Day 22 Report

Today we made a visit to a town called Ravenshoe, visited a lady there who only discovered that she was Jewish when her father passed away. She told us that she had no knowledge of Judaism but was very interested in learning about it. We spoke to her about making sure that her 4 children knew that they were Jewish and how important it was for her kids to learn about their Jewish faith. We then gave her a Friday night lights kit which she gladly excepted and told us that she would light it every Friday night. After we finished meeting with her we continued down south to a town called Port Hitchenbrook where there was a couple who lived out of their boat. They said they only had a few minutes to meet with us but they were glad for us to come. We first recieved a tour of their boat and after that we asked them if they would like for us to affix a Mezuzah on the doorpost of the boat. We then had to figure out where exactly was the "official" entrance of the boat. We finally decided upon a place to put up the Mezuzah and she was very moved by the idea that there was now some sprituality on her boat. The man of the house arrived shortly after and he told us that he had been sick for some time now and had only recently started to feel better. We told him that putting on Tefilin would definitely be a good thing to do in order to bring blessings of health into his life. He put on Tefilin and said the Shema very beautifully and thanked us very much for the meaningful visit.

We are now back at our home away from home, Georges house!

A little note to us from our friend George-

"What do you get when you put 2 young Rabbi's in a Mitzvah Tank and send them off into the unknown? MECHANICAL TROUBLE!. I'm George! ( in the pic sitting with the boys around a table drinking) I'm the guy who fixes the Tank every time it arrives in RARA HQ of the North ( Townsville ). Boys I HOPE you haven't broken anything more on the tank! In the few days I had the RV for repairs we fixed the hot water system, re-wired the fridge, got the gas cooker working, fixed the internal lights, re-fused all cables, fixed locks that didn't lock, cleaned Air con unit,drove al over Townsville to get a replacement tire, engineered a new recovery tool that was "taken" and finally put OIL INTO THE ENGINE.....oh and boys! that's a biggy, have you checked oil like I told you? NO I'm sure you haven't!. All this while the boys stay tucked in, warm in their beds sleeping in till 9AM! yes 9AM, that's their Idea of an early start!....you pair of....so and so's..... I love having you guys in QLD! Its worth every annoying minute! look after the RV, she's your home and our pride. George."

Shabbos #3 Report

Shabbos in Cairns was UNBELIEVABLE!

We were honestly expecting between 10-15 people at our little Shabbaton- but over 25 showed up!!! Thats a big number for little Cairns! We started the event at 5:45 (20 minutes before shabbos) so we could put on Tefilin with all the men and so that the women could light Shabbat candles. Afterwards, after everyone had met each other we did a quick Maariv with our guest Chazan Zalmy Schneerson from Crown Heights, who came up especially for the Shabbaton! During the meal everyone got up and introduced themselves and also said something that had inspired them in the past week. The overall aura of the evening was very "Heimish", but it didn't seem like anybody minded in the least. The guests raved about the Shabbat meal along with many praises for Chabad of RARA and all that they do for them. We can confidently say that everyone there really enjoyed themselves.

Day 18/19

Hey!

So for the bulk of Thursday we went from hotel to hotel trying to find the perfect accommodations for our grand Shabbaton in Cairns. We finally settled on one right near the central shopping street and promised to be a very ideal location for a Shabbos meal.

After finalizing the location we proceeded to make tons of phone calls and mass texts to all the Jews in Cairns, telling them of the exciting news. As of friday morning we expected about 10-15 people at the Shabbaton, and even that was a high number. We learned a few hours before Shabbos that it was a semi-holiday in Cairns because of the local fair, and because of that most of the stores were closed. So we had a pretty big problem: We had no fish for our Shabbos meal. So we called up one of new friends in Cairns (who happens to own a restaurant here) and told him about our predicament and he said he'll call his supplier and he'll see what happens. Sure enough, 90 minutes before Shabbos he came to out hotel room with 3 whole fish, right out of the ocean! Well, that kinda led into our next problem: none of us knew how to scale, cut or fillet a fish, but we quickly learned! Came Shabbos and we had 4 pans filled with freshly grilled fish!

