When Rabbi Shneur and Menucha Majeski arrived in East Brunswick a year ago they came prepared for double duty. As youth directors for the Young Israel of East Brunswick (YIEB) for the last year the couple had been a hit with its youth.
They also have been visiting seniors, bringing them challah and lighting candles on holidays, giving bat mitzvah lessons, conducting hospital visits and helping engage the larger community in various activities as co-directors of the Chabad of East Brunswick.
“We are trying to reach those who don’t know about the shul or who are not connected to the Jewish community,” said Rabbi Majeski of his Chabad activities. He said the couple is not looking to establish a separate synagogue and will continue to live in their East Brunswick apartment with their two young sons, Mendel, 2, and baby Sholom.
“The Majeskis have been a tremendous asset for our shul,” said YIEB Rabbi Joshua Hess. “The programs that they have run have been extremely well attended and I am so glad that they are part of our YIEB community.”
That sentiment was shared by the synagogue’s president, Jeff Perlman. “They are fantastic youth directors,” he said, adding the shul is bringing the couple back for the coming year. “We’re so excited to partner with them.”
Perlman said the couple has conducted many engaging and innovative programs. For Tisha B’Av they held a virtual reality program using goggles allowing both adults and children a chance to walk through the Holy Temple. “It’s all about a strong partnership with Chabad of East Brunswick,” he added. “We want achdut. We want the Jewish community to be working as one.”
In fact, YIEB is now exploring conducting some joint programming with Rutgers University Chabad. The Majeskis already have a connection there since Menucha is the daughter of its executive director, Rabbi Yosef Carlebach.
Rabbi Carlebach told The Jewish Link it was the first such doubling up of roles that he knew of.
“We saw an unmet need,” he said. “Shneur is young, eager. If you call him he will come and put up a mezuzah. We are calling it 1,000 mezuzahs for East Brunswick. There are classes for anyone who wants to study. We welcome him to the Chabad of Central New Jersey.”
Rabbi Majeski, who has dubbed the mezuzah drive the Mega Mitzvah Campaign, said the first mezuzahs are up while others are awaiting their turn.
Although admittedly a little nervous at first, he has had a number of encounters with unaffiliated Jews seeking a connection. He spoke of one man whose mother and maternal grandmother were both Jewish, but who was not brought up Jewish. “Now he comes to Shabbos meals and we’ve davened together,” said Rabbi Majeski, who brought another couple interested in practicing to YIEB to experience a service. Rabbi Majeski said another woman came to him because she wanted her daughter to become a bat mitzvah.
He described his dual roles as synching yet remaining separate from each other. For example, on Sept. 14 to celebrate Rosh Hashanah a joint Chabad YIEB shofar factory will be held at the synagogue, sponsored by ShopRite.
“It’s kind of like two separate things that are working together as one,” said Rabbi Majeski. “We complement each other, working with those already in the community and as Chabad representatives working to bring people who do not know anything closer. We are all part of one Torah. As of right now I don’t have to go far to find people who want more Yiddishkeit.”
When Rabbi Majeski saw there was a nearby senior center he offered to stage a Chanukah program and lay tefillin for those interested. He has also conducted home visits to deliver matzah around Passover, brought mishloach manot packages around Purim and cheesecakes before Shavuot. There are also outings in the mitzvah tank to engage the unaffiliated.
Every Shabbat at YIEB while the adults are davening the two youth leaders engage children with stories and games about the parsha and the davening. Once a month, if it is not a holiday, they conduct a special program.
Rabbi Majeski is something of a newcomer to the suburbs of New Jersey, having grown up in Crown Heights where his father, Rabbi Shloma Majeski, is dean of Machon L’Yahadus, a women’s yeshiva. He has studied in France and Germany and the U.S. and both he and his wife have taught at Cheder Zichron Shmuel in Rockland County.
One of the most impactful occurrences for Rabbi Majeski came at St. Peter’s University Hospital in New Brunswick, where he had gone to read the Megillah at Purim. There he encountered an Israeli family who had come for specialized medical treatment for their 11-year-old daughter. However, she had still not awakened a week after an operation and was on a ventilator.
“When we walked in we could see they were broken,” said Rabbi Majeski. “We spoke to them about the power of Purim and read the Megillah. Then I got a call from the father. Two minutes after we left she opened her eyes. He then went to the Ohel to get the Rebbe’s blessing and got a photo of the Rebbe and put it under her pillow. When we visited her again she was conscious and we brought her a Shabbos candelabra. We wished them good luck when they went back to Israel. We are still in touch and that is an example of how we are bringing light and joy and mitzvahs to whoever we can.”
To contact East Brunswick Chabad, write to chabadeastbrunswick@gmail.com or call Rabbi Majeski at (917) 601-8331.
