‘Enough Jews to go around’
The opening of a Lubavitch outreach center in Flanders offers a glimpse at how the Brooklyn-based hasidic movement has become a fixture of the U.S. exurbs

by Johanna Ginsberg
NJJN Staff Writer

On a picturesque rural road in Flanders, just past a red bridge, a passerby might not take notice of a small two-story blue house at the end of a winding driveway. It’s got a pretty view of the nearby woods from the front window, a lovely backyard, bookshelves filled with sacred texts, and photos of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the late Chabad-Lubavitch rebbe, prominently displayed in a downstairs den and upstairs dining area.

This is the home of Rabbi Yaacov Shusterman and his wife, Fraida, both 28, and their three children, ages four, three, and eighteen months. The family moved in just a month ago. Their home also doubles as the newest satellite of the Chabad Center of Northwest New Jersey, and represents the realization of a dream.

“Coming and starting this is the dream of every regular Chabad person. You grow up encouraged to come out and help other Jews,” said Yaacov Shusterman.

That dream, shared by waves of “shluchim,” or emissaries, trained in Chabad seminaries, has made Chabad certainly the best known hasidic movement. It has also made the Chabad rabbi a ubiquitous fixture in communities far removed not only from the movement’s base in Brooklyn, but from other Jewish communities as well.

The movement claims that it has dispatched 4,000 full-time emissary families, who direct more than 3,300 institutions, in locations ranging from suburban American neighborhoods to Third World tourist sites. Almost all offer the now-familiar sight of a fully Orthodox family — the bearded father in white shirt, black suit, and wide-brimmed hat, the mother and children in modest dress — catering to the spiritual needs of families who are seldom as observant as their mentors.

If the gap between their level of observance and their congregants’ worries the emissary families, they rarely show it; their movement teaches that it is enough that they help Jews perform whatever mitzvot, or commandments, they are willing to take on. And while some from other Jewish denominations quietly complain that Chabad is undermining their own outreach, the Shustermans and others say that “there are enough Jews to go around.”

As they open one of the latest Chabad centers, the Shustermans agreed to offer a glimpse into the planting and seeding of the Chabad idea in yet another suburb.

They will provide services for Flanders/Mount Olive and Washington Township, as well as Warren County. Other satellites of the Chabad Center of Northwest NJ include Sparta, Montville, and Randolph.

The Shustermans’ center is the result of two years of investigating the area. The search began when, as Rabbi Shusterman put it, “I pulled out a map to find an area where there was no Chabad House. I talked to Rabbi [Asher] Herson, and that’s it.” Rabbi Herson serves as regional director for the Chabad Center of Northwest NJ. Of course, it wasn’t that simple — the research involved buying lists of names and checking the latest surveys of the Jewish population in the area to find out how many Jews are living there. The Shustermans have also been running holiday programs in the area since March 2003 to gauge interest.

In doing his research, Rabbi Shusterman uncovered about 1,500 Jewish families; he felt lucky to have that size population. “If you have 1,000 families, you’re doing well,” he told NJJN. According to the 1998 Jewish Population Study of MetroWest, the Jewish population in Sussex and Warren counties as well as the Jefferson Township area of Morristown in Morris County increased from 4,800 in 1986 to 5,800 in 1998. And the Jewish population of the West Morris area, which includes Flanders, Mount Olive, and Succasunna as well as other areas not in this newest Chabad region, increased from 13,200 to 14,000.

Scouting an area, however, and opening up a center there are completely different enterprises. As Rabbi Herson pointed out, “A Chabad rabbi has to be ready to reinvent himself regularly. It all comes from what people want.”

The endeavor is not simple. Every Chabad house is a self-sufficient operation, according to Herson, who explained the system. While a couple might receive guidance from a regional director, they are on their own, financially, with few exceptions.

“The overwhelming bulk of the budget comes from the local constituency…. Sometimes they can find help from a central source — at the beginning they may get a few thousand dollars, but that won’t cover the budget,” said Herson, adding that before Passover, the Rabbinical College of America — the Lubavitch seminary in Morristown — “might send a little money” to a center. If a building is put up, the Lubavitch headquarters in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, might send some money — maybe $5,000, continued Herson. “But they can’t count on it. Ninety-nine percent comes from the [emissary] couple and the people living in the area. Every Chabad center in the world is funded by the local community.”

And that means keeping closely attuned to what the local population is interested in. “When you start from scratch, you don’t have the support and comfort of an overtly Jewish area,” said Herson. “The systems are not there. There’s no congregation waiting for you. Your job is to create a community and serve the people in the area. The first year there is a tremendous wait-and-see energy.” It’s an important time, he added, to feel out the constituency and see what the people want most. “The Chabad mentality is to give the people what they are looking for.” The offerings, as a result, can vary greatly from Chabad House to Chabad House in “dramatic” ways.

