A few months ago,my wife and I went, under the auspices of Shvut Ami, the Russian outreach organization, to visit our brothers and sisters still living in the once-beleaguered lands.

Shvut Ami was founded about 40 years ago in Yerushalayim by Rabbi Eliezer Kugel and his colleague, Rabbi Shimon Grilius, a refusenik who finally succeeded in reaching the Holy Land. Its purpose was to educate Russian Jews in Torah and train potential leaders, rabbis and teachers to return to Russian communities and lead outreach efforts there. Today, Rabbi Kugel’s grandson, Rabbi Yaakov Kugel, directs the organization.

In early June of this year, we traveled once again with Rabbi and Rebbetzin Kugel on a second trip to visit our brethren, this time in Riga, Vilna, Vienna, Berlin and Frankfurt an der Oder, Germany.

For a Jew from New York, who has also had the privilege of living in Yerushalyim, Riga is a different world. If you consult a map, you will see that Riga is just a few miles inland from the Baltic Sea and an overnight cruise from Stockholm, Sweden. This is far north! What that meant to us was very simple: in the summer, nightfall occurs about 11:20 p.m. and the first rays of dawn light the horizon a mere two hours later, at 1:20 a.m.! In winter, daytime lasts about six hours. Can you imagine living in such a world!

When the Children of Israel were dispersed to “arba kanfos ha’aretz…the four corners of the earth,” it was more than just the catastrophe of losing the sanctified structure of a society centered around the Holy Temple. Not only were our lives, families and communities ripped apart, but we were scattered to alien regions where even the seasons were unfamiliar. Today, Jews remain in such places. Although in our world every person faces extreme challenges, I cannot help thinking that in communities like Riga the basic challenges are multiplied many-fold.

Thus, it was amazing to arrive at such a city and to have been met by a young rabbi like Aharon Loyberg, who greeted us with a smile, and with basic food supplies so that we would have something to live on for the duration of our stay in his country. Don’t look for “Supersol” in Riga! Rabbi Loyberg brought us bread, tomatoes and cucumbers, hummous and plenty of delicious smoked salmon. This is what we lived on for the next few days, and—actually—we lived very well!

It is amazing that any Jews still remain in Riga, but there is a community here, an outreach program, schools and a shul with a daily minyan. When we spoke that night (with a translator into Russian) my eye caught one man in particular. He was dressed in a striped shirt with a yellow jacket. His head rested in his hands for the entire program. To be honest, I thought he was sleeping, but I later realized that he was deep in concentration. After the program, he told me (in English!) the most touching thing. It seemed that his entire sense of Jewishness had been stirred by the story of how we had returned to Torah. He said with great emotion that “God sent us to him.”

My friends, can you imagine how we felt hearing those words? Here is a perfect stranger in far-off Riga, who tells us that, in effect, he was waiting for this day his entire life! His name is Shlomo Akselrod, and he brought us down cobble-stoned streets to a building at whose entrance he had created a monument to martyrs from the days of the Holocaust. In this building lived Jews who were being hidden by a Latvian family. The Nazis, may their names be erased, finally discovered the hiding place. The Jews, along with their protectors, were killed on the spot Al Kiddush Hashem. Shlomo showed us this place. The moment was moving for us and moving for him, this brave man in a city far away.

Jews around the globe are thirsting for sanctity, thirsting to show Hashem how they long to serve Him! There are dedicated Jews like Shlomo Akselroad, hard-working rabbis like Aharon Loyberg, and amazing organizations like Shvut Ami, which trains these rabbis and sends them to these far-flung outposts, supporting them spiritually and physically.

As we near the terrible day of TishaB’Av, it is awesome to contemplate the fact that we have actually survived this terrible Exile! Millions of our brethren have disappeared, physically and spiritually, but Am Yisroel chai…the Children of Israel live!

On the day of horror, in which we were driven from the Holy City with smoke billowing from the Holy Temple we wondered how could Torah survive? How could even one of us survive as a Jew? Maybe ten years? Maybe a few Jews for a hundred years…and then there would be only a memory of a memory….

But no! Torah burns bright! We are the Nation that lives forever. As it says, “Yaakov Avinu lo mais … Our Father Yaakov never died.” (Taanis 5b)

“The remnant of Jacob shall … be like a lion among the forest animals…Your hand shall be raised over your adversaries and all your enemies shall be cut down.” (HaftarasBalak) Soon, with God’s help, all the exiles shall return in purity, never to leave the Holy City again!

By Roy S. Neuberger