a behind-the-scenes piece in the DVD bonus features (of the living Torah).

Motzei Shabbos was slichos, so we stayed up til 1 AM, after which Rabbi Greenberg and myself (Zvi writing in Chayale's name, by the way) Davened for the half hour and then went Shluff.

Four hours later my alarm on my phone went off to start the day. Rabbi Greenberg somehow was already awake. Our taxi arrived 10 minutes later, and barely dressed, we drove the 20 minutes to Cafe Kovcheg, the Solomonov's restaurant, to start the kashering process.

Well, apparently the Solomonov's thought I'd walk in there, say and blessing, make sure the products were all kosher, and go on with my day, but that was not the plan. They had forgotten to put aside dishes, and we had no blowtorch, so we had to kasher the place the old fashioned way. All fires on, we started kashering the shashlik holders. Meanwhile we filled a huge bucket with water, and when it bubbled 4 hours later, we started toiveling stuff in the boiling mess. We also poured boiling water over all the counters, or covered it with a garbage bag. And every salad bowl was covered with a plastic bag.

We had bought knives, cutting boards, and 120 plates which we will use for every kosher event, and also some platters, and later I had to run out and buy some more salad bowls, and bring some dishes from home, since most of their dishes had been used within 24 hours and thus were un-kasherable.

Meanwhile, time was passing, and at 8:45 I called Yonatan Feldman, who was in the airport in Moscow with the Sofer, the Torah, and two of the sponsors, Eli Ginsburg and Peter Order.

"Everything's looking great!" He told me.

Reassured, I went back to work.

At 9:10 Yonatan called. "Min Vody had bad weather so our plane is indefinitely not going to take off."

This was bad news. Since people would be arriving at 3:00, and the plan was that they would be picked up from Min Vody at 11:30 for the 3 hour drive here. I took a break and davened Shachris.

Just when I finished, I got a call. "We're on the plane. All is good."

I spread the 'miracle' to everyone in the cafe, and continued working. Rabbi Greenberg blew the shofar for everyone, and we put Tefillin on Sasha and Kostya Solomonov as well.

At 12:00 I got a call from R' Feldman.

"Bad news. The plane was rerouted to Krasnodar. We are still inside it and don't know what to do."

Krasnodar is 4 hours away by car if you speed a little, so I told them to get out, into a cab, and hope that Kfitzas Haderech happens.

Meanwhile, Rabbi Shneur Segal, along with about 6 people and 2 kids, were driving in from Krasnodar. They were maybe 3 hours away. And they also called.

"Hi Zvi, we will be there late. Our car has a flat, and it'll take an hour to fix."

They had the Chupah.

Suddenly our entire organized and planned schedule was down the drain. Also, I couldn't reach Chayale to tell her the news, so I made an executive decision and decided we will do whatever it takes to kill time.

I thought that was a very creative idea, but that's just me.

Worse news hit a minute later, when my phone died, and there went my entire connection to the uotside world, since I had not brought with me my phone book, and now couldn't reach any of them. I frantically ran around trying to find out if anyone has a plug I can use, but everyone had all these cool, high-tech phones that can launch missiles and stuff while mine has a left arrow which doesn't work.

So I knew I had to run home, and called a cab. It arrived 20 minutes after about a miles worth of pacing.

We tried to race home, but with traffic, it took an hour. We were home by 1:30. Chayale had arrived 2 minutes earlier, so while the phone charged, I filled her in and we tried to adjust plans. We changed the kids and got them ready to go.

Meanwhile I looked at my phone and read a Private message from Yonatan Feldman sent at 1:45.

"We are on our way now to Min Vody. The plane took off again. Will keep you posted."

I calculated quickly. They would arrive there at 2:45, and would have a 2 hour drive minimum. This was going to be close.

Nothing we can do.

We called a cab, and taking all the kids with us, and a change of clothes with me (the ones I wqas wearing stunk from the kashering and being in the hot kitchen the entire morning and sweating etc.) we hopped into the car.

We arrived at 2:45, expecting no one to be there. Instead, miraculously the buses had arrived like 15 minutes early, and the whole community was there.

The immenseness was... immense. Over 200 people had showed up, according to someone who counted. This was probably the largest turnout EVER for the community. And more importantly, only maybe a quarter of the people there were old! It was amazing!

But for now there were more important things to do: like get changed.

I charged through the crowd and cameras, and into a back room where I changed into my nice suit. Then I came out all smiles to meet and greet people.