The commitment of a Chabad rabbi is regarded as life-long. Now that the Shustermans have selected this community, they are expected to remain there. “Consistency is a very important part of our philosophy. Typically, people commit themselves to an area forever,” said Herson.

‘One Jew at a time’

The Shustermans began their outreach with a Purim program in Flanders in 2003 and continued with other holiday events and activities, offering a matza bakery in Long Valley for Passover, a Rosh Hashana shofar factory, and a Hanukka party. The surveys handed out at every program have already helped the rabbi identify his strategy for the community, which will focus on children’s programs, although people have also indicated an interest in studying and in services.

He finds encouragement in every new initiative. From a fledgling class for two girls in Long Valley on Sundays, he sees a school blooming. “That will for sure become a small little Hebrew school. It was a big accomplishment.”

The Shustermans have already been successful in developing relationships with several local families, beginning with Miriam Peled, one of the first people contacted in Flanders.

For Peled, Chabad is a welcome addition to the area’s Jewish offerings. “I’m really happy we’ll have that kind of outreach in our area. It’s simple, down-to-earth Judaism.” Peled grew up within the Chabad movement and appreciates its appeal. “It’s a spiritual experience: learning, reading, and thinking about how to apply it to our lives. The young children are taught with hands-on programs. And it was designed to include everyone, poor, rich, anybody.”

The first program the Shustermans held, the Purim celebration in March 2003, was in Peled’s home.

“It was very, very family-oriented and very inclusive,” she said. “The rabbi was very insightful, and it was a great experience for the kids, who were not judged and did their own thing. We walked away learning a lot [about] the holiday.”

Pat and Mitch Davis moved to Mount Olive 10 years ago for better housing prices, but they found the Jewish community sparse. Their children attend the nondenominational Nathan Bohrer-Abraham Kaufman Hebrew Academy of Morris County in Randolph, about a 20-minute drive from their home. But the Davises say they hadn’t found a comfort level at any of the local synagogues, although they have been attending the Conservative Lake Hopatcong Jewish Community Center, which they said needs support. Like Peled, Pat Davis approaches Chabad as another option, one she really likes. “At Chabad, I love the celebration of the holidays. It brings a joy to being Jewish, an enthusiasm. I really enjoy being there. The way they practice, with so much joy and enthusiasm, makes you feel so spiritually fulfilled.”

Hedy Resnick, who has lived in Hackettstown for 28 years, is particularly interested in creating a religious school. “This is a beautiful area and a nice community, but it’s lacking in services for Jewish people.” When she first moved in, she said, hers was only the second Jewish family in the 265-house development. “I want my son to get some Jewish education and be bar mitzva’d.”

Resnick has been taking her eight-year-old son to a Chabad school in Hibernia, but finds the 40-minute commute so difficult that she will no longer be able to take him during the week. “I kept saying, ‘Please, start something here.’” She likes Chabad in part because she doesn’t feel judged. “They accept everyone…. They don’t look down on me for the way I practice.”

So far, one of the biggest challenges facing the Shustermans is the high level of intermarriage they are finding. “Many people here are intermarried,” the rabbi sighed. The Shustermans will work with the children of an intermarried couple if the mother is Jewish; but if only the father is Jewish, they decline to work with the children — who are not considered Jewish by traditional Jewish law — unless the mother expresses interest in an Orthodox conversion. The rabbi also acknowledged that he would probably not refer such a family to another denomination.

And there is also the matter of tensions from ostensible competition with already established institutions, like the Conservative Temple Hatikvah in Flanders and the Reform Temple Shalom in Succasunna. The Shustermans say, however, that they are interested mostly in unaffiliated families. “There are enough Jews to go around. We want to work hand-in-hand with the other rabbis. We want to have a good relationship with them.”

Rabbi Shusterman has reached out to Rabbi David Senter of Hatikvah, and the two have begun studying the Shulhan Aruch, the codebook of Jewish law, together every Tuesday morning. “He seems to be a very nice person,” said Senter. “I hope we have a relationship of good neighbors…. We all have the same goal; that is, to strengthen Jews and their ties to Yiddishkeit. We just have to make sure we’re respectful of each other.”

Rabbi Joel Soffin of Temple Shalom is on sabbatical and could not be reached for comment.

In the meantime, the Shustermans forge on as they settle in. They are planning Purim festivities, and on Thursday, March 3, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., they will welcome Rabbi Dr. Laibl Wolf to the Lodge in Schooley’s Mountain Park on Camp Washington Road in Long Valley. Wolf, a best-selling author, psychologist, and spiritual mentor, will speak about Kabala. (For more information, contact the Shustermans at 973-927-3531).

The Shustermans, who exude idealism, nevertheless have no illusions about the work ahead. Asked how he would measure success, Yaacov Shusterman said, “One Jew at a time. It’s hard work. It’s very slow. You meet people. People turn you away, they put the phone down, but you continue. Each person at a time, we’ll build a little community.”

Johanna Ginsberg can be reached at jginsberg@njjewishnews.com.