Episode 44: Chana from Concordia 🇦🇷 | With Chana Soriano, Chabad shlucha in Concordia, Argentina

00:00 Speaker 1 I was walking around the International Kinus Hashluchos for a few days, wondering who I should record a podcast episode with. I had one time slot, but thousands of shluchos to choose from. And then I met Chana. Come hear from a shlucha who traveled to the other side of the world to help build a community and a Jewish center for the Jews living in Concordia: what she deals with, what she does day to day, and more fascinating stories. A reminder: if you enjoyed the podcast, you’re welcome to subscribe to the Shlichus as a Way of Life channel and share it with anyone you care about. To see content on my status, send a message to 050-855-770. To hear details about my new course, Health as a Way of Life, which I created after sixteen years of maintaining my weight, with tools and insights from the teachings of the soul in Chassidus, message me at 050-855-770. The intro, and then we’ll get started. How do we turn our lives into lives of shlichus, full of meaning? This is Chani Moskowitz, a shlucha in Kharkiv, Ukraine. In this podcast, we’ll meet different women who have brought their shlichus into a variety of fields. Through them, each of us can find and refine her own shlichus in the world. Because living the life we were created for is as good as it gets. Shlichus as a Way of Life. Starting now. Well, hello from the Kinus Hashluchos.

01:37 Speaker 2 Hello.

01:38 Speaker 1 And today we’re with Chana Soriano.

01:41 Speaker 2 Soriano.

01:42 Speaker 1 I said it right.

01:43 Speaker 2 Well done.

01:45 Speaker 1 From Concordia, Argentina.

01:48 Speaker 2 Yes.

01:48 Speaker 1 I think I’m going to learn Spanish. I love the accent. Not that I’m doing it right, but...

01:53 Speaker 2 Do you know how long it took me to learn to say Concordia? I’m impressed you can say it.

01:56 Speaker 1 Really? Try saying Dnepropetrovsk. Let’s see you do that.

02:00 Speaker 2 I won’t manage it.

02:01 Speaker 1 So here we are, in the Kinus atmosphere. First of all, how wonderful is this?

02:04 Speaker 2 Absolutely. Wow. Strengthening, uplifting, fun, moving. There’s...

02:07 Speaker 1 What do you love most about the Kinus? I’m just curious.

02:09 Speaker 2 First of all, seeing everyone.

02:13 Speaker 1 So it’s a social event first and foremost.

02:14 Speaker 2 Absolutely. It’s such a pleasure to get out of... Concordia.

02:20 Speaker 1 It gives you an excuse?

02:24 Speaker 2 We get to rest. I don’t know, I’m not cooking, it’s...

02:27 Speaker 1 It’s so funny—it’s Friday, Shabbos is just an hour away, and everyone’s still out in the streets.

02:33 Speaker 2 Wow, you have no idea how much time I had to get ready.

02:36 Speaker 1 Well...

02:36 Speaker 2 Sometimes I get ready in ten minutes, and sometimes there’s no time to get ready at all. So for me, this is wow.

02:44 Speaker 1 Right. Even those little things...

02:46 Speaker 2 Absolutely.

02:47 Speaker 1 Nice. Wow, Chana, tell us about yourself. Introduce yourself to the women who have never heard of you. From the beginning. Who... Chana, you’re...

02:58 Speaker 2 I’m Chana Soriano, formerly Shevach. I don’t know if anyone knows the name. I’m thirty-one, and I have six children.

03:12 Speaker 1 Wow, amazing.

03:13 Speaker 2 Yes, boruch Hashem, they’re a gift. And we’re shluchim in Concordia, Argentina, as you said. We have a Chabad House for the local community, and now and then we get tourists, mostly from elsewhere in South America or Argentina itself. And every so often, an Israeli or two, but not many.

03:36 Speaker 1 Israelis make it all the way there? Wait, give us an idea: say I’m in Tel Aviv right now. How do I get to Concordia? What’s the route?

03:45 Speaker 2 Wow, it’s long.

03:47 Speaker 1 Go ahead, you’ve got an hour.

03:50 Speaker 2 An hour isn’t enough; you need two days. Well, you take a plane. In the best-case scenario, it’s two flights. That’s what you’ve got...

03:58 Speaker 1 How long is the flight?

03:58 Speaker 2 There’s nothing direct. You fly to Brazil, and then from Brazil to the capital, and from there to Concordia. That means fourteen and a half hours to Brazil, and another five and a half hours from Brazil.

04:19 Speaker 1 Flying?

04:20 Speaker 2 Yes, and you know, all the waiting and everything, without the evil eye. Then from the capital, if we take a taxi, it can take anywhere from five and a half to nine hours.

04:35 Speaker 1 Wow.

04:35 Speaker 2 If we’re traveling with the children, you know, we stop at a gas station...

04:38 Speaker 1 Yes, yes.

04:38 Speaker 2 Or if there’s traffic. The average is seven hours.

04:42 Speaker 1 Oh, wow, wow, wow, wow.

04:44 Speaker 2 So add all of that together.

04:46 Speaker 1 Wow, what do you pack for the trip?

04:48 Speaker 2 Wow.

04:48 Speaker 1 Cookies, pretzels...

04:50 Speaker 2 Everything. Games for the kids, drawings, pencils.

04:55 Speaker 1 And I’m sure it’s also...

04:56 Speaker 2 Wow.

04:56 Speaker 1 Expensive.

04:58 Speaker 2 A lot of money.

04:59 Speaker 1 Flying to Israel is like—you need to win the lottery.

05:01 Speaker 2 Sometimes it costs $2,500. Now it’s close to $3,000.

05:06 Speaker 1 Per person.

05:07 Speaker 2 Yes. Because of the war, it’s close to $3,000.

05:10 Speaker 1 Wow.

05:10 Speaker 2 But it can be $1,500. $1,200 is the absolute cheapest, at the cheapest time of year.

05:17 Speaker 1 Meaning that getting there with the whole family is something like thirty thousand shekels.

05:20 Speaker 2 A lot.

05:20 Speaker 1 Just the tickets.

05:21 Speaker 2 Just the tickets.

05:22 Speaker 1 Before the ice cream.

05:24 Speaker 2 Ouch.

05:25 Speaker 1 Wow. So do you sometimes go to Buenos Aires? Is that your chance to get away?

05:28 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

05:29 Speaker 1 Because there’s a community and kosher food there, right?

05:33 Speaker 2 Honestly, it isn’t always a getaway. We can’t always go; it depends on the budget, because we need somewhere to stay. So we have to pay...

05:41 Speaker 1 Right, there too...

05:42 Speaker 2 And pay for food. When we do go, it’s mainly a break, but we go so our girls can spend time at the schools. We try to go once a month.

05:55 Speaker 1 Oh, nice.

05:55 Speaker 2 And if we can’t, it ends up being once a year.

05:58 Speaker 1 So then they get to know girls their own age...

06:02 Speaker 2 Yes.

06:02 Speaker 1 Who live in Buenos Aires. They have that connection.

06:04 Speaker 2 Yes. We also try to send them to camps once a year. They get to know friends there and stay in touch. I let them talk to their friends on the phone so that...

06:15 Speaker 1 And that’s their only circle of friends.

06:19 Speaker 2 Yes, you could say that.

06:20 Speaker 1 Are there any young families where you are? Anyone at all?

06:23 Speaker 2 Very few, and most are Reform. My children don’t really have other children around. Their friends are more the young adults, people in their thirties...

06:34 Speaker 1 Or younger.

06:35 Speaker 2 Yes, who come to our activities. For example, we recently celebrated my daughter’s birthday, and they came and surprised her. My helpers and all the young adults surprised her.

06:49 Speaker 1 A surprise party for a little girl who’s...?

06:50 Speaker 2 She was moved. Really moved...

06:52 Speaker 1 For her, those are...

06:53 Speaker 2 Her friends, basically.

06:54 Speaker 1 Oh wow, that’s something.

06:55 Speaker 2 So she just turned eight.

06:58 Speaker 1 Oh wow. How do the children feel about it?

07:03 Speaker 2 Honestly, they were born into it. They’re used to it.

07:08 Speaker 1 They don’t really have anything to compare it to.

07:10 Speaker 2 Exactly. For me, it can be hard, because I was used to something else. I lived in Israel, and then suddenly I came to a place like this, with no ice cream, no cottage cheese, none of the things I know, none of the vegetables I know. But they were born into this reality, with different foods and different dishes. It’s not as though they used to go out and buy falafel. When we go to Israel, it’s like a bonus. They get excited about everything, absolutely everything.

07:43 Speaker 1 Everything is an attraction.

07:44 Speaker 2 Absolutely.

07:45 Speaker 1 So all the food you eat, that your children eat, that your husband eats—you make it?

07:50 Speaker 2 Yes.

07:50 Speaker 1 There’s no...

07:52 Speaker 2 We try to order things now and then.

07:54 Speaker 1 But you can’t order a pizza.

07:55 Speaker 2 No, not that. No.

07:59 Speaker 1 Right. Actually, even making pizza at home isn’t necessarily possible. Do you have cheese?

08:03 Speaker 2 Not always. So what I’ve learned to do is make pizzas ahead of time and freeze them while they’re fresh.

08:13 Speaker 1 Oh, when you have cheese?