Shabbat Shalom!

Day 15/16/17

Sorry for the lack of updates, been a busy week up here...

Hello there!

So we visited many Jews in the Cairns area..

Had a very boring fast day... spent most of it (or all of it) in the RV.

Visited a very nice lady who is the only "open" Jew in her family, the rest of her family does not believe they are Jewish even though there is proof (and we saw it!) that she indeed is. We also visited a really nice fellow who is an architect here and he put on Tefilin with us. Spoke with him about why we put on Tefilin and what exactly is inside the actual Tefilin.

We were lucky enough to get into a caravan park that was located right on the beach... right on the beach! We also got a third bochur for a few days to help us with our planned Shabbaton, great to have you Zalmy!

We also saw a wild crocodile right near the road we were on... just thought we'd share that with you.

Day 14

Today we left Cairns for the first time in a week to visit a few Jews in a city about an hour north called Port Douglas. The drive to this city is along a very skinny highway with the mountains on one side and the raging ocean on the other. It was quite hard to concentrate with all the beautiful scenery in front of us. When we arrived we called the other 75 percent of the Jews in Port Douglas (all 10 of them in total) and we realized that only 3 Jews were even willing to see us. So we went first to a Jew who is the owner of the cafe there and we had a long conversation about G-d and Israel and when he brought over his daughter we asked him if it was ok for us to speak to her about the importance of lighting Shabbat candles, he consented. So we spoke to her about how important it was for her to light Shabbat candles every week because she was probably the only Jewish woman in Port Douglas who was lighting them. She then told us that she had just turned 12 only a week before and that we was very proud to be Jewish, even though there weren't any other Jewish children in town. We then told her how the 12th birthday is very important for Jewish girls and we gave her a beautiful candlestick as a Bas Mitzvah gift.

We then visited a Israeli guy who told us that he is closing his shop in Port Douglas because he is moving back to Israel! He told us he doesn't miss a day of Tefilin so we wished him a safe trip back to Israel and bid him farewell.

Back in Cairns tonight---crashed in the driveway (doesn't sound so good, we know) of a friend of ours here...

Shabbos #2 Report

This past Shabbos was the most unique one I've ever seen in my life (yes, I know I said the same thing last week). We had a few visits and errands to run on Friday afternoon and two hours before shabbos we found ourselves in a Israeli's real estate office. So while he was putting on tefilin we quickly checked online to see if there was any nearby motel where we could settle for Shabbos. There were none. So we kindly asked the fellow, whose office we had casually crashed only 15 minutes prior, if we could continue our crashing ceremony at his house for the next 26 hours. He saw our desperation and agreed. So we arrive at his house and quickly realize that the one bed that he had in his house was actually his own and there weren't any extra beds in the house, NO WORRIES! So we decide to just crash in our now unpowered RV for Shabbos and we took all necessary items up to his kitchen.

All things taken care of we had the most amazing Shabbos ever. The Israeli invited over another Israeli and there we were: two Chabad bochurim in middle of some little apartment in Cairns, singing, farbrenging and telling Jewish stories late into the Shabbos night- sharing in what was probably the most remarkable display of Ahavas Yisroel I have ever seen.

Day 11/12 Report

Hey again!

So we are continuing our rounds in the wonderful city of Cairns. Yesterday we visited a jolly old fellow who is a professional cartoon artist, was quite an art to watch him perform. He showed us many cartoons that he had done for various newspapers around the country, and even one that he contributed to the controversial "Mohammed Cartoon Contest" last year which led to death threats and such. After that we visited a nice woman who had a beautiful house on the beach where we discussed may different Jewish concepts which she had learned over the years. After our lengthy discussions we presented her with a Shabbat Candles kit and she was very moved by the gesture and promised to do it every week.

