Meaningful Moments in Maine

B”H

A Chassid* is always on duty and never fully on vacation from their obligations even when on vacation. Perhaps this might be troublesome to some who read this. What do you mean? The Rabbi and Rebbitzen who work hard throughout the year can’t get a breakeven when on break?!   The truth is, however, that a Chassid embraces this and understands and feels this as a privilege and honor to have their life imbued with meaning and purposefulness wherever they may be - just as a soldier is ever-ready to serve for their country and for what they believe in. And so… here is our vacation story.

Well, really, I’ll start before our story. This past week, our family took a trip for a few days to the Bethel area in Western Maine. It’s only three and a half hours from Natick, but the change in scenery and landscape makes you feel as though you have entered another world - a world of breath-taking beauty, a quieter world, a slower-paced world, with pristine natural lakes and brooks, and intoxicating fresh mountain air. 

On our first day out, we went to Grafton Notch where there are trails leading through some of the most exquisite rocks, falls, and caves. We were a hungry bunch and needed to gear up fuel for our adventures. While picnicking, we were saying our food blessings and at some points discussing words of Torah. We were mindful of and even expressed the possibility that this very spot may have been waiting 5774 years, 10 months, and 16 days (since creation) for these holy words, sparks of G-dliness, to be uttered there. 

I must mention here that there was a general feeling among us that this region may have very few, if any, Jewish inhabitants. We wondered if, in fact, we would at any point during our little vacation, end up bumping into any Jews. 

Later in the day, as we were heading back “home”, we stopped into the local towm’s Hannahford to pick up a few things.  Just by the way, we came well-stocked with our Kosher meats, dairy products, breads, and quite a few other edible essentials. However, with our overstuffed cargo, we intentionally left out fresh produce, which we knew we could pick up locally. 

We wondered if this store would have a Kosher aisle – and kind of doubted it. Lo and behold, there were 7 items on the shelf of what could hardly be called a Kosher section – yahrtziet candles, small boxes of Shabbat candles, Matzah, jars of Matzah ball soup and Gefilte fish, Kedem tea biscuits, and Manischewitz wine. Nothing eventful happened that day at Hannahford.

On our second trip to Hannahford, as we were standing at the check-out counter, the guy in line behind us, scanning the conveyor belt with our few items, asked “Where’s the Halvah?” I said, “What made you think of Halvah?” He answered that he had noticed the matzah (and possibly our modest style of dress) and then added another Jewish related word or two. Still unsure of his identity, I asked him straight out, “Are you Jewish?” to which his response was “Yes”. We finished the shopping, brought the stuff to our van and I shared with the rest of the family, that we have just met a Jew. While we were unloading, my husband, Rabbi Levi Fogelman, got out and I pointed to the yellow Volkswagen where he quickly headed before the guy pulled out. 

The two spent some time in conversation. The man was really excited to meet us. He shared with us that there are about 8 Jewish families in that entire region of the Western Maine Mountains that he knows of. There is some kind of an informal society they call the “Jews in the Woods”. (We later found out that it’s a few more than 8 but still very few.) They exchanged contact information. He invited us to his place in West Paris, Maine. In one of the email exchanges he wrote that he felt that our encounter “was Providence” and he really did want to connect more with his heritage, etc. He wrote that there is also someone else who would like to meet us when we visit. We felt that this was perhaps the real purpose of our vacation. Since West Paris was somewhat on the way back home we made a point to carve out time for this at the end of our stay. 

If you come to Shul this Shabbat, you will hear more about this and our visit. If you can’t make it, we hope to have “part 2” ready for next week’s email. 

Have a wonderful and meaningful Shabbat!

Chanie

* Click here for definition of Chassid