08:14 Speaker 2 When we have cheese. Usually we have cheese around Shavuos, because then we buy a lot—we get a shipment of dairy products: cheeses, soft white cheese that isn’t like the kind in Israel, and yellow cheese, which I use to make different dishes. Or I make it at home.

08:35 Speaker 1 You’re creative.

08:36 Speaker 2 Yes. And when there’s cheese left after Shavuos, I divide it all up.

08:40 Speaker 1 I remember in Ukraine, before Shavuos, someone would send you a cheesecake recipe. And you’d think, “Okay, we’ll replace this with that, and this with this, and that with something else.”

08:47 Speaker 2 Everything gets substituted.

08:48 Speaker 1 You end up with a cake without the cheese.

08:50 Speaker 2 Yes.

08:51 Speaker 1 Wow, suddenly you’ve made a kugel instead.

08:53 Speaker 2 That really is how it goes.

08:54 Speaker 1 But it tastes good. It’s...

08:55 Speaker 2 I already have my own recipes, because the recipes you find on Google and so on just don’t work for us.

09:00 Speaker 1 Right, they’re not relevant. As if vanilla extract is the big issue...

09:03 Speaker 2 Vanilla extract we do have, actually.

09:05 Speaker 1 That’s funny. So you literally have frozen pizzas in your freezer, like Zoglobek ready meals.

09:09 Speaker 2 Wow.

09:10 Speaker 1 Just pop one in the oven.

09:10 Speaker 2 I try. There isn’t always room, but I try to keep some there. And if I want to “order a pizza,” I plan it in advance. I say, “In two weeks I’m going to order a pizza. In two weeks I’ll feel like having pizza,” so I prepare ahead of time.

09:26 Speaker 1 How spontaneous.

09:27 Speaker 2 Very spontaneous.

09:28 Speaker 1 You’re such a planner.

09:30 Speaker 2 Very spontaneous. If it’s before Shavuos, that counts as spontaneous.

09:33 Speaker 1 Right. Wow, now describe a day in Chana’s life for us.

09:38 Speaker 2 I get up in the morning, daven with the children, and make them...

09:44 Speaker 1 With all the children together?

09:45 Speaker 2 With everyone, basically...

09:46 Speaker 1 How do you do that? They’re all at different levels. That sounds really hard. One child davens one set of prayers, and even a child two years younger is already saying something different.

09:56 Speaker 2 Yes, it was a little—at first it was complicated for me, until I said, “I need to do something to make this work.” So the older girls already daven on their own. At first, yes, I would daven with everyone together, and the little ones would sort of copy their siblings.

10:14 Speaker 1 How old is your oldest?

10:16 Speaker 2 Ten and a half. Almost eleven. So the three oldest daven on their own, and I daven with the two middle ones, you could say. The same prayers—the six-year-old girl and the four-year-old boy say the same prayers.

10:35 Speaker 1 You found a compromise between the…

10:37 Speaker 2 Yes. A compromise on what to add to the prayers, and the youngest follows along too. He’s already two. That’s how I do it, and then I run my program for them. Basically, we opened a school—

10:51 Speaker 1 Chabad School of Concordia.

10:53 Speaker 2 Yes, really. What did I do?

10:55 Speaker 1 It’s a school where all the students look alike.

10:58 Speaker 2 You have no idea. They look alike, just at different levels.

11:03 Speaker 1 Wow.

11:04 Speaker 2 So what I did was design a logo for a uniform, and I really made a Chabad School of Concordia.

11:12 Speaker 1 You had it printed on their uniforms?

11:13 Speaker 2 Yes.

11:14 Speaker 1 Embroidered.

11:14 Speaker 2 I had it made and sent over.

11:16 Speaker 1 Good for you.

11:17 Speaker 2 And then it arrived. It arrived after eighty years, but it did arrive.

11:20 Speaker 1 Suddenly it shows up on horseback.

11:23 Speaker 2 So every morning they put on their uniforms. I don’t always manage to actually do the—the—

11:32 Speaker 1 School.

11:33 Speaker 2 School. But I try very hard, because sometimes people come, you know, knocking at the door. One comes to put on tefillin, another comes to pick up meat, another comes for something else. So—

11:45 Speaker 1 Wait, but at the same time, do you have any help, at least with the little ones?

11:49 Speaker 2 No, I do it. I mean, I—

11:51 Speaker 1 So you handle everyone, from the youngest to the oldest.

11:53 Speaker 2 Yes. I usually plan all the material I teach them so it works either for everyone together or for each one on the same topic, at their own level. A worksheet or a craft, or a craft we do together.

12:07 Speaker 1 That sounds like differentiated teaching.

12:08 Speaker 2 Exactly.

12:11 Speaker 1 Wow, wow, wow. Listen, you deserve a medal just for that. It’s incredible. And then they, um…

12:20 Speaker 2 Go online.

12:20 Speaker 1 Right, they move on to studying… Is the online school based in Israel? No.

12:24 Speaker 2 It’s the South American online school.

12:26 Speaker 1 Oh, so why does it start at twelve?

12:28 Speaker 2 It starts at twelve-thirty, so it works for everyone—because the teachers are also from Israel, so it has to be convenient for them after they’ve put their children to bed. Then they start teaching the students in South America.

12:45 Speaker 1 Full of energy, I have to say. The teacher is teaching at ten at night—wow.

12:49 Speaker 2 Really. But some of the students have morning then, and for others it’s afternoon or evening. It’s South America, but there are time differences.

12:58 Speaker 1 How interesting. So there’s no davening at all, I assume—it wouldn’t really work.

13:01 Speaker 2 There is davening.

13:02 Speaker 1 Really?

13:02 Speaker 2 Yes. My girls mostly hum along, or sometimes the teacher lets them join after davening, since they’ve already davened.

13:11 Speaker 1 Even so.

13:11 Speaker 2 Yes. So, yes.

13:15 Speaker 1 Wow. And do they enjoy it? Which school do they like better, the online one or yours?

13:19 Speaker 2 They like mine better, actually. They really do.

13:22 Speaker 1 I can understand that. Wow, sitting in front of a computer for hours is so hard.

13:27 Speaker 2 Yes, that’s the main thing that makes it difficult. I have one daughter who finds it harder, so sometimes I give her things to keep her hands busy beside the computer, or—

13:41 Speaker 1 A Pop It.

13:42 Speaker 2 Or a Pop It, yes. Different things to keep her occupied at the same time, because she has so much energy she wants to let out, and she’s stuck in front of a computer.

13:50 Speaker 1 Yes, it sort of confines her.

13:52 Speaker 2 Exactly. Yes.

13:53 Speaker 1 But those must be the friends they meet later at camp, so it’s really worth it—

13:56 Speaker 2 Yes.

13:56 Speaker 1 Socially.

13:57 Speaker 2 They haven’t actually met them yet, but—

14:00 Speaker 1 Oh, wow.

14:00 Speaker 2 I haven’t had a chance to take them. They only meet them here, by the Rebbe. But no, at camp they make friends from Buenos Aires, the capital.

14:08 Speaker 1 Wow. Wait, so when they’re in online school, you’re basically on vacation, sitting back with your feet up.

14:11 Speaker 2 What vacation? I turn into the school janitor. No, I print out worksheets. I check that everyone—

14:19 Speaker 1 Wow.

14:19 Speaker 2 Is in class. Whether the teacher sent me a message, whether—

14:21 Speaker 1 At the same time, you have the little ones and the Chabad House and… How do you manage to put on an event, for example?

14:28 Speaker 2 I do it as I go. As I go. I go—we have a study room where all the computers are, and a printer and everything. Every so often I go in to check that everything’s okay, that the headphones work and nothing’s torn. We have a whole box of spare headphones, thank G-d, which someone donated to us. Then I go into the kitchen. I also have a kitchen assistant, when she comes—yes, I have a kitchen assistant, and she helps me now and then. I ask her to peel this or cut that, and then I come in, season something, go out again, and so on. And I cook with my youngest, who isn’t studying yet, and he really enjoys it.

15:13 Speaker 1 He’ll be one of those kids who says, “I grew up on the kitchen counter.”

15:15 Speaker 2 Exactly. Actually, the children who are studying always want to come cook with me, because they love it. But then I have to keep getting them back into the classroom mindset.

15:26 Speaker 1 And out of the kitchen.

15:27 Speaker 2 Exactly.

15:28 Speaker 1 Wow. Listen, what does Concordia look like? Describe it for us. You step outside—what do you see?

15:37 Speaker 2 First of all, horses.

15:38 Speaker 1 What’s it like? Actual horses and carts?

15:42 Speaker 2 There are horses and carts. I mean—

15:43 Speaker 1 It sounds like a village.

15:43 Speaker 2 The city is sort of divided in two.

15:46 Speaker 1 See, it sounds like a village.

15:48 Speaker 2 Yes, that’s sort of what it looks like. It’s called a city, but it’s like a village. The city is divided between the center and the outlying areas. In the outlying areas, people are poorer and less modern, and they really do have horses—that’s their vehicle—or they don’t have a vehicle at all. They live closer to the river and go out to catch fish for lunch.

16:20 Speaker 1 Just living life.

16:21 Speaker 2 Exactly. They chop wood and grill the fish they catch over a fire.

16:26 Speaker 1 Unbelievable.