I tasted the food. Delicious.

Time passed. At 3:00 Yonatan called to tell me they arrived. Where is their car?

"It's cancelled. Take a taxi. I'll pay. Just get here."

People were getting antsy, so I took the mike and guided them to their seats. Then I gave my speech, taking my sweet time.

Afterward, I let soft Niggunim play for a few minutes, before I decided to honor some people and let them speak.

Rav Shertil Shalumov from Pyatigorsk was first, followed by president of the Stavropol community Yefim Fainer, and then director of Sakhnut/Chesed of Stavropol Natasha Kuligina.

Still, time was passing and there was nothing we could do.

More visitors arrived, from Nevinnomysk, Kislovodsk and Pyatigorsk.

I blew shofar for everyone, but then people started to mill around, bored.

I called, and was told they were 'half hour away.'

This was going bad. We waited outside for 10 minutes, and then a taxi rolled up.

All excited, Chayale ran inside, took the mike and yeleld 'Yay! The Torah is here!' The deejay started some fast music from Avraham Fried, and people got up and started clapping, but it was a false alarm. Just some dude from Kislovodsk.

Now people really wanted to leave.

But then Olga Solomonova assessed the situation and saved the day, but singing some Israeli karaoke. We waited outside, thinking how this was flopping.

Minutes later, the Torah arrived. At the exact same moment, Shneur Segal and the Chupah arrived too.

The crowd had been waiting for this and this time it wqas real. I guess the wait did good because the spirit soared, there was a community feeling never before felt, and several people openly cried.

The Torah was brought in and we started the writing immediately.

The rest of the program went so smoothely it was incredible. Everyone gathered close to watch, Yonatan Feldman gave a beautiful speech, most people wrote letters, Hagba, Gelila, and then dancing in the streets.

Then as the guests left we got into buses and went to the center of the city where the parade continued all the way to the shul, where we did hakafos.

I was sure we would have 4 people by hakafos... that everyone would leave.

Instead, over 50 stayed to the end!

At the end of the evening, we were exhausted, but happy. It had been a success.

Side note: this past Shabbos we had our first davening. 6 people showed up, which is an amazing start for Russia.

Two more days to prepare for Rosh Hashana.

Does anyone reading this (preferably a couple) wanna come run Sukkos services for the city? our visas expire and we'll be out of the country.

"I need a Tallis"

Hillel Davidov, when we started rolling the Torah, ran over to me and said, "I want the Zechus of rolling, and I want to wear a Tallis."

He had brought his Tallis, and put it on. Then he took over from the Sofer's side, and started muttering prayers while he rolled the Torah.

I'm not sure what he asked for, but I think his sister is not feeling well in Israel.

Hakafos ready to begin

In the Shul for Hakafos. Left to right: Mordechai Ekman, potential sponsor from Pyatigorsk, Yom-Tov - head of mountain Jews world-wide, and Rabbi Greenberg.

Some more street dancing

Walking through the streets of Stavropol with the Torah.

Krasnodar in the house!

Schneur Segel, the Rebbe's Shliach to Krasnodar, writes in the Torah. He brought a bunch of his Mekuravim, and they livened up the party. They also brought the Chupah.

Babysitter

Dovid Solomonov watches Chaim Shimshon for us at the event.

Proud Shluchim

Rabbi and Rebbetzin Greenberg, to whom we owe the event to.

News update: I just raised money locally for the first time. Actual cash. One guy told me he plans to give monthly, the other, a 3000 dollar one time dnation for the new year.

We make the Keilim, Hashem sends his messengers.

Why not? another photo.

We've already hit the news.

http://shturem.net/index.php?section=news&id=29883

http://www.crownheights.info/index.php?itemid=13660

The picture: This time it's Yefim Fainer, president of the community, proudly holding onto a Sefer Torah with the love for Judaism emanating from his face.

Dancing by the 'gate of Caucasus'

While Hillel Davidov held the Torah, we danced around him and sang Jewish songs every knew, while an accordion player played to the singing.

Watching and clapping

Watching the dancing in the restaurant.

Left to right in front - Boruch ben Yosef Bruk, Tamara Avshalumova, Anya Davidova's mother, Laura Bogopolsky, Chaya Pesakhova, Lena Ishchenko. In the back are Irina Faivushkina and Angela Sukhotnik.

More dancing with the Torah

The Rov of Stavropol, Rabbi Zvi Hershcovich, dances with the Torah.