TTYL

Izzy & Berel

Day 10 Report

Hi!

Today was a wonderful day in Cairns! We started off by visiting some old RARA friends in the center of town and spoke with them for many hours about the importance of putting on Tefilin. Afterwards both of these individuals promised to put on Tefilin every week until Rosh Hashana. We then went on to light a Hanukia (which one of them received personally from a german girl who claimed it was from the times of the Holocaust) with 6 candles, one for each of the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust.

Then, after speaking to many friends in Cairns over the phone, we decided that we will make a big Shabbaton for the Jews in Cairns and hopefully it will work out well, we will keep you informed about this!

We then spoke to another Yid who is a doctor in Cairns and he spoke to us about his involvement in the upkeep of the Jewish Cemetery. Was a very nice fellow and we heard his amazing story about how he literally WALKED for nine months to escape the communist intrusion into his former homeland of Romania. He was very touched that we came all the way over to his house to visit him.

Tomorrow hopefully we will go up to Port Douglas and search out some more Jews...

You can run, but you can't hide!

Alrighty then!

Izzy & Berel

Day 7/8/9 Report

Shalom!

Been an amazing (half) week! We visited many Jewish graves in Townsville where we said Tehilim by the gravesites of some of Townsville's pioneer Jews. Would you believe there were Jews in Townsville in the mid 1800's? Amazing that there are only about (pronounced) 35 Jews in Townsville after all these years. So then we went to hang out with some of the younger folk in the city, some Jewish college students that are studying abroad. We hung out with them until the wee hours of the morning- was nice to catch up with some fellow Americans for a change (don't worry Aussies, we still love you!)

Before we left Townsville we made a breakthrough invention on how to clean our dishes (see pics). After all the final repairs were made on the RV we finally set sail to Cairns and actually made it there this time.

So we are currently settled in Cairns and have already managed to upset a few caravan park owners. Visited a nice gentleman at a old age home here who was really excited to see us. We put on Tefilin with him and he told us of his plans to go study in Israel one day... not sure if the old age home managers are aware of those plans yet.

We visited a nice Jewish fellow tonight and had a very interesting conversation covering all topics from Jewish politics to Temple sacrifices. Spoke with him until quite late-- hopefully we will see him again at our (Iy'h) friday night Shabbos meal!

From Cairns....

Berel & Izzy

Day 5/6 Report

Fairdinkim!

So after about 3 hours on the side of the road Thursday night, we were finally rescued by a very nice trucker and a gentleman from the RACQ (AUS Roadside service). It definitely made it easier to get back on the road when we realized that the reason we couldn't get the tire off was because we were turning the screws the wrong way! So at about 12 midnight we finally got back on the road and called a friend of RARA in Townsville who happily took us into his home (by "us", we're referring to the plug of our RV) and was nice enough to let us stay there forShabbosas well.

Shabbos in Townsville was unlike any other Shabbos I've ever experienced in my life. We went through the local supermarkets buying EVERYTHING that was kosher (would you believe they have kosher Chumus up here?). It ended up being a very relaxing Shabbos!

So after realizing that the mechanics in Townsville aren't open on Sunday we decided to stay here for Sunday as well and we visited a few Jews in this glamorous town.

Note from the editor...

PLEASE comment on what you think and what you would like to see more of in future posts... :)

Day 4 Report

Ahoy Folks!

Reporting from somewhere in middle of nowhere...

Drove for most of the morning on what can only be described as a third world highway... one lane/ two- way road with a speed limit of 100 kmh, was our most intense driving experience so far!