16:28 Speaker 2 Then there’s the center, which isn’t much of a city center either. There aren’t really any tall buildings—maybe three or four in the whole city. Around the edges there are shacks, with shared showers and toilets for the whole neighborhood. In the center, people do have their own bathrooms. The electricity goes out from time to time, but it’s not like in the outlying areas. There, they don’t have electricity at all; sometimes they hook a cable up to a street power line. But where we are, it’s okay, thank G-d. At our Chabad House, we make sure things are better—

17:11 Speaker 1 Where do the people in your community live, for example?

17:15 Speaker 2 The people in the community are wealthy.

17:16 Speaker 1 Not in the shacks. Oh, right, there are those class differences in South America.

17:20 Speaker 2 Yes. The Jews are wealthy. There are Jews who’ve assimilated and don’t have much money, but most of the Jews are wealthy. They go to the capital now and then—what do I mean, now and then? They fly there every week.

17:35 Speaker 1 So what keeps them in Concordia?

17:38 Speaker 2 They’ve simply stayed there.

17:38 Speaker 1 Or were they born there?

17:39 Speaker 2 Yes, they’ve stayed there. No one would just move there on their own. Not nowadays, I don’t think.

17:45 Speaker 1 And why do tourists go there, for example? Is it beautiful? Are there places to visit—

17:50 Speaker 2 It’s beautiful.

17:50 Speaker 1 In the area?

17:51 Speaker 2 There’s a beautiful lake and a river—the Uruguay River. It’s that long river that runs between several countries, between Brazil, Uruguay and so on. It passes by us. We’re on the border with Uruguay. Everything is green—

18:07 Speaker 1 Sort of tropical.

18:08 Speaker 2 Peaceful, very peaceful. You can really hear the birds. Or the horses—there are all these sounds of nature.

18:15 Speaker 1 Like you’re on a farm.

18:17 Speaker 2 Yes, it’s gorgeous.

18:19 Speaker 1 Wow. Listen, I think I’m coming to visit.

18:21 Speaker 2 You’re welcome. I’d love that.

18:24 Speaker 1 Wow, that’s incredible! And what about medical care?

18:28 Speaker 2 Medical care there—

18:29 Speaker 1 Is it reasonably good?

18:31 Speaker 2 The doctors are good, but medical care isn’t advanced. If you go into a hospital, you can get swallowed up.

18:38 Speaker 1 Is the ambulance pulled by a horse?

18:41 Speaker 2 There is an ambulance. There aren’t lots of ambulances. There is one, but it doesn’t always arrive on time. Still, somehow there’s always help from Above. That’s how I feel.

18:56 Speaker 1 No, in places like that, they say you just have to stay healthy.

18:59 Speaker 2 Exactly. You really feel Hashem is here.

19:00 Speaker 1 Just stay healthy. So how long does an ambulance take to arrive? Say someone faints.

19:06 Speaker 2 One time, my daughter stopped breathing. At night, her tonsils had swollen up.

19:13 Speaker 1 Wow.

19:13 Speaker 2 She has this thing—when it happened the first time, it was also on a holiday, on Rosh Hashanah. Her tonsils swelled up and she couldn’t breathe. I’ve forgotten what it’s called. So we called an ambulance. It took about ten minutes, which is a long time.

19:31 Speaker 1 No, even in Israel it sometimes takes time. They have a private car.

19:34 Speaker 2 No, but there the dist—it's practically two seconds from the hospital.

19:38 Speaker 1 Oh, wow.

19:38 Speaker 2 So it took a while, but it was okay. Sometimes, with certain things, that could be critical. Boruch Hashem, nothing like that has happened to us.

19:46 Speaker 1 Yes.

19:46 Speaker 2 But from what I know, it does come, yes.

19:50 Speaker 1 And you give birth there?

19:52 Speaker 2 Yes. I mean, I can’t leave. By the time I got out of there, I’d have to give birth on the way.

19:58 Speaker 1 Right, you can’t really—no matter how much you plan, unless you travel a month in advance. That’s crazy.

20:02 Speaker 2 Yes, I’d need to go two months in advance. If I needed to go to the capital, it would be a month in advance, but that also involves a lot of money. And it means we wouldn’t be at the Chabad House.

20:12 Speaker 1 And the inconvenience of traveling with all the children.

20:14 Speaker 2 Not at all. Um...

20:17 Speaker 1 So what’s it like giving birth in Concordia?

20:20 Speaker 2 Honestly, before giving birth, before each birth, I always... The first time, I didn’t know what it would be like, and I really put my trust in Hashem. I went all in. After I’d been through a birth there, I prepared for it in advance with a little fear in my heart, but with great faith. Because I saw during the births that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is there. It doesn’t matter where you are; He sends you angels so everything works out exactly right, everything happens at the right time, and it all goes well.

21:01 Speaker 1 I think that precisely because you’re in those conditions and more alone—what do I mean, more alone? Almost completely alone, apart from your husband—you feel the presence of Hakadosh Boruch Hu more.

21:12 Speaker 2 Absolutely. Yes.

21:13 Speaker 1 You have to. You have to feel it.

21:16 Speaker 2 You do feel it. I don’t know how to explain it, but you feel it. To people on the outside it might sound like, “How can you give birth like that? If it’s siesta time, they won’t let you into the hospital?”

21:28 Speaker 1 Wait, explain that for anyone who doesn’t know. What’s a siesta?

21:30 Speaker 2 A siesta is an afternoon rest.

21:32 Speaker 1 And it’s sacred.

21:33 Speaker 2 Yes, from twelve—

21:35 Speaker 1 Like the English and their cup of tea.

21:37 Speaker 2 From twelve until four, five, sometimes six, they close all the shops and the hospital. So there’s no hospital administration there.

21:45 Speaker 1 Wait, what do you mean, twelve until six? That’s the whole day. When do they work?

21:48 Speaker 2 I don’t know.

21:49 Speaker 1 I mean...

21:49 Speaker 2 They open the shop from six until eight.

21:52 Speaker 1 Oh, wow, wow, wow.

21:53 Speaker 2 Nine, if they want to earn a little more. That’s it. They also open the shops from nine until twelve, when they close right on the dot.

22:04 Speaker 1 That’s so strange. Does everyone just go to sleep?

22:06 Speaker 2 People there take it easy. They go to the river and drink mate—that drink, a kind of tea with a straw. You see them outside their houses in beach chairs, just sitting there drinking it.

22:22 Speaker 1 Wow. Compared to the pressure in Israel, it’s just... Usually when you get to Israel, you can’t understand what everyone’s rushing for.

22:27 Speaker 2 Right. It’s a relaxed place. People are really laid-back.

22:32 Speaker 1 Do you think that’s good? I’m just curious. The way you describe it sounds wonderful. But on the other hand, I think they probably don’t move forward with anything. They don’t... As far as they’re concerned, they just live, let life pass by.

22:45 Speaker 2 It really depends. In some ways, it is good to take things easy, but sometimes you need that progress, not to stay in the same place. Sometimes there are urgent things. There are lots of days called feriados—holidays. They make up a day—

23:02 Speaker 1 Every day’s a holiday with that siesta! What is this?

23:04 Speaker 2 There’s a day off for Children’s Day, a day off for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Family Day, Teacher’s Day—one after another.

23:11 Speaker 1 Is there a day that isn’t Sunday?

23:12 Speaker 2 Listen, it’s really... And sometimes they extend it into a long weekend. So if the holiday falls on a Wednesday, they take Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Shabbos and Sunday—Sunday is a day off too, because everything’s closed.

23:26 Speaker 1 They study two days a week.

23:27 Speaker 2 Seriously.

23:29 Speaker 1 Wow, that’s something. At least if your children went to school there, they’d go crazy. So your school runs every day? No siesta?

23:35 Speaker 2 We try.

23:37 Speaker 1 Wow, that’s crazy. Wait, so, okay, the children are in school from one in the afternoon until when? Around four or five?

23:46 Speaker 2 Yes, the older girls are there until five, and the six-year-old until four. And the one in the preparatory class—the cheder class preparing him for first grade—studies from two until about two-thirty.

24:02 Speaker 1 Oh, so it’s like babysitting.

24:03 Speaker 2 Yes.

24:04 Speaker 1 By the time he settles in, the lesson’s over.

24:07 Speaker 2 Oh, really.

24:08 Speaker 1 Wow, how old is he? Five?

24:10 Speaker 2 He’s four and a half.

24:11 Speaker 1 Four and a half.

24:12 Speaker 2 Yes. Though he—

24:13 Speaker 1 He arrives late and...

24:14 Speaker 2 He’s something else. No, he really has patience. He has patience, boruch Hashem. He gets very excited about it.

24:21 Speaker 1 Oh, he enjoys it.

24:21 Speaker 2 He listens to the rabbi and says, “Rabbi, what are we doing now?” He’s really like that—

24:25 Speaker 1 How sweet.

24:26 Speaker 2 He gets excited.

24:27 Speaker 1 Nice, nice. It’s good for him.

24:29 Speaker 2 Yes.

24:29 Speaker 1 And what do the children do afterward? Do they have, um...

24:32 Speaker 2 After that, I—

24:33 Speaker 1 Just live life at home, I mean.

24:35 Speaker 2 I try to keep them busy so they don’t get too bored, and so they can let off steam after sitting at the computer for so long. First I take them out into our yard. We water the flowers, and every so often we plant things—

24:54 Speaker 1 Oh, how nice.

24:54 Speaker 2 In the garden. And they go into the pool, because it gets incredibly hot there.

25:01 Speaker 1 Wait, is your house also the Chabad House? Is it...