Rabbi Shertil Shalumov with the Torah

The Rov of Pyatigorsk, Rabbi Shertil Shalumov, dances with the Torah.

Miriam watches the proceedings

...And Eli Ginsburg waits to write one of the last letters in the Torah.

The source of it all

Rabbi Rony Greenberg, who if not for him we wouldn't be celebrating this event, writes in the Torah.

I know Rabbi Greenberg, that as you are reading this you are saying that 'if not for the Rebbe, who sent you to Carmel college when you wanted to go elsewhere, nothing would've happened," but if you had not inspired your boys IN Carmel College, nothing would have happened. And so just as we must write good news of what happened after the event to the sponsors, so too must write you the good effects this started.

1 - The next day, we put up a Mezuza in the Solomonov's restaurant, first open Mezuza in Stavropol.

2 - The Zhukov's are coming for Shabbos. Olga wants to learn about Kashrus, and they want to send their son Matvei to the kindergarten when we open it.

3 - Valoda and Leiba Zhikh, after 29 years of marriage, want to do it properly under a Chuppah, with a Kesubah.

4 - Three more students confimed joining STARS, the group for Jewish students where they will learn alot of Yiddishkeit.

5 - A group of people from Novoalexandrovsk, a rural city an hour and half away, want to come in for Rosh Hashana.

Eli takes his gift

Eli Ginsburg receives his gift and the one for Zev Sherman, sponsors of the Sefer Torah. The gift is a miniature Torah, with a plaque from the community, thanking them for their generosity.

The two Chaya Mushkas

Chaya Mushka Hershcovich, the Rebbetzin, and the newly named Chaya Mushka Berkun.

The Rabbi blows the Shofar

Rabbi Zvi Hershcovich blows the Shofar for the community.

Watching the procession

Left to right - Sara Avshalumova, Ilana Berkun (with her son Dan), and Lena Ishchenko watch the writing of the Torah.

Jewish community of Stavropol welcomes a new Torah

In the center of the city of Stavropol, Russia, at the edge of Lenin Square, just opposite to Lenin's statue and the provincial government building, proudly stands the Museum of Stavropol. In its basement, hidden in a closet back behind a display of "significant" older books, lies an ancient Torah scroll, confiscated from the local Jewish synagogue close to 80 years ago and now wound up and tightly stored inside a cardboard tube. Ever since the communist regime relegated Judaism to an atavism, the Torah has been conceived as a museum piece, curious to look at, but nothing you could take home.
Until now. This past Sunday, on 21 September, 2008, the Jews of Stavropol, Russia were witness to a heart-stopping repudiation of this communist notion. Three hundred local Jews, along with guests from overseas, from Moscow and from other Russian cities, assembled to watch the completion of the writing of a new Torah scroll for the Jewish community of Stavropol and to celebrate bringing the scroll to its home in the newly established synagogue of the city.
The writing of the scroll and Sunday's celebration was arranged by Rabbi Zvi and Chayale Hershcovich; Chabad emissaries who arrived in Stavropol last November to teach local Jews about Torah and to inspire them to live a more Jewish life.
The program Rabbi and Mrs. Hershcovich provided for the day included many firsts. When local community members, the Solomonov’s donated the use and services of their restaurant for the occasion, the Rabbi was able to kosher and provide, for the first time in decades, a fully-catered kosher meal. Hakofos were danced in the synagogue while sweets were thrown by, and for, the delighted children of the community. But most significant of all firsts was the pride of the Stavropol Jews as they carried their new Torah proudly in the streets under the astonished gaze of by-standers.
The scroll was written by Rabbi Meir Nigberg and generously paid for by Moscow businessmen Eli Ginsberg and Zev Sherman. A new Aron (Torah ark) to house the Torah, was provided by the largesse of Peter Order, another Moscow businessman. Mr. Ginsberg and Mr. Order were on hand for the event, flying in from Moscow with the Sofer and Rabbi Yonatan Feldman who spoke at the event and emceed as dozens of guests and locals participated, each writing a letter in the Torah.
For the donors, Eli and Peter, it was coming around in a full circle, since they remembered Chayale (Mrs. Hershcovich) as a little girl when they were students of her father, Rabbi Rony Greenberg, himself a shaliach and their teacher when they were studying in England. Now, they are excited to participate by giving, by seeing that with their own hands they can help Jewish life take root and flower in new soil.
Rabbi and Mrs. Hershcovich have many plans for the near and the distant future. They are starting a new synagogue with weekly services, beginning right now with Rosh Hashanah prayers. They plan to establish a new kindergarten this year. They will be participating in the STARS program, for which a couple dozen young people have shown interest and half of whom have already committed themselves.
From the arrival of a new Torah scroll which brought joy and encouragement to Jews who, but for this, might have felt forgotten by the world.
One cannot help but imagine, that somewhere in the depths of the Stavropol city museum, there is an old Torah scroll, happy to have a friend in town, just around the corner and out and about meeting people.

