SHLICHUS AT THIRTY BELOW ZERO

The East Coast of the US has just pulled out of a major blizzard and Eretz Yisroel and Europe have been grappling with cold and nasty weather. Beis Moshiach went to see how shluchim deal with ongoing freezing weather. R’ Zalman Zaklos, shliach and rav of the city Novosibirsk, told us of Chassidic life in the Siberian cold. How do they get used to extreme cold? How do they draw people out of their homes when it is minus forty outside? And how do the locals prevent their car engines from freezing? * If you thought it was cold where you live, make yourself a cup of tea and warm up with this article about shlichus in freezing climates.

By Zalman Tzorfati

SHLICHUS IN THE COLDEST POPULATED REGION IN THE WORLD

Some people see the pavement only a few months a year because most of the time it is covered in a thick layer of snow and ice. One shliach who lives like this is R’ Zalman Zaklos who lives in Novosibirsk, the capital of Siberia. Siberia is the coldest inhabited region in the world. The average temperature in the winter is around 35 Celsius below zero.

“Now, as I am talking to you, the temperature outside is minus 25, but a few days ago it was minus 41. That was really cold.”

How do you deal with such cold?

The way people in any country deal with that country’s characteristics. The perpetual cold and snow are an inseparable part of life here and you live to learn with it. In those locations not used to it, a little snow puts a halt to everything. Here the snow is part of us and people live with it just fine. The houses are well heated; heating in homes is a basic municipal service.

The houses are warm and the roads are constantly cleared of snow as are the pavements and crosswalks. In places where people don’t walk you can see two meters of snow accumulated there over the winter. There is even a solution for cars so the engines don’t freeze.

Which is?

When the engine is very cold, all the fluids inside freeze and then the engine itself freezes. So all cars here have a special sensor installed; the minute it senses that the engine is starting to freeze, it starts up the engine and warms it so it doesn’t freeze. You can walk around in the middle of the night and hear the engines of parked cars turning on and off one by one.

There is also a gadget that remotely starts the car and turns on the heating in the passenger section, so the car is warm when the driver enters.

The main thing is that people dress warmly with many layers. There is a local saying which says that a good Siberian is not someone who isn’t cold but someone who knows how to dress properly.

NO FREEZING OF ACTIVITIES

How do you get people out of the house for programs in such cold?

Again, as I said, people are used to the cold, it’s part of life. Most of the monthly programs in the winter take place in closed, well-heated locations. Whether it’s a program for children, women or men, we do it in a closed, warm place. The only exception is Chanuka programming.

Chanuka always falls out in the dead of winter. Do you have a public menorah lighting?

Of course. We’ve been doing it for many years now. It’s a huge menorah, nearly ten meters high, and every year we have a big impressive ceremony with a light show and fireworks and various performances which bring out a lot of Jews.

CHASSIDIC WARMTH

Novosibirsk is one of the major cities in Russia and the third largest after Moscow and S Petersburg. It serves as district capital and is in southwestern Siberia. Siberia is home to some of the greatest natural resources in Russia. Deep in the frozen earth are gold mines, oil and coal and the financial center of the area is in Novosibirsk.

The city has developed to an international standard and a completely modern western way of life prevails. Its central geographical location, at the junction where the Ob River meets the trans-Siberian railway, has turned the city into a bustling center of commerce.

The population of Novosibirsk is over a million and a half people and is built primarily on the political prisoners, “enemies of the state,” who were exiled there in years past. We all grew up on stories of Chassidim who were exiled to the forced labor camps in Siberia by the communists for the crime of spreading Judaism. Today, there is a flourishing Chabad community led by R’ Zaklos. In a place where Chassidim were led as prisoners, Judaism is now melting the walls of spiritual ice that the Soviets built.

R’ Zaklos and his family arrived in the city sixteen years ago. As Israelis, they would describe their reception as not exactly cool, but rather freezing. There was no Jewish activity when they arrived. According to calculations, over 20,000 Jews live in the city. However, they were not organized as a community and there was no connection among them, not to mention a shul or other religious services that simply did not exist.