25:03 Speaker 2 It’s also the Chabad House.

25:04 Speaker 1 So you don’t have a separate place.

25:07 Speaker 2 No, we have a separate floor—an area for the family on the second floor. But the rest is the Chabad House.

25:19 Speaker 1 Nice. And what are Shabbos meals like at your place? Do you have a lot of guests?

25:23 Speaker 2 Sometimes there might be four guests.

25:25 Speaker 1 Do you eat in your home or in the Chabad House?

25:26 Speaker 2 At home. I mean, our home is also the Chabad House.

25:29 Speaker 1 No, but on your family’s floor?

25:31 Speaker 2 On the Chabad House floor. I mean—

25:32 Speaker 1 Oh, on the Chabad House floor.

25:33 Speaker 2 Yes. Downstairs is the Chabad House.

25:36 Speaker 1 Right.

25:36 Speaker 2 So there could be four people or forty, maybe fifty—I never know how many will come.

25:42 Speaker 1 You mean you don’t even know in advance?

25:44 Speaker 2 No. There are people who come from shul, or someone who shows up unexpectedly. Sometimes we invite families, but then other people come along with them. So—

25:53 Speaker 1 So how do you prepare?

25:55 Speaker 2 I just always make the same amount. If there’s food left from Shabbos, then I—

25:59 Speaker 1 You eat it all week.

26:00 Speaker 2 We eat it during the week, or we have this project where we put it into portions and distribute it to poor people on the street.

26:10 Speaker 1 Wow, that’s wonderful.

26:11 Speaker 2 Because people who sleep on the street are always knocking at our door. We give them medicine, coats, all sorts of things. It’s a project we also do with the young adults. They come with us and get really excited about it. At the end of our rounds distributing food to the poor, we make them a meal at home—just pasta and things like that, nothing...

26:35 Speaker 1 That’s sweet.

26:36 Speaker 2 And that’s it. The young adults really enjoy it too. They feel... They often say, “It feels so good. I feel a sense of fulfillment during the week when I do this, because I feel like I’m giving, like I’m doing something for the world.” So it also gets them involved in our activities, in some of the things we do, so they get to know about them too.

27:03 Speaker 1 Of course. Giving changes your life.

27:07 Speaker 2 Absolutely.

27:08 Speaker 1 Are these young people who live there, from local families?

27:11 Speaker 2 By “young adults,” I mean ages twenty-four to thirty. It’s not...

27:15 Speaker 1 Right.

27:16 Speaker 2 Thirty-five.

27:17 Speaker 1 And I suppose at some point they leave. Or do some actually stay and live there?

27:20 Speaker 2 Some have left. The ones we work with have stayed. There are maybe fifteen young adults. Actually, they’d thought about leaving, but because we came, they stayed. They feel they have... I’ll tell you: some want to meet other Jews, potential husbands or wives. So they often leave for that, or for work or studies, or simply because they’re bored and have nothing to do. Since we came, they have more going on. They take part in activities, come for Shabbos meals, and we give them classes and do all kinds of things for them.

28:11 Speaker 1 Wait, here, um—

28:12 Speaker 2 Sorry about the noise.

28:13 Speaker 1 I think those are your kids.

28:16 Speaker 2 Have they arrived?

28:17 Speaker 1 They came to visit.

28:17 Speaker 2 You scared me.

28:18 Speaker 1 Just kidding, just kidding. No, school probably just let out outside. Oh wow, listen, it’s moving that they stayed. And it’s moving that they stayed because of you—

28:28 Speaker 2 It really is amazing.

28:28 Speaker 1 Thanks to you. And it’s also moving because it actually expands the core of the community.

28:34 Speaker 2 Right. Little by little, it’s—

28:36 Speaker 1 There’s a future there.

28:38 Speaker 2 Yes, we’re really praying that there will be a future, and that they won’t suddenly decide to—I don’t know.

28:44 Speaker 1 Yes.

28:45 Speaker 2 Some have also moved to Israel, but, no, boruch Hashem, they’re staying for now.

28:55 Speaker 1 Wow.

28:55 Speaker 2 First I’ll tell you a beautiful story about someone who used to go to church with his father. He was thirteen when we arrived, and his mother is Jewish. All his friends told him, “Come, come, there are Shabbos meals at the rabbi’s,” and all that. But he didn’t come because he went to church with his father.

29:17 Speaker 1 Wait, how many years have you been there? I don’t think we mentioned that.

29:20 Speaker 2 Eight and a half years.

29:22 Speaker 1 Wow. So it’s already...

29:23 Speaker 2 Yes. So...

29:24 Speaker 1 Quite a while.

29:25 Speaker 2 Yes. So this boy said, “Well, they say the food is good and everything. Let’s try it.” So after church, he would come with his friends. They would go to shul and then come for the meal. Little by little, he really came to enjoy it. Free food and everything, and he genuinely liked it. So he said, “If I’m going out with my friends anyway, I might as well go to shul with them too.”

29:53 Speaker 1 What did he have to lose?

29:54 Speaker 2 So he switched to going to shul. Yes. Yes, yes, that’s how he put it.

29:58 Speaker 1 Oh my.

29:58 Speaker 2 Wow. And then he kept coming and saying, “Listen, I have to—I have to ask you a question. How is your food so delicious? I eat all sorts of food, and you keep kosher, so there are restrictions on what you can eat, but your food tastes the best to me.” So first we told him it was Shabbos food, which has a special taste, and also that it’s kosher food, carefully checked, and maybe that was why. And what did he do? He went and researched it online and in books: Why is Jewish food so tasty?

30:38 Speaker 1 That’s something.

30:40 Speaker 2 And he came to all sorts of conclusions. Little by little, he became more observant. He started wearing a kippah, then tzitzis. He kept asking questions as he went along. We would hold evenings for them with open questions—whatever they wanted to ask—and they asked about absolutely everything. He asked tons of questions. Tons. He would come with pages of questions.

31:01 Speaker 1 Homework assignments.

31:02 Speaker 2 Yes.

31:03 Speaker 1 Wow.

31:03 Speaker 2 And because he got answers to all his questions, it drew him in. Today, boruch Hashem, he’s learning in a yeshiva in Israel.

31:18 Speaker 1 Wow.

31:18 Speaker 2 And he’s looking for a shidduch. I hope he gets married very soon.

31:23 Speaker 1 Tell me, do you know his name?

31:24 Speaker 2 And it’s so moving.

31:24 Speaker 1 And his mother’s name?

31:25 Speaker 2 Yes.

31:26 Speaker 1 Let’s give him a blessing here.

31:27 Speaker 2 Aryeh ben Miriam. With Hashem’s help, may he find a suitable shidduch with a G-d-fearing bride.

31:35 Speaker 1 Amen.

31:35 Speaker 2 May they build a good Chassidic home and see goodness and joy, with Hashem’s help. Amen.

31:43 Speaker 1 Oh, listen to you giving him a blessing, sweetheart.

31:45 Speaker 2 I feel like he’s my son.

31:47 Speaker 1 We’ll go visit him in Israel.

31:49 Speaker 2 Of course. I hope he’s paying for the tickets, but yes.

31:53 Speaker 1 Oh, listen, that’s so moving. What kind of food do you cook? Israeli? The kind you grew up with?

31:57 Speaker 2 Yes, that too.

31:58 Speaker 1 Or do you also have to bring in Sephardic dishes?

32:01 Speaker 2 I do that more at events. But on Shabbos, I make Israeli salads, hummus, matbucha, all those things.

32:10 Speaker 1 Do they eat a lot of meat there too?

32:12 Speaker 2 Tons.

32:13 Speaker 1 What, did you think there’s no meat in Concordia?

32:15 Speaker 2 Concordia—Argentina is all about meat. Cows. An Argentinian sees a cow and thinks asado.

32:21 Speaker 1 Steak.

32:21 Speaker 2 Barbecue. Yes. So there’s no such thing as not eating meat. We try to always have meat. We can’t always get chicken; it’s more expensive, and also...

32:34 Speaker 1 Chicken is more expensive than meat?

32:36 Speaker 2 Yes. And meat is a staple. Without meat, they won’t come to eat.

32:43 Speaker 1 So you have to have it.

32:44 Speaker 2 Yes. So that’s it—we always eat meat. Always.

32:51 Speaker 1 Wow. Tell us another story.

32:56 Speaker 2 What sort of story? There are so many. Maybe I’ll tell you about a birth, about the birth of my son.

33:09 Speaker 1 Everyone, fasten your seat belts. We’re taking off for the birth story.

33:11 Speaker 2 Taking off.

33:13 Speaker 1 Taking off for the delivery room.

33:15 Speaker 2 Right. So, as I told you, by then I was experienced. I’d taken everything I learned from the first birth, and I knew in advance where I was going, what I was getting into, and what to expect.

33:25 Speaker 1 Was it the same team?

33:26 Speaker 2 Yes.

33:26 Speaker 1 Meaning the doctor who was with you for your first birth there stayed with you for the later ones?

33:32 Speaker 2 Yes.

33:32 Speaker 1 She already knew you.

33:32 Speaker 2 In Argentina, the doctor who sees you throughout the pregnancy and does the checkups is the doctor who delivers the baby. So my doctor, boruch Hashem, is Jewish. She really always has an angel with her, and she’s so skilled. She’s in her sixties and has a lot of experience in life too. So she’s been with me for every birth since I arrived.