Written by 'Ma Greenberg' for the newspapers. Our personal account coming soon.

In the picture, Rabbi Yonatan speaks to the crowd of 200, and explains how precious the Torah is to the Jewish people.

Yossi Davidov and the Torah

Yossi Davidov looks at his new Torah

Zvi writes in the Torah

Rabbi Zvi Hershcovich writes the last letter in the Torah.

More dancing

Hillel Davidov dances with the Torah in the center of the city, while people from the community watch and clap along.

The beautiful Paroches my parents donated

In the new Shul, Rabbi Zvi Hershcovich holds the new Torah as the community gets ready for Hakafos.

The food was gone in minutes!

All the food for the party was Glatt Kosher, watched by two Mashgichim. The kosher food was a first for the Stavropol community, up until then the only kosher meat was eaten at the Shabbos meal in the Rabbi's house.

Outside dancing

Oleg Bogopolsky dances with the Torah in the streets of Stavropol.

Kids chor

The children prepared songs in Russian about the Torah.

Chayale and Chaim Shimshon

At the party.

Yet another one

Mel Solomon, a South African Jew, who up until a few months ago had no idea other Jews lived in Stavropol, writes a letter in the Torah.

Another photo

Parading through the center of the city, and past the city's landmark, it's arch, representing the 'gate to the Caucasus'.

Torah event

Peter Order, sponsor of the Shul (doing Gelilah), and Eli Ginsburg, co-sponsor of the Sefer Torah (who was honored with Hagba).

Continued from last post...

...gave it over the head to the Rosh Hakahal, telling him that the money given to him, and the centre given to him is supposed to be used as a Shul. All the food there is supposed to be kosher, we are supposed to be working together, and he must realize that I am a Rabbi. Then R' Lazar said we should make a contract.

So we sat 7 hours together (should have taken half an hour, but he made an issue out of every little thing). Fnally, at 2 AM, he signed, after tremendous pressure from the people at the top. In it, he agreed that he is in charge of everything that doesnt have to do with Yiddishkeit (financially and practically), while we are responsible for everything that has to do with Yiddishkeit, inclduing making a shul, kosher kitchen, kosher food, etc.

We also will now be running the 'food for children' program, and the Sunday school.

2 - Chayales parents came to visist. Perfect timing too, as the water was shut off for 10 between 9-6 during the day, and hot water is off at all times. Day one we (read I, Zvi, Schlepper #1 in Stavropol) spent boiling pots on all the stovetops and making sure 2 kettles warmed up quickly, while running back and forth pouring boiling water into an empty tub before 9 o'clock hit. When the water was shut off, Miriam got naked and stepped into the bath. She would be the first, followed by Chaim, Chayale, and me. 5 seconds in, Miriam calls out "Pishy!" Yes, an immediate urination of our beloved bath.

We bathed regardless.

Friday we rented a hotel room for a day, which we had to do anyway in order to register the Greenbergs. When we asked for extra towels, they said they only give to people who rent the best rooms. Ths from the local intourist.

But turned out I was motioning 'towels' wrong. They thought I meant bathrobe. We got 5 towels, and took turns showering, finishing half hour before Shabbos. Miriam, I am happy to say, did not say 'pishy', or any other scary words during that ordeal. However, Hashem had other plans and when we came outside it was a downpour. And by 'downpour', I mean Niagara Falls. People were going by in canoes downpour. We raced to the car which was parked half a block away, and soaked and cold we rushed back home. We got home in our new Shabbos clothes (now smelly and wet), and flew to the front door of the apartment building. Unfortunately the entrance to our building is not equipped with such basic equipment as a DRAIN, and so we were forced to stop.

"Never fear, I will lead you through," was the courageous words of Rebbetzin "Nachshon ben Aminadav" Greenberg, who stepped through the knee-deep water, sopping her shoes forever. We followed behind, holding our babies high above our heads, supposedly to protect them from the puddle, but in reality to protect our heads from the rain.

