New members of Jewish community look to spread light

Dec. 17, 2022  |  By Ingrid Jonas  |  Correspondent 

A menorah in Rusty Parker Park will be lighted for Chanukah starting on Sunday. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti

In time for Chanukah, the Jewish festival of lights, a new couple to Waterbury seeks to help the area’s Jewish community deepen their connections to Judaism. 

Emissaries of the Chabad-Lubavitch sect, Rabbi Baruch and Sara Simon recently moved to Waterbury Center with their three children from Miami, Florida. Originally from New York and New Jersey respectively, they expressed joy in returning to the Northeast.  “We absolutely love Vermont. We haven’t weathered a full winter, but I grew up in Albany and know how to drive in the snow. We love all the nature,” said Rabbi Baruch Simon in a recent interview.

On Sunday at 3:30 p.m., the couple will lead a menorah-lighting ceremony for the community in celebration of the Jewish tradition of Chanukah at Rusty Parker Memorial Park in downtown Waterbury. Every day around sunset for the next seven days, another candle on the 8-foot menorah will be lit.  

“The menorahs are not only symbolic, but they are tangible, and it creates light in the world,” Rabbi Simon said. “We add a light every night to add light to the darkness.”

Making new connections 

Chabad is a branch of Hasidism founded in 1775 by Rabbi Schneur Zalman. It is described as a philosophy, a movement, and an organization, according to its website, and follows an Orthodox philosophy. Its headquarters is in Crown Heights, New York.  Rabbi Simon explained that every state or region, including Vermont, has a primary director of Chabad-Lubavitch. Vermont’s current leader is Rabbi Yitzchok Raskin, originally from Casablanca, Morocco, who has lived in Burlington with his family for 30 years.  

Rabbi Simon said that over the last 50 years, more than 5,000 Chabad couples have moved into communities around the world with the goal of spreading Chabad and connecting Jews to Judaism. That means different things to different communities, he said. Outreach can be in the form of providing support, religious services, creating food programs, Hebrew schools, programs for seniors, or other social services as determined by the community.  

The Simons are currently making new connections and listening to community members to better understand what people may be interested in their new hometown. Why Waterbury? Rabbi Simon said they “wanted to be the Chabad of a small community and create that and bring it out… The mantra is to help every Jew be able to connect with their Judaism. Every single person and every single Jew has a spark of godliness in them, and we would like to make sure that they can be a better person and make the world a better place.”   

Waterbury residents Heather and Eric Friedman expressed their excitement at the Simons’ decision to settle here. “The most exciting point to be made is that Rabbi Simon is the first person to arrive in Waterbury to organize a Jewish Community focused on traditional Judaism. He has such enthusiasm and charisma,” said Heather Freidman.   “My husband Eric and I grew up in South Florida and we have been affiliated for many years with Chabad-Lubavitch. We go to synagogue in Burlington but are very excited that there will be something closer to us now.”

Rabbi Simon said that in Chabad-Lubavitch, the original leader, or Rebbe, “empowered women of Chabad to take leadership roles.” He describes his wife Sara as co-director and “the brains behind this outfit.” 

In an interview the next day, Sara Simon talked about their plans and roles. “Everything we are doing is as a team, figuring it all out together, strategizing and making plans and dreams and meeting people,” she said. “It’s all a joint effort. We take on different roles – I am teaching the bat mitzvah lessons because as a woman I think it is kind of nice for it to come from me, for a woman to teach the girls, like passing it on to the next generation. And there will be certain things that just make more sense for him as the man, as the rabbi, but we have equal partnership in it, for sure.”

She explained how when Chabad puts down roots in a new area, the first step is to connect with people, then offer services. “Then often over the years, the community grows, and then there’s a need or an appetite for a classic brick-and-mortar synagogue,” she said. 

She said she currently is teaching Hebrew school and bat mitzvah lessons and together they are preparing for several public events for the Jewish holidays.  

Rabbi and Sara Simon discussed the possibility of providing classic Chabad services, once they are more established in the area. “When a group of Jews comes together to pray, it’s called a ‘minyan.’ In some places where there is a larger community, they’ll have a minyan every morning,” Rabbi Simon explained. “If it’s a smaller community, they might only be able to all get together on Sabbath for prayers, and those are longer and more joyous, there is a lot of singing. Often there is a kiddush that follows prayers, which is community time of getting together, eating a little something as part of a Sabbath meal.  A lot of places will have a junior congregation for the kids.”  

Spreading light

The Jewish Community of Greater Stowe – JCOGS for short – has been in Stowe since 1988, according to its website. Its mission is to create and sustain an environment that perpetuates and celebrates Jewish traditions, observances, and a sense of community. Its description says it is a fully inclusive, egalitarian, and independent congregation representing all branches of Judaism made up of people of all ages and backgrounds, including interfaith, LGBTQ, and single-parent families.

Rabbi David Fainsilber leads the Stowe congregation. “We’ve been around for over 20 years and have a building in Stowe but serve over 15 towns in the area. We have a long-standing relationship with Jews in the Waterbury and Mad River Valley areas,” he said.  

Image courtesy JCOGS

In fact, JCOGS picked Waterbury’s Ice Center to hold its first Hanukkah on Ice event on Monday, Dec. 19 from 3:30 to 5 p.m. People of all ages and skating abilities from Stowe, Waterbury and the Mad River Valley are invited to celebrate the Festival of Lights while enjoying skating, storytelling, traditional foods such as latkes and doughnuts, and the lighting of the menorah. For more information go to jcogs.org online.  

Rabbi Simon said he has been in contact with JCOGS and hopes they can work together.  “With the help of God, we will,” he said. “We want to serve everyone for what they need… I would love to work with everyone.”

Sara Simon said she believes they can cooperate despite differences in how they practice their faith. “There are definitely some differences in philosophy, I mean, we are Orthodox Jews. We are intensely Hasidic Orthodox Jews, but what we offer is open for anyone and we don’t judge,” she said. “Anybody’s welcome to join us and there is no pressure. There’s no push to look like us or to dress like us or to live like us. We are just there to offer what we can of what we know and have learned about Judaism and to share it with others. We are coming from an Orthodox Hasidic perspective and one of the big things we share is the Hasidic philosophy.” Yet, Sara added, “we are completely open to all.”

Their first public community event is Sunday at the menorah lighting at Rusty Parker Park. 

Though known in the Jewish faith as a “lesser” holiday than Passover, for example, Chanukah is about “celebrating light over darkness,” Rabbi Simon said. At the event, they plan to hand out candles – or menorah – to attendees to take with them to light up their own homes.  

“The reason why we focus on this holiday so much, even though it might be lesser, is because it is celebrating light over darkness, which is something that we need in our current world very much so. Add a little bit of light, not only metaphorically but also physically… And it’s very tangible to keep on adding light and doing acts of goodness and kindness … an act, just one at a time, and that will make the world a better place. Because the world is, you know, the world is a little rough. If you light a little candle it can light up a whole lot of darkness.”

Rabbi Simon said anyone wishing to learn more about Chabad-Lubavitch may contact him at rabbibsimon@gmail.com.