34:00 Speaker 1 Wow.

34:01 Speaker 2 Yes, really. So for the first birth, I gave birth without knowing the language. Then, little by little, I learned a few words—at least the main words you need for giving birth.

34:12 Speaker 1 What’s it like learning Spanish?

34:13 Speaker 2 Hard.

34:15 Speaker 1 Really?

34:15 Speaker 2 Very hard. Honestly, maybe I could have learned a little beforehand, but maybe...

34:21 Speaker 1 When? Was there a period when you knew you were going and hadn’t yet...

34:24 Speaker 2 No, no, no. Only once I arrived.

34:27 Speaker 1 Oh, I see.

34:27 Speaker 2 When we left on shlichus, it happened almost overnight.

34:30 Speaker 1 Really?

34:30 Speaker 2 Very much so. Yes.

34:32 Speaker 1 By the way, why Concordia specifically? How did you end up there?

34:35 Speaker 2 Well, wow. There were shluchim there thirty years ago, and the chief rabbi—the Rebbe sent them there. The shluchim were Chiche [?] and Miriam Kaplushnik. They came to the Rebbe, and the Rebbe opened a map and marked that Concordia needed a Chabad House, so that’s where they went. But somehow they became discouraged, or—I don’t know—they had difficulties living in Concordia, being there. So they moved to the capital, Buenos Aires. There were also other shluchim with them, and one of the shluchim passed away in a car accident with his son, may they rest in peace. And then that was it; they all left. Since then, there had been a great deal of assimilation, and the rabbi, the head shliach, was always looking for shluchim for Concordia. He was searching high and low. Then a couple from Concordia asked the rabbi for shluchim, and he searched even harder. That couple made a trip to the Rebbe by car, going from one Chabad House to another. It took them three months to get there. When they reached the Rebbe, they asked for shluchim in Concordia. At exactly that time, we were looking to go on shlichus. We called the rabbi, because my husband is from Argentina, and he said, “Of course! I’m looking for someone for Concordia.” We didn’t ask questions. We didn’t know what to expect; we were simply determined to go on shlichus. And one thing led to another, and we went.

36:24 Speaker 1 So you arrived without really knowing what was waiting for you.

36:26 Speaker 2 Within two months. Yes, exactly.

36:29 Speaker 1 At least your husband knew the language, right?

36:31 Speaker 2 Yes.

36:32 Speaker 1 That must have been a huge relief.

36:34 Speaker 2 Yes. On the one hand it was a relief; on the other, it created a gap between us—

36:38 Speaker 1 Yes, yes.

36:38 Speaker 2 With the community. I didn’t know anyone. I was just going, “Hola, hola, hola,” nodding my head, and he was my translator.

36:46 Speaker 1 Yes.

36:46 Speaker 2 So it was hard at first.

36:48 Speaker 1 Because you also had to rely on him for everything. You needed—

36:51 Speaker 2 I was completely dependent on him. Exactly.

36:54 Speaker 1 No choice—you have to learn the language.

36:55 Speaker 2 Absolutely. So I learned the language after about two or three years, but I still wasn’t speaking it. I needed the courage. After four years, I said, “That’s it, enough. You’re going to start speaking.” One method I used was simply to start teaching classes myself. I left myself no choice: I put out an announcement that there would be a class, and that’s how I started. Everything was done with Google Translate; I translated it all. Now, people think—

37:25 Speaker 1 That’s the great thing—here, let’s pass that tip along. Exactly. I heard another shlucha say something similar on Shabbos. She finds the subject of family purity very difficult—giving classes and doing all that. So she says, “I put out an announcement. I write ‘Save the date,’ ‘Mark it in your calendars,’ and then what am I going to do?”

37:40 Speaker 2 And that way it definitely happens.

37:41 Speaker 1 Yes, and then I have to put something together.

37:44 Speaker 2 That’s what I did for myself—something that would force me to do it.

37:47 Speaker 1 Yes, that’s wonderful.

37:48 Speaker 2 Despite the embarrassment and everything, just to do it.

37:52 Speaker 1 And how do people... It sounds like South Americans are generally—I don’t know, maybe I’m overgeneralizing—but they seem like nice people, people who...

38:01 Speaker 2 They’re very nice people, but they laughed at me a lot.

38:04 Speaker 1 Really?

38:05 Speaker 2 A lot. Making jokes. A lot.

38:08 Speaker 1 No!

38:08 Speaker 2 At every sentence, every word. On the one hand it’s embarrassing; on the other hand, it’s kind of okay.

38:13 Speaker 1 Everything’s out in the open.

38:14 Speaker 2 Yes.

38:15 Speaker 1 No, because in Ukraine, for example, I also made lots and lots of mistakes in Russian, and I taught classes. They’d always say, “What are you talking about? Your Russian is amazing,” and I’d be like, you know—

38:24 Speaker 2 Wow, that’s nice.

38:24 Speaker 1 They’re talking to you—no, but I definitely made mistakes.

38:28 Speaker 2 Yes, but it’s nice that they told you that.

38:29 Speaker 1 But people were very easygoing and polite, and they never laughed in my face.

38:34 Speaker 2 Wow. With me, wow, you have no idea.

38:36 Speaker 1 How petty.

38:37 Speaker 2 They laughed so much. I don’t know if it was because I’m open about it, but—

38:40 Speaker 1 Wow, that really is hard.

38:41 Speaker 2 Yes, they would still laugh at the—

38:44 Speaker 1 Teaching a class is hard enough; you need the confidence just to start. So—

38:49 Speaker 2 Absolutely.

38:50 Speaker 1 It’s twice as challenging.

38:51 Speaker 2 Another thing that was challenging was the resh sound. It took me a while to learn how to say it. I don’t know if the Argentinians will laugh at me now, but—

38:58 Speaker 1 You have an Argentinian speech therapist to give you exercises.

39:02 Speaker 2 Yes. I always say, how did Argentinian Spanish come about? They took letters, mixed them up, and put an R between every two letters. Ha, ha, ha—the resh sound. And I’m like, why make it so hard? Every word has an R. There’s no getting away from it.

39:17 Speaker 1 Oh, that’s true. Even the place names: Buenos Aires, Argentina, Concordia.

39:21 Speaker 2 Everything. See?

39:22 Speaker 1 Brazil. Right, no, Brazil is Portuguese.

39:24 Speaker 2 Soriano—just kidding. Soriano really is from Argentina; there’s a city called Soriano.

39:30 Speaker 1 So why didn’t you go there?

39:32 Speaker 2 I didn’t know about it before.

39:33 Speaker 1 Oh, that’s funny. Wait, okay, we were in the middle of the birth. I’m taking you back to the delivery room.

39:37 Speaker 2 Yes. So I learned that during siesta, when they’re asleep, you can’t go in. But I learned—

39:45 Speaker 1 So if you need to give birth and it happens to be siesta time...

39:48 Speaker 2 What happened to me with my first birth was that when I arrived, they told me I couldn’t come in. I told them I was about to give birth. So they let me in through another entrance, and then, in their leisurely way, they said, “Wait, you need to sign.” Their signature isn’t with a pen. They put ink on your finger—

40:07 Speaker 1 You dip your finger, basically. Wow.

40:09 Speaker 2 Yes, that’s the signature. And I’m telling them, “Listen, there’s no time. I’m about to give birth.” Now, what happened? The midwife hadn’t arrived. Until the midwife gets there, you can’t—there aren’t any other midwives at the hospital. I go in, and the woman who was accompanying me, who speaks Hebrew, comes and tells me, “Wait a minute, the midwife hasn’t arrived yet.” So I say, “How exactly am I supposed to wait? What should I tell the baby? Should I communicate with him?” Anyway, I got up onto the chair, and by hashgachah pratis, the midwife arrived at the exact moment I got onto it. It took me a while to climb up—you use a little stool and everything, but...

40:49 Speaker 1 Wait, so there’s no bed?

40:52 Speaker 2 It’s not—it’s half a bed, you could say.

40:55 Speaker 1 Literally giving birth on a mashber, as it says in Rashi.

40:58 Speaker 2 Exactly.

40:59 Speaker 1 Women give birth on a chair called a mashber.

41:01 Speaker 2 Listen.

41:02 Speaker 1 It sounds like quite a crisis.

41:03 Speaker 2 Listen, when I read that, I understood what it means. Because it really is like a crisis: you have a second to decide whether to climb up or not, but you have no choice. You have to climb up. Exactly. So I learned from that. Now, every time, I take a breath before going in to give birth. Sometimes there are real moments of crisis right before the birth. I know I’m about to give birth, and I start crying, and I have no one to hug. No one.

41:35 Speaker 1 Wow, that’s hard.

41:38 Speaker 2 So I cry, and then I say to Hashem, “Everything is in Your hands.” And that gives me this feeling—it suddenly gives me, I don’t know, energy, a feeling of confidence and faith that ultimately everything comes from Hashem. It doesn’t matter what bed you climb onto, what hospital you’re in, which doctor you have or when he arrives. Hashem has determined how your birth will go. Hashem has determined how the baby will come out. Hashem has determined everything. So, truly.

42:06 Speaker 1 Everything is written.

42:07 Speaker 2 Truly.

42:08 Speaker 1 You could be in the most advanced hospital in the world, and—

42:11 Speaker 2 And a lot of things could happen.

42:13 Speaker 1 Right, right. It’s really about feeling Hashem there with you. That’s the best thing there is.