Oh, forgot to mention: I saw an AWESOME bolt of lightning.

Anyway, we made it home, changed, just in time for guests to arrive for Shabbos.

3 - Chayale is Moses. She joined askmoses.com but she might be kicked off, since after a fantastic first week, she missed the second one due to an emergency, and this week she was all ready at 3 our time, and suddenyl the electricity went out. She ran to an internet cafe, and found out she had to download the java to do it.

Meanwhile, back home, the lights went on. I decided to cover for her, and for the first time, filled Moses' shoes. I was in middle of speaking to someone, and BAM! The lights went out again.

Next post: the sefer torah event. But I must go to sleep now.

Long time no post

Excuse the lack of posting. It's actually Zvi writing this, under Chayales name.

Lots has happened here in Stavropol, and we are more busy than we ever imagined, so briefly:

1 - When we returned, we came with a new attitude, that we didn't have to worry about the rosh hakahal, and are here to do our shlichus work. About a week later, I traveled to Moscow to meet with Rabbi Lazar with the president of the community. I also took care of many other things there, including raising some funds and checking out our beautiful Torah. We met Rabbi Lazar who... to be contnued later..

SHE'S DRIVING ME CRAZY!!

She is out of control! Yesterday, she pulled the baby off the couch and he landed flat on hs face. She plays with cocoa, she colors on the floor, she bites my toes, she gets into EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am famous!

http://shturem.net/index.php?section=news&id=29249&lang=hebrew

The Hachnosas Sefer Torah will iy"h be on September 21st. Anyone who can come, please do.

The best babysitters EVER

Miriam misses you guys so much! She sings sbout you while she sits in her highchair and eats.

"I love Dassi, I love Sheba, I love Naomi.... Bubby, Zeidy..."

Community of Stavropol welcomes Chaim

Sunday after we arrived, we invited our friends to come over and meet Chaim (A number of our friends were out of town). 12 people came, and gave us presents, such as gauze, cloth diapers and a singing Santa. Boruch Hashem for presents.

WE GOT INTERNET AT HOME

So not only will there be regular updates on this blog of ours (to keep the Greenberg girls busy) but I, the wife, will be adding my two cents. Now how bout that?!

Actually, I will be posting pics. Of our beauties. Enjoy!

Dobro Pozhalovat to us

We made it.

It was a very long trip. We flew to Frankfurt, a long gruelling 6 hour trip, in which we were put in seperate seats at the other ends of the plane and had to work things out. Miriam was a typical toddler, trying to bolt from her seat and create a ruckus. Let's just say that no one on the plane got to see the inflight movie.

Then in Frankfurt we had a long stopover, where we all tried to sleep. It didn't work.

Finally we arrived in Rostov. Yay, the trip is almost over! No, it's not. The driver took 7 hours taking us home (yes we had to make a U-turn half-an-hour in to pick up the purse with all our stuff in it that we left in the airport), but it was the longest and hardest part of the trip. Miriam squiggled, squirmed, and alot of other words that start with 'squ' the whole way home.

And when we got home, we had to carry our 6 huge pieces of luggage up.

We collapsed shortly thereafter.

Then we rested up and it was back to work early the next day.

We organized a party for Sunday (welcome Chaim Shimshon!) and 20 people came for a little buffet at our apartment. Many more sent gifts, or were on vacation. The welcome was warm.

Igor Lerner was given his Tefillin and he has been putting them on every day since. He also was our only Shabbos guest.

Meanwhile, we are still barely sleeping, since we have made a Hachlata to get up early each morning and tackle the day.

Coffee is our new life.

While our bodies get used to the time difference, the Or Avner fund is almost up (should be done by tomorrow), and we are looking for a place to use as a shul. Could you believe that in Russia, office space of 120 square meters would cost over 4000 dollars?

In other news, we wanna buy a dryer, and apparently the way it works here is that you must give the seller (the only one in the city too) 40 dollars, and only then is he wiling to SHOW YOU the price of the dryer. If you don't like any dryers, then you just lost 40 bucks.

Only in Russia.

I was supposed to post lots of pictures, but this computer won't let me. Internet cafe. At least the time-line is over and within the next 5 days we will be getting it on our home computer!

P.S. Shabbos was Zvi's 26th birthday!

WE GOT THE VISA!!!