MELTING THE SPIRITUAL ICE

How do you handle the physical and spiritual cold?

At first it was very hard dealing with the extreme cold. We had never experienced such cold, but slowly, we got used to it. There is nothing in life you cannot get used to, including Siberian cold. Today we’ve become like the locals. The cold no longer bothers us. We have learned to prepare for it and to live with it.

The spiritual cold, on the other hand, is a big challenge for us. The very challenge warmed us up and gave us the strength not to slack off. The first thing we did when we arrived was to try to get to know as many Jews as possible. We tried to locate lists, but we mainly did it by word of mouth and according to names in the phone book.

The next thing we did was open a school. We started getting the word out, among the people we were getting to know, and many were interested. We rented a place and began with a small number of students. We grew slowly, people heard about it and about how good it is, and Jewish families came to register their children.

CLOSURE IN SIBERIA

Today, after sixteen years of hard work, Rabbi and Mrs. Zaklos’ programs include over 7000 Jews who are registered in the Jewish community, a huge building of over 3500 square meters. The building contains a preschool, a Beit Chabad, a shul, mikvaos, a restaurant, a store that sells kosher food, a library, and lecture rooms and classrooms.

When I tried to arrange a time to interview R’ Zalman, he asked me to call in the evening because he was in the hospital. “Is everything all right?” I wrote him. He wrote back, “Yes, there was a small problem with a baby who had a bris and boruch Hashem, he’s okay. I’ll tell you later.”

When I got him on the phone that evening, he told me what happened. “We had a bris today. The parents of the baby have recently gotten close to us. Boruch Hashem, they decided to have a bris on the eighth day, which is not a given here. The grandfather is a well-known public figure and he was initially opposed to it. However, the parents insisted and in the end he gave in and even agreed to be the sandak.

“At the bris, the grandfather asked to speak. He was very emotional and he said that his grandfather was a religious Jew whose name was Meir, the name given to this baby. The parents of the baby had decided on this name without knowing that this was the name of their great-grandfather. The grandfather said he never dreamed that his grandson would have a bris on the eighth day in Siberia. Now, not only was his grandson properly circumcised, but he was named for his great-grandfather who was strong in his faith.”

***

We wanted to end with another story and R’ Zaklos told us the following:

“Five years ago I gave a lecture to young Jews. At its conclusion, a seventeen year old girl came over and said she was very interested in Judaism. She asked where she could get information. I invited her to our house and she has since become a member of our household and has become quite observant.

“One Shabbos, she told us what led to her interest in Judaism. Ten years earlier, when she was seven years old, she lived opposite the apartment we rented in our first years on shlichus. Every Shabbos I would leave the house wearing my sirtuk and tallis and walk to shul.

“The first time she saw me, she was frightened and she asked her mother what that big penguin was. Her mother calmed her down and said that although they lived in Siberia, the black and white creature was not a penguin but a Jewish rabbi.

“After that, she would stand near the window every Shabbos and wait to see me leave the house. When she got older, her curiosity about Judaism grew and she came to that lecture and met me.

“Sometime later she went to Eretz Yisroel and met a Jewish boy and they decided to marry. They asked me to come and be their officiating rabbi. I went to Eretz Yisroel and after the chuppa I met a young man, a cousin of the girl. It turns out that he lives opposite the shul and never thought of coming in. Of course, I invited him and he began regularly attending the programs for young people that we have on Friday nights.

“Little by little, he too began to keep more and more and he recently met a Jewish girl who also comes Friday night and they decided to marry. Since they were both mekuravim to the Chabad House, they asked me to officiate. But they wanted a modest religious ceremony at the shul and a big event at the civil wedding.

“About a week ago, they were outside the city and were in a terrible car accident. Their car turned over and was crushed but they came out without a scratch. After they recovered somewhat from the incredible miracle, they called me to say that they had decided to switch around their plan and make the chuppa the big event.”