42:17 Speaker 2 Absolutely. Those are the moments when you feel Hashem most. It’s just—

42:21 Speaker 1 Giving birth is being close to Hashem.

42:23 Speaker 2 Absolutely. Really.

42:26 Speaker 1 So you get to the delivery room. In the end, the midwife made it in time.

42:30 Speaker 2 Wow. She arrived at the exact moment. I’d said to myself, worst comes to worst, they’ll say no and I’ll deliver the baby myself. But she really arrived just in time to deliver the baby.

42:40 Speaker 1 There’s one midwife. Oh, is that the doctor you’d been with throughout the...?

42:45 Speaker 2 Yes. So there’s someone who receives you at the hospital, but she isn’t the midwife. There isn’t another one. That’s it. What I wanted to say was that with my son, my last birth, with Yechiel, when I came to give birth, they also gave me—what’s it called?—they induced labor. They induced me because the midwife had to leave for vacation.

43:18 Speaker 1 Oh.

43:19 Speaker 2 And I was already past my due date, so she said, “Otherwise, I won’t be here.”

43:24 Speaker 1 Oh my goodness.

43:25 Speaker 2 So I didn’t want to give birth with her replacement. I didn’t know what she was like or whether she was experienced. So I agreed to the induction, despite all the pain involved. And induction hurts.

43:38 Speaker 1 What was it, Pitocin or...?

43:40 Speaker 2 Yes, they aren’t natural contractions.

43:42 Speaker 1 Yes.

43:43 Speaker 2 So it hurts a lot, and...

43:45 Speaker 1 There’s no epidural.

43:46 Speaker 2 Right, no epidural. And I have a rule: I don’t climb up until I feel the baby coming out, because being on that chair is a nightmare. It’s cold, too; you don’t have a blanket or anything. Climbing onto that chair is stressful. So I only get on when I really feel the birth is happening. I was in a lot of pain and having those moments of crisis, and at one of those moments I called my sister. She happened to be awake because of the time difference with Israel, and she really encouraged me. “Don’t worry, the Rebbe is with you,” and so on. I started crying with her, and that helped me. It was over the phone, with no hugs. No one was giving me a massage, and there was no epidural, so that was what I had. What happened was, they’d already connected me to some kind of thing that’s supposed to calm you down, like a bag on a pole.

44:43 Speaker 3 An IV? What was in it?

44:44 Speaker 2 It wasn’t an IV. It wasn’t really an IV. It was something meant to calm you down. I don’t know what it was. It didn’t do anything for me.

44:52 Speaker 3 I’d check what was in it.

44:55 Speaker 2 It really would be interesting to know.

44:56 Speaker 3 Next time—

44:57 Speaker 2 You should think about that.

44:58 Speaker 3 We’ll find out beforehand.

45:01 Speaker 2 So anyway, really—

45:04 Speaker 3 No, I don’t mean—

45:04 Speaker 2 I was already in labor.

45:05 Speaker 3 Not sedation?

45:06 Speaker 2 No, no, it wasn’t sedation. It was, it was...

45:08 Speaker 3 Interesting.

45:09 Speaker 2 So I was already in labor, and the woman who’d received me at the hospital was with me. She told me I was fully dilated, because I’d told her I felt like I was giving birth, and the midwife still hadn’t arrived. But she was telling me, “Wait, wait,” and texting. I was gripping her hand really tightly, because those induced contractions hurt. They really hurt. Then she said, “The midwife says you should wait.” And I said, “What do you mean, wait?” Then I felt the baby was really about to come out. So I told her, “Listen, I’m going to the delivery room.” There’s a corridor leading to it.

45:46 Speaker 3 Oh, you weren’t even in the delivery room yet.

45:48 Speaker 2 No, no, no. I don’t go in until it’s time. They don’t really let you in before that, either. So I said, “I’m going to the delivery room. You can run after me if you want.” I grabbed that pole and started running, you know, before the next contraction. Well, she had no choice. She ran after me, accompanying me, and I could see her quickly texting the midwife. She kept saying, “Hold on, hold on.” And I’m saying, “What do you expect me to do?” Then I went in and climbed onto the chair. It really is hard to get up there when you’re having contractions, because the chair is so high. And then the midwife came in. She arrived and delivered the baby at the exact moment.

46:27 Speaker 3 At the very last second.

46:28 Speaker 2 Right on time. Now, what happened? The baby wasn’t breathing, and at first I didn’t realize it. I was thinking, “Great,” and I—

46:36 Speaker 3 It hadn’t sunk in yet.

46:37 Speaker 2 I was thanking Hashem. At first he was breathing, and then he wasn’t. He stopped breathing. So they took him. I was holding the baby, and then they took him from me. I thought, okay, maybe just for a second; maybe he has some mucus and they need to clear it out. So meanwhile, I got down and went back to drinking the coffee I’d started in the room I’d been in.

47:04 Speaker 3 No big deal. You stopped for another cup.

47:08 Speaker 2 Seriously.

47:09 Speaker 3 At least they had boiling water there.

47:12 Speaker 2 So I got down. After giving birth there, you climb down; they don’t move those beds around. And then—

47:21 Speaker 3 Crazy. Maybe that’s why they don’t give epidurals, so everyone can be [unclear].

47:26 Speaker 2 Could be. So I’m waiting, and they’re not bringing me the baby. I say to my husband, “What’s going on?” He says, “Wait, wait, they’ll bring him in a minute.” He already knew they were helping the baby breathe. Then a doctor comes in and says, “Listen, the baby isn’t breathing, and we still don’t know what’s wrong with him. We’ll see.” At that point they didn’t know, and I’m saying, “What? That doesn’t make sense.” It hadn’t even sunk in yet. As far as I was concerned, everything was fine; he’d start breathing any second. Well, by the next day they were telling us he was on oxygen. “We tried lowering it a little, from one hundred percent to ninety-five, and he didn’t respond well, so we left it as it was.” At some point, two days later, they sedated him too, because he was moving around a lot and pulling at the tubes. So—

48:19 Speaker 3 Wow.

48:19 Speaker 2 So they sedated him. And then I stayed there for Shabbos, which I normally wouldn’t do. I gave birth on Thursday and stayed there for Shabbos. I paid for it, because normally you don’t stay. And I said, “Rebbe, I’m here on your shlichus. I’m doing all of this for you. Look at this: I cooked for people for Shabbos and then went to give birth. I really am doing everything. I have five children at home, and I have no help. My husband is handling everything—the Chabad House, the children, everything that needs doing. My son deserves to be okay.” And then another day passed, and another. Tuesday came, and by then I’d been discharged. I kept coming back to bring him milk through the—

49:21 Speaker 3 Feeding tube.

49:21 Speaker 2 Through his throat. Right. So he could gain weight—or at least maintain his weight—and maybe it would help him. One time, before I came to bring him milk and visit, I wrote to the Rebbe, and I received a really beautiful blessing. So I went in feeling confident. And what do you know? Apparently, while I was at home writing to the Rebbe, the baby grabbed the oxygen tube and pulled it out, and he breathed. He breathed on his own. The nurse in charge of the shift saw that his oxygen level wasn’t dropping and that he was okay. So she said, “Let’s see how he responds. If he stays okay, I’ll leave it off; if not, I’ll reconnect it right away.” He stayed okay. When we arrived, the doctor came over to tell us, and I thought something bad had happened. He said, “Listen, I don’t know what happened, but this is what happened.”

50:23 Speaker 3 Wow.

50:23 Speaker 2 And I just said, “Wow, how wonderful!” And how wonderful that I have the ability to be connected to the Rebbe—that I have something to hold on to. It feels like such a privilege to be a shlucha, that I can speak to the Rebbe and receive something so directly. So that was a great miracle. Of course we were overjoyed.

50:49 Speaker 3 Wow. The doctors wouldn’t have dreamed of trying to take him off the oxygen like that.

50:53 Speaker 2 Not at all. They also couldn’t pinpoint exactly what had caused it. His lungs just hadn’t opened up. Afterward they did open up, and everything was fine. They’d tried all sorts of things before that, and nothing had worked. Then they told us we needed to wait a little longer, but they discharged him before Shabbos. That was the most wonderful gift. He was born in that parsha, too. Yes, he’s healthy and strong—he has more energy than any of the children.

51:27 Speaker 3 How old is he now?

51:28 Speaker 2 Two. And that’s also why we named him Yechiel: because Hashem gave him life anew through this miracle, and because he was born during Parshas Vayechi.

51:37 Speaker 3 Wow.

51:38 Speaker 2 Oh, and you know what else happened? After his bris, we bought him a letter in a Sefer Torah, and the letter we got was in Parshas Vayechi. It was really—

51:50 Speaker 3 A seal of approval.

51:52 Speaker 2 Really amazing.

51:53 Speaker 3 How moving.

51:54 Speaker 2 Absolutely amazing.

51:56 Speaker 3 Wow.

51:56 Speaker 2 So I feel that it doesn’t matter where I am, or what kind of place I’m in. That’s why I’m not afraid. People often ask me, “Aren’t you scared?” There is some apprehension, but I think it’s like any birth. Every woman is apprehensive as her due date approaches. “What will I do? How will it go? I hope it’ll be easy. Will it hurt? Will I make it to the hospital?” But I have such strong faith that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is simply everywhere. You see miracles, too: He always sends the right people wherever you are. You’re surrounded by good things. If you’re aware of it and connected to Hashem, you feel Him. You feel Him all the time.