We are set. And monday is D-Day. It's so D-day, it's 3D-Day!

Home. Finally! I hope the fridge still works.

Shlichus again. I can't wait!

A day in NYC

Yesterday I went to New York.

I had to, since the day before I was in Philadelphia.

OK, to back up. After the fiasco in Montreal, and doing a small fundraising trip in Toronto, we returned to Morristown with a Canadian passport. The problem? Russia gives Canadians visas after a minimum 30 days, the reason given on their website? "since Canada make the Russians wait, we will make the Canadians wait."

Sounds like grade 3 all over again.

Anyway, we found out about a place in Philly that can do passports in a few hours, so we drove to Flyers-town. Incidentally, while we are on the subject, Tali Yess did a great job on our Sefer Torah flyer, which we will be sending out by mail soon.

Our experience in Philadelphia:

We arrived in the morning and went to the office. Chayale had amassed a bagful of documents and papers, including stuff like her kindergarten report cards. We went in through a metal detector and serious security (later I would notice that homeland security had offices in the building). They confiscated Chayake's scizzors (she got them back later).

Then we waited in line for like 15 minutes. Our number was called. I thought it would be like 5 minutes but they made some big issue out of some minor thing, and we stood there for like a half hour. Chayale whispered that I should say Tehillim. It was hard, though, since I had to watch Miriam, who was very edgy.

Chayale says a miracle happened. She mentally told the Rebbe, "we're going out there for you, to do your work. Don't make this hard for us", and then immediately the woman said, "ok, looks like everything will be good. Your passport will be ready in 2hours."

We wanted to get Miriam an American passport as well, but we will need more papers in order to do that.

Two hours later, after strolling around central Philly, we returned and picked up the passport. it was a breeze. Then we went to Morristown for a bar-b-q supper with Esty.

Anyway, so yesterday I was in NY to get Chaim Shimsh a visa. Spent the morning in Manhattan finding the place, filling out the paperwork, and giving over the money, and dropping off at B & H to visit best buddy Chaim Hertzel.

Then it was off to Crown Heights to do the final pick-ups. Shluchim office for Igor Lerner's Tefillin - check. HaSofer to pick up 5 free Mezuzas for people in Stavropol - check. Grocery shopping for kosher food we can't get in Russia - check.

The day was looking very accomplishing and successful. But then I met Levi Adelman and the luck he has obtained through his beloved Bruins made it's way into me. I had no luck fundraising, and the roller-hockey game was cancelled at the last minute. Bummer.

I returned to Morristown a little glum.

But then Chayale gave me some ice cream so all was good.

Escape TO Russia

Remember that game in camp 'escape from Russia'? basically the idea for this 'night activity' was that there were tables across camp (you know, one at the north end of camp, another at the south end, one in the dining room, another in the lake...) and all the campers had to run around getting all their papers in order while trying to avoid staff acting as the 'KGB' who would steal your papers or send you to 'Siberia' (the photo-development room).

Well, the past few months have been the opposite, as we try to escape to Russia, or rather, get papers for our newborn son to Russia.

So let us show you the game in it's proper order and where we are standing:

1 - Give birth to a baby. This part was easy for the husband, not so easy for the wife. We did it in Canada for several reasons, but mainly because the hospital in Stavropol has 'no husbands admitted' rule, which made us a little wary. Also, in Canada we are covered by medicare, so it was free.

2 - Immediately after birth, fill out all the documents for the birth certificate and send out the form. Do this immediately, like before even getting your wife a glass of water.

ALERT: Might not be a good idea to visit your parents in the U.S., since that leads to:

3 - After making calls to the hospital and the border, return to the hospital to pick up a document stating that the baby was born here. Make sure it is signed by a doctor. Expect to wait for the document for over an hour, and so (next time) bring something like a crossword puzzle or Chitas (case depending) to the hospital with you.

4 - Cross the border into the U.S. Show them the paper, and watch as they look on, impressed. Imagine how QUICKLY the other documents will arrive, and start telling friends that you will be gone in like two weeks.

5 - Once safely in New Jersey, decide (out of laziness) that you might as well make both of the kids U.S. citizens while you are at it, because it also saves a trip back to Canada to apply for the passport. Call the U.S. passport office, and listen to them tell you how for "just 200 bucks extra", they can have the passport done in two days. Wonder how much quicker they can go if you add a bottle of champagne.

6 - Wait for the birth certificate to arrive in Canada.