Very exciting! So today we did our first visitation in a city called Pentland, population 232 (so small that a doctor comes to visit only once a month)- to a lady who has never met religious Jews before. This lady's doctor is Jewish and when he discovered that his patient, this lady, was Jewish he forwarded her name onto RARA! So we meet her and she tells us the amazing story of how she never knew she was Jewish until her father died some 20 years ago and her mother told her the secret that they had been keeping. So we had a lovely conversation with her and gave her a Shabbat lights kit, along with all the instructions on how to use them and she was so honored with the fact that she would be the only lady in Pentland lighting Shabbat candles. As we were leaving we asked her if she would like a Mezuzah, which she gladly purchased- and we helped her install it on her doorstep. It was really nice to see how much she appreciated our visit.

And the journey continues...

So we are about 350 kilometers from Cairnes and we have the good fortune of losing our front left tire. So here we are on the side of the road- waiting for some nice fellow from the RACQ to help get us out of our predicament.

Cairns here we come!

About us

Some of our fans out there are asking us exactly what were are doing out here, so let us explain.

Chabad of RARA (Regional & Rural Australia) was established 10 years ago to bring the light of Judaism to the far out areas of Australia that are not large enough or concentrated enough to have their own full-time Rabbi. Chabad of RARA travels year round, bringing these Jews Judaic articles, books and just a friendly word. Rabbi Berel Fine from Montreal, Canada and Rabbi Izzy Rudolph from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania are bring Chabad of RARA to Cairns, Queensland and making many stops on the way. The Rabbis hope to reach out to every Jew in these areas and to add them to the ever-growing network of Jews that are visited every year by Chabad of RARA.

RARA- Day 3

Oy mates!

Today we hit the road early, 9:30 and we were on the road already. It’s quite an experience driving on these highways here- driving roughly 110 kmh- on a two-lane/ two-way highway. If you think driving with big-rigs is scary in America wait till you drive past a truck with 3 trailers attached to them, THREE! But, oh is it a sight to see- the scenery is something out of the movies, fields extending for hundreds and hundreds of miles in all directions with no end in sight. The birds and animals (most who have some weird obsession with running into traffic) are of the most beautiful things we’ve ever seen.

Continuing with the tradition of the day, we still have no cell phone service (and the wifi card doesn’t work either) and we couldn’t find a trailer park with any vacancy so we took a motel room and set up shop for the night in a nice town called Barcaldine. Was great to hear from the hostess that the weather up in Caines in much warmer than down here!

Reporting from where the roads are red…

Izzy & Berel

RARA- Day 2

Hey Y’all

Sorry for not updating yesterday… been a hectic 48 hours.

So last night we almost hit a kangaroo on the highway, definitely was not a good impression with the locals. And then we almost ran out of gas on the longest stretch of highway we’ve ever seen in our lives- luckily we found a little “boutique” gas station in some little town in New South Wales. Besides for that, Tuesday was pretty uneventful. We spent the night in a trailer park in a town called Bourke, New South Wales. Interestingly this trailer park was a little more happening than the one we were at previously. People were having BBQ’s and campfires… though most of them had the same look campers have on their overnights; "we don’t really want to be here, but tradition is tradition."

Location: Day 1- Narrandera, New South Whales

First day/ night

Hit the road today, after complications with the RV set us back a day. Drove for about 6 hours and then set up shop at a camp grounds in Narrandera, New South Wales. Had a lovely conversation with the owner of the facilities here speaking about all Jewish laws and customs. We were able to practice our social skills with the hostess, explaining our Yarmulka, Kashrus and Shaitels, don't ask how that came into the conversation. It was interesting that she was convinced that all Jews are wealthy (she thought we had stacks of money in the back of our "gypsy mobile") and she was very surprised to hear that there were only about 16 million Jews worldwide.

It was an awesome feeling to plug our RV into the power port and the back cabin buzzed with life. Our fridge, microwave and plugs all work, Baruch Hashem, since we weren't sure if any of the electronics in the back even worked (In the last day we had 4 different professionals check, and they all weren't sure if they were going to work). Tomorrow we got to get our dashboard fixed... not so safe to drive without a gas indicator or a speedometer.

Speak to you tomorrow!

Berel & Izzy