52:45 Speaker 4 Absolutely. I don’t remember who said this. Oh, I was just talking about it with someone last week. I don’t know, maybe it was one of the Rebbes, or someone else, who was asked, “Where is Hakadosh Boruch Hu?” And he answered, “Hakadosh Boruch Hu is wherever you let Him in.” You make room for Him—

53:01 Speaker 2 Exactly.

53:02 Speaker 4 —and then you gain His presence in your life.

53:07 Speaker 2 Completely.

53:08 Speaker 4 How moving. Friends, any of you about to give birth, take Hakadosh Boruch Hu with you to the birth. Really.

53:16 Speaker 2 Absolutely.

53:18 Speaker 4 Wow, listen, that’s moving. Were all the births at the same hospital?

53:22 Speaker 2 At the same hospital.

53:23 Speaker 4 The only hospital.

53:23 Speaker 2 Because that’s the hospital with the most equipment.

53:28 Speaker 4 Right.

53:29 Speaker 2 So that’s where we go.

53:30 Speaker 4 Tell me, when you go to give birth—and in this case, for example, you were there for several days—who was with the children? Michael—

53:36 Speaker 2 Actually, a shlucha came especially to help.

53:38 Speaker 4 Right, and your husband was taking care of the children and the Chabad House.

53:41 Speaker 2 At first my husband was taking care of the children, the Chabad House, everything. He also had to daven with them in the morning, pay the employees, help people put on tefillin, and get things ready. And for Shabbos he was on his own.

53:53 Speaker 4 Wow.

53:53 Speaker 2 Everything. Then I wrote to a few women in Buenos Aires, the capital, to ask if they had any girls they could send. After that, they sent me help for the whole week.

54:05 Speaker 4 Wow, that’s lovely.

54:05 Speaker 2 So when I got home, they helped me too. Yechiel was still in the hospital, but they helped out, ran activities, and brought lots of food with them.

54:15 Speaker 4 Like a Shifra and Puah kind of thing.

54:16 Speaker 2 Exactly. They brought food, and it really felt like Shifra and Puah.

54:20 Speaker 4 Oh, that’s moving. Listen.

54:22 Speaker 2 Usually my husband is my Shifra and Puah. He sends me a tray of food, sandwiches, things like that. But yes.

54:29 Speaker 4 Wow, wow, wow.

54:30 Speaker 2 Really.

54:31 Speaker 4 They gave you a little maternity leave, too.

54:33 Speaker 2 They really did. Honestly, after this birth I actually felt like I had maternity leave. I was still functioning as a shlucha, answering messages and requests and things, but Hashem sent them to me. See? He sends people to help.

54:49 Speaker 4 How amazing.

54:50 Speaker 2 Right when you need them. It was such a hard time: your son is in the hospital, and you don’t know what will happen or when he’ll breathe on his own. And Hashem sends you this, so you can have some peace of mind. I really felt cared for.

55:06 Speaker 4 He has His ways. In one place it’s Shifra and Puah, and somewhere else it’s—wow.

55:12 Speaker 2 Amazing.

55:13 Speaker 4 Tell me, I want to ask you something. All kinds of women are listening now—young women, grandmothers, and also many young mothers with small children who finish the day completely exhausted. Sometimes we feel we aren’t managing to spend one-on-one time with each child. And you’re with your children twenty-four seven. So give us a tip, something to help us feel we’re doing more—maybe not in terms of quantity, but quality.

55:48 Speaker 2 Honestly, there’s so much to do at the Chabad House. Even though I’m with the children twenty-four seven, I’m busy. I’m talking to the helper, giving her instructions; people come in, and I’m talking to them while the children are with me. I do give the children things to do and all that. But it’s not the same as asking each one personally, “How are you today? How was class?”—seeing how each child is progressing in school, and how each one is feeling.

56:21 Speaker 4 You’re always doing something else or talking to someone else at the same time.

56:24 Speaker 2 Yes. I’m always with the children, but I’m always doing something else too.

56:26 Speaker 4 So you’re not fully present with them.

56:28 Speaker 2 Not one hundred percent, exactly.

56:31 Speaker 4 Right.

56:31 Speaker 2 So I came up with a system. I made them little tickets—you know how sometimes, when you’re waiting in line at a supermarket or somewhere, you take a number?

56:41 Speaker 4 Yes.

56:42 Speaker 2 I made them numbers, like tickets for a turn.

56:46 Speaker 4 Oh, wow.

56:46 Speaker 2 And each one gets a meeting with me. They look forward to it. You have no idea.

56:49 Speaker 4 Wait, wait.

56:49 Speaker 2 I go with them for our meeting. We have a meeting.

56:51 Speaker 4 Explain that again. How does it actually work?

56:53 Speaker 2 Each time, I hand out the numbers again.

56:56 Speaker 4 How often?

56:58 Speaker 2 Every time one ends. I give them numbers for the next few dates, and each time, whoever’s turn comes up gets to go. Now I surprise them; there’s no set day. And they wait: “Mommy, is it my turn today? Mommy, is it my turn today?” What do I do? Either I take them to the gas station, where you can buy juice and they have a kosher wafer. So that’s...

57:21 Speaker 4 So that’s your dating spot.

57:23 Speaker 2 Yes, exactly. For my husband and me, too. That’s where we go, or to the river. That’s what we have. So usually I do something I’ve noticed the child wants during the week. Even if, say, it’s for me to buy them a surprise—that’s what I do. I surprise them and buy them something.

57:41 Speaker 4 And that hour is...

57:41 Speaker 2 Or something they wanted, yes. And while we’re together, I talk with them, ask questions, without my phone. I really don’t take it out—just for a picture, okay? Got to post a status. But I talk and ask specific questions that I think they need, and I listen, I listen. Sometimes I bring games, like backgammon and things like that. We do all sorts of things, and then each child waits for their turn again. “Mommy, is it my turn today?” My oldest daughter is next, and she’s already waiting for me to come back so we can have our date.

58:21 Speaker 4 You put her week on hold.

58:22 Speaker 2 Exactly. Completely. Commercial break.

58:26 Speaker 4 Oh, wow, how beautiful. Listen.

58:30 Speaker 2 And I see that it really creates an amazing connection. Really.

58:33 Speaker 4 Yes, they know they have that anchor: even if things are hard, they know that hour will come.

58:38 Speaker 2 Amazing. It’s like... “I have time with Mommy.”

58:41 Speaker 4 How lovely.

58:42 Speaker 2 It’s amazing. Sometimes my husband does it now, too, because he saw me doing it.

58:46 Speaker 4 “Put me in your queue,” right?

58:47 Speaker 2 So that’s... No, he does it too.

58:49 Speaker 4 Oh, with the children.

58:49 Speaker 2 Also because...

58:50 Speaker 4 But you put him in the queue, right?

58:53 Speaker 2 Always. That’s every week.

58:54 Speaker 4 He gets number one.

58:55 Speaker 2 Every week.

58:57 Speaker 4 You really make a point of going out together as a couple?

59:00 Speaker 2 We have to.

59:01 Speaker 4 Wow, otherwise you’re all in one big cholent together all the time.

59:04 Speaker 2 Exactly. We have to, have to, have to.

59:06 Speaker 4 So you head to the gas station, and before long you’re swiping your card again.

59:09 Speaker 2 They really love us there, you have no idea...

59:12 Speaker 4 Do you have a bench there, or something?

59:14 Speaker 2 Actually, yes.

59:15 Speaker 4 In the car.

59:16 Speaker 2 A regular spot. No, a regular spot at the gas station.

59:18 Speaker 4 Oh, nice.

59:19 Speaker 2 They have tables there. I’ll tell you a story from the gas station. There was a Jewish man who was really distant; he didn’t even want to say he was Jewish. He kept seeing me come in with a different child, and he knows we have a lot of children. It amazed him that I would come and spend time alone with one child. He could see me there: I wasn’t on my phone; I was playing. Sometimes I make cards for particular games.

59:50 Speaker 4 For conversation and things like that.

59:50 Speaker 2 Yes, all sorts of things. He was just amazed at how I treated each child, how I found the time amid everything I do. People know what we do, and he sees that we have a lot of children, so naturally he figured there wouldn’t be time. It amazed him. Then one day he came over and said, “Do you know I’m Jewish?” I said, “What, really? Your mother’s Jewish?” He said, “Yes, but I don’t take part in the community.” One thing led to another, and he started occasionally coming to my husband’s Torah classes at the shul and helping make a minyan. That’s how it is. Sometimes we don’t realize people are watching us. I know it in my head, but I don’t really feel it. And then I thought, look at that: I make dates with my children, and he notices. Since then, he always says hello to me. He’s a regular at the gas station; he says hello, and...

1:00:56 Speaker 5 And that’s amazing.

1:00:57 Speaker 2 It’s just amazing to see what I can do without intending to. How important it is—if I’d behaved differently... How important my behavior and my appearance are when people see me.

1:01:10 Speaker 5 You’re always on duty.

1:01:12 Speaker 2 Always, always.

1:01:13 Speaker 5 You know, there’s also this—I don’t know whether to call it the ideal—but how do you know things are working well? When everything comes together?

1:01:25 Speaker 2 Right.

1:01:25 Speaker 5 You’re going out with your child, which, if you divided your life into categories, would be “parenting” rather than “shlichus,” you know? But when you’re always connected to your inner purpose, which is to add goodness to the world—“I’ll do everything I can to be a good mother, and everything I can to bring people closer to Judaism, and everything I can to be a good person and a good wife”—then it all comes together.

1:01:49 Speaker 2 Afterward, yes, it all comes together.

1:01:50 Speaker 5 It comes together. You went out with your child, but everything about you is directed toward adding goodness. And here’s another result of that.

1:01:57 Speaker 2 It came back to you.

1:01:58 Speaker 5 Yes.

1:01:58 Speaker 2 Suddenly I see how meaningful it is. It matters. It’s not just that I’ve gone out for some...

1:02:04 Speaker 5 It sends out ripples.

1:02:06 Speaker 2 It does.

1:02:06 Speaker 5 In another direction. But wow, listen, that’s really moving. Wow, that gas station is really...

1:02:13 Speaker 2 Absolutely. It’s our gas station. It’s not just...

1:02:15 Speaker 5 A meaningful location.

1:02:18 Speaker 2 Another Jew will come.

1:02:19 Speaker 5 Yes. Do they ever refuel the horse there, too?

1:02:24 Speaker 2 Actually, the horse doesn’t need gas, but...

1:02:27 Speaker 5 Wow, that’s something. Tell me, I don’t know if you’ll like this question, but what’s your biggest challenge on shlichus?

1:02:37 Speaker 2 The challenge? Wow.

1:02:39 Speaker 5 Or can’t you narrow it down?

1:02:42 Speaker 2 It’s almost impossible to point to one specific thing, because everything is challenging. Kosher food, when there isn’t any. I can’t just go out and buy falafel. Or if I’m pregnant and craving cottage cheese, I can’t get it. Or there aren’t any cucumbers, which is a huge challenge for me.

1:02:56 Speaker 5 By the way, you know that superstition people have—that if you don’t eat what you’re craving...

1:03:02 Speaker 2 During pregnancy.

1:03:02 Speaker 5 Then the baby is born with a mark...

1:03:04 Speaker 2 Exactly, so...

1:03:04 Speaker 5 You could do a study on that.

1:03:06 Speaker 2 The children probably come out with so many marks you can’t even see the individual ones anymore.

1:03:09 Speaker 5 [unclear]

1:03:10 Speaker 2 It’s like the marks are just part of them. So, anyway, I don’t really think about it.

1:03:20 Speaker 5 It’s not something you think about day to day. You’ve made peace with it, in a way.

1:03:23 Speaker 2 I have. Sometimes it’s very hard, because I have to... For example, right now I have gestational diabetes, and it’s very challenging. What can you buy? It’s not enough that you make everything at home; all the baked goods, everything you put out—you can’t eat any of it.

1:03:39 Speaker 5 Even that poor little juice you could buy.

1:03:41 Speaker 2 No plain yogurt or anything. There isn’t any. So it’s very, very challenging and hard. You need something to replace that taste. Well, here I think I...

1:03:53 Speaker 5 Went wild.

1:03:54 Speaker 2 Went wild with what?

1:03:55 Speaker 5 Refueled.

1:03:55 Speaker 2 Yes, with all the sweet things.

1:03:57 Speaker 5 I hope you’re going back with a cooler.

1:04:00 Speaker 2 A cooler just for the children. But really, I dreamed about this. I said, “I’m coming to the Kinus, and I’m going to eat cottage cheese with cucumber.” Then suddenly I saw a bowl full of cottage cheese. Wow, it was just what I wanted. Because usually, when I’m pregnant, I don’t get what I’m craving.

1:04:19 Speaker 5 Yes.

1:04:20 Speaker 2 If you want falafel, with that smell of falafel, or you want—anything, really. Or you don’t feel like making food and want someone else to make it for you. So yes, it’s challenging. But the most challenging thing is raising the children. You always have to keep an eye on it, always stay focused, because the children are always with us, too. You don’t have that separation. It’s very challenging. That’s the biggest challenge: raising the children.

1:04:46 Speaker 5 Do you have a little time for yourself? Do you meet up with yourself? Have you given yourself a number?

1:04:51 Speaker 2 You’ll laugh, but I actually set alarms to go out with myself, and I write in a journal. I keep a journal, a shlichus journal. It helps me. It lets things out.

1:05:02 Speaker 5 Wait, explain. You used the word “journal” in two different ways. You put an appointment with yourself in your calendar—time for yourself.

1:05:08 Speaker 2 Yes.

1:05:09 Speaker 5 And separately, you write a journal, a diary of your life. Not an appointment book...

1:05:12 Speaker 2 Yes.

1:05:13 Speaker 5 Oh, okay.

1:05:13 Speaker 2 First of all, I have time with myself every day, okay? That doesn’t mean I write in my journal every day, but I try once a week to let out everything I’ve been holding in.

1:05:25 Speaker 5 Wow, that really is a therapeutic tool.

1:05:27 Speaker 2 It really is. I do some of that in my status updates, too. I let a lot of things out there. I speak as honestly as I can, both to get it off my chest and so other women can be strengthened by seeing what I’m going through. Maybe it will strengthen someone who...

1:05:41 Speaker 5 The world benefits, as they say.

1:05:42 Speaker 2 Exactly. I even debated whether to talk about the diabetes. Then I went ahead and shared it, and you wouldn’t believe how much it strengthened women who follow my status and have gestational diabetes or are going through other things. It really strengthened them.

1:05:55 Speaker 5 I think sometimes what’s hard is thinking you’re facing it alone.

1:05:59 Speaker 2 Right.

1:06:00 Speaker 5 Suddenly, when you see you’re not alone and everything’s okay, and there are others going through it alongside you—maybe millions of women around the world dealing with this, I don’t know—it gives you a certain feeling of...

1:06:10 Speaker 2 It’s encouraging.

1:06:10 Speaker 5 Perspective.

1:06:12 Speaker 2 Exactly. Yes. Even though it’s virtual, when I come here it’s even better, because you can let it out with friends who know exactly what you’re experiencing, because they’re experiencing it too.

1:06:23 Speaker 5 You don’t have to bring them up to date on anything.

1:06:25 Speaker 2 Exactly. And you get the physical hug too. It’s physical.

1:06:30 Speaker 5 Right.

1:06:30 Speaker 2 It’s face-to-face. They can see you, and you can see their reactions. There’s something about that kind of communication. Online, I’m always on, so this lets me unwind a little. Not completely, but it does. It’s therapeutic. You just talk and speak from the heart, because your husband can’t always listen. I mean, how much can he hold inside too? He’s holding things in himself.

1:06:53 Speaker 5 Right.

1:06:54 Speaker 2 So...

1:06:55 Speaker 5 Wow.

1:06:56 Speaker 2 Yes.

1:06:56 Speaker 5 And when is the book coming out? Let’s—let’s put it this way. The diary is...

1:07:01 Speaker 2 The diary is one thing.

1:07:02 Speaker 5 Oh, it’s not...

1:07:02 Speaker 2 I have a book about setting out on shlichus, which is also called A Shlucha’s Diary. I’m still not settled on the name, but for now it’s called A Shlucha’s Diary. It’s about how I set out on shlichus and where I eventually—what it came down to in the end...

1:07:18 Speaker 5 But the end...

1:07:19 Speaker 2 No, not the end, but getting to—how do you say it?—solid ground. Like after you land.

1:07:30 Speaker 5 The soft landing.

1:07:32 Speaker 2 Yes.

1:07:32 Speaker 5 How did that happen? Wow.

1:07:33 Speaker 2 At first it isn’t soft, but then, how do you soften the...

1:07:36 Speaker 5 Right. You said—wait, you said something about setting out on shlichus.

1:07:40 Speaker 2 Yes.

1:07:40 Speaker 5 Until when do you call it “setting out”? I mean...

1:07:43 Speaker 2 I think I set out all over again each time. Whenever I get away from Concordia for a little while, it’s as if I set out again, because I bring back strength from different places. If I come to the Kinus, I draw strength from the Rebbe, from the shlichus, and from the shluchos. I go back with renewed strength, with tools, and with material things too. It’s setting out on shlichus again. If I go to Israel, then I set out again. Every time, I’m setting out on shlichus anew.

1:08:16 Speaker 5 And do you feel a difference over time? I mean, has it gotten easier or harder for you?

1:08:21 Speaker 2 Easier. It’s gotten easier because I go back more mentally prepared. I already know what it’s like. I’ve been through it. I’m prepared to stay there in Concordia for a while now, and for the possibility that I won’t be able to travel again for another three years.

1:08:39 Speaker 5 Wow.

1:08:40 Speaker 2 So...

1:08:41 Speaker 5 What’s the longest you’ve gone without getting to Israel?

1:08:45 Speaker 2 Three years.

1:08:46 Speaker 5 During COVID, I’m sure.

1:08:48 Speaker 2 Uh, no, that wasn’t...

1:08:50 Speaker 5 The time...

1:08:50 Speaker 2 It wasn’t because of COVID. We went just before COVID. But, no, you know what? We went right after COVID. It’s been three years each time between visits. We’ve only been twice.

1:09:01 Speaker 5 Wow.

1:09:01 Speaker 2 In these eight and a half years. So I’m waiting. It’s almost been three years again, and I’m looking forward to going.

1:09:07 Speaker 5 How’s their Hebrew?

1:09:10 Speaker 2 Good. We speak Hebrew at home.