7 - Keep waiting.

8 - Call birth certificate office in Canada to find out what's taking so long. Discover that it'll "arrive on thursday."

9 - Wait another week and a half. Meanwhile, discover that you must go in to pick up the birth certificate, since you are the parent. Discuss a trip to Montreal.

10 - When the birth certificate arrives, discover that your mother can pick it up since her name is one the application as a witness (yeah!). Have her pick it up and rush her to put it on Hyman's bus THAT VERY NIGHT!

11 - Receive a phone call from your mother saying that she gave it to a woman who lives in Monroe, an hour from Morristown.

12 - Rush to Monroe the next morning, and spend another hour lost looking for the address. Pick up the package and return to Morristown. Try to make it back in time for the New Jersey passport office to still be open, but get stuck in traffic and miss it. Swear (in Yiddish, preferably).

13 - Early the next morning, pay 20 bucks to get two beautiful U.S. sized passport photos of your kids. Then rush to the passport center. Spend two hours trying to keep your daughter entertained while filling out forms, and then hand them in with every other possible document that exists, excited that you will receive a U.S. passport for your son in two days and be able to make a visa!

14 - The lady at the desk tells you that minimum time for it to be processed and ready is two weeks! And that is only if the application for the passport is accepted. Plus, they will take the original birth certificate and keep it until they send the passport! Ask her why they told you two DAYS? Receive the answer that two days can be done only if the applicant had a previous passport.

15 - Grumble and mutter the entire way home, with all your papers. Call Canada and discover that they can ACTUALLY do it in two days even for a new baby! Plus, instead of the 250 bucks U.S., it'll cost just 55 dollars Canadian to get it done. Immediately decide to 'be wise' and take the Hyman's bus THAT VERY NIGHT to Canada so the father can IN PERSON apply for the passport. Rush your son to a walmart for Canadian sized passport pictures.

16 - Get on Hymans overnight bus full of stale cholent, with all the documents. Look at the passport photos and notice that they are blurry. Get worried. Don't sleep.

17 - Early morning, drive to the passport office and wait an hour for your turn. Then let the woman in the passport office go through all your documents and finally tell you that the pictures are too blurry, but everything else is ok. All you have to do now is bring non-blurry pictures of your son. Excited, run home and call your wife in New Jersey. Tell her to do new photos and send tham on Hymans bus.

18 - The wife takes phots in a special place that even specializes in Canadian passport photos! Her mother drives to Monsey at midnight to give the photos to someone.

19 - Naturally, the person is located on the other side of Montreal. Pick up the photos and return to the pasport office, conveniently located all the way on the OTHER side of the city.

20 - The dude at the desk tell you, after you waited for a half hour, that the baby must be IN CANADA, and the photos must be taken IN CANADA, or that you must bring proof that you are living in your parents house. Return home dejected, wondering what to do.

21 - Find some bank bills in your name, living proof that you exist in Canada, and return to the office. Another wait. Another line. Another time told that the pictures must be taken in Canada. Also, they want the wife to come in, since next to her signature, she mistakenly wrote that she signed 'in Montreal'.

22 - Go home. Call your wife. Tell her she must come in with the baby. She rents a car.

23 - 2:30 in the morning: drive to the border to meet your wife, since YOU are the one who has the baby's birth certificate and without it, he will not be admitted into Canada.

24 - 9:30 in the morning: get pictures taken in the place next to the passport office. Wait in line. Triumphantly show the teller your wife and child plus the high-quality super dooper Canadian sized passport photos. The letter looks at them, and tells you they must be signed by your mother, the witness, to show proof that it is the baby. This is even though the baby is right there sleeping in front of the teller.

25 - Get your mother to the office. She signs the paper. They tell you to return at 2:00 PM and pick up the passport. Now on to the visa.

26 - Pick up the passport. The teller as a joke says he lost it. Not funny.

27 - VISA TIME! Call the Russian consulate, and listen to them tell you that it takes 3 weeks to get the visa, all the while they keep the passport too.



This is where we are up to. Further updates as events warrant.

To sum it all up, here is one of my favorite web videos:

What an ad for Torah!

We want to go home!!

It's been over two months already since we've arrived, and we want to return home. It's really annoying being away from home for so long, and away from a community that keeps asking 'when do you return' especially considering that the 'president' of the community is trying to do everything he can to get rid of us (and please G-d he will not be successful).

I met R' Lazar on Gimmel Tammuz at the Ohel. Our conversation went something like this.

Me: Hey, Rabbi Lazar.
Him: Sholom Aleichem. When do you return?
Me: We want to get back already, but it looks like it will be a while. We are waiting for the papers from the Canadian government confirming that our son was born.
Him: Try to speed it up.
Me: ok.

I wish it were that easy.

I guess that the reason for this mood is that we did not have the most productive day today. We have spent a month waiting for the 'confirmation of birth' from canada, then another week waiting for his birth certificate, followed by a trip to Monroe to pick up the document which my mother had sent there via Heiman's bus.

So we had the documents. Now we were all ready to get Chaim Shimshon a passport (and we were so sure we were saving time by having him get dual citizenship AND an American passport at the same time).

So we took passport pictures of both the kids (we want them BOTH to be dual), and went to the passport office. (IMPORTANT NOTE: they had barely slept. Miriam was sick with some kind of extreme diarrhea disorder rash. She still has it) We had called before and came with all documents we had, including like 10 years worth of Chayale's report cards. After spending over an hour trying to calm the kids, and write/gather the documents, the lady told us that she would need to take away the original documents, we might not get approved, and worst of all WE WOULD HAVE TO WAIT A MINIMUM OF TWO WEEKS!

So we left, and called Called. They can do it in a day, if we have a flight. So now the plan is to go to Montreal in time for Monday, and try to rush a passport for Chaim Shimshon.

This is so time consuming. When the passport is done, we need to get an invitation for him from Russia (since we were told that he isn't eligible to be counted on our visa... Which R' Lazar, in another discussion I had with him, said we might be able to do), followed by a visa. Only then can we return home.

I will make a Toronto fundraising trip of it, I guess.

Oh well. It's all Hashgacha Protis.

Letters in the Torah

I don't think I ever posted this, but a Sefer Torah has been donated to our community thatnks to Eli Ginsburg and Zeev Shurman. We will welcome the Torah at the end of August/beginning of September. We are selling letters in the Torah for 18 dollars a letter. If anyone wants more information, or would like to sponsor words, perakim, or parshas, email me at rabbizvi44@yahoo.com

Also, we are still looking for a sponsor of the Paroches' (cloth covering the ark in which the Torahs are kept. There are two of them, one for the high holidays and one for the year). The cost is approximately 3,000 dollars, and a Ner Tamid (eternal light which burns in front of the ark).

A miracle story

Today was a very hot day.

Elisheva "G" as we shall call her, was in day camp.

Color war was over (her team had won), but her counselors wanted to have a little extra fun.

So they sent all their campers outside into the heat for 2 hours straight. The children chased each other around and around until they got dizzy, and finally, exhausted, they sat down under the shade of a tall tree to rest.

But this did not satisfy their evil counselors, who immediately handed out water guns, and sent them back out into the sauna they call 'air', to have a waterfight.

While most of the s were given super-soaker 1200's, Elisheva "G" was handed a dollar-store handgun-soaker which didn't work, and she got sprayed until she wheighed 18 more pounds becuase of her soggy clothes.

The exhausted camper went to her counselors, and begged to be allowed to change, but instead they sent her on a yellow school bus with - metal seats, to go on a trip to... the Matza bakery.

Hours later, the "really tired" (to quote her own exact words she JUST SAID RIGHT NOW!!!) came home... and then a miracle happened.

Her brother-in-law, who is the super-coolest guy in the world ever plus he even knows how to spell, was on the computer updating his blog, and he agreed to write an ENTIRE post about her.

May we all be Zoicheh to such wonders.

Here is a picture of her.

Internet is a blessing

A while ago, I decided to search 'Stavropol' on facebook, and then message people telling them that I am a Rabbi who just moved here, and blah blah blah a Shabbaos meal.

It worked, because I found 2 ex-Stavropolian Jews. One of them told me about odnoklassniki.ru, the Russian version of facebook.

So I joined 'classmates', and added him as my friend. Pretty soon I started to find people we know from the community, and I made a group called 'Stavropol Jews'.

Then I was told about vkontakte.ru, another facebook style program, and decided to search there as well.

After several weeks now, I have compiled a list of Stavropol Jews, perhaps 40 of them on odnoklassniki.ru and 15 of them on vkontakte.ru. I keep meeting more and more of them (some of them in Israel). One of them is now a yeshiva bochur!

And that is how we keep in touch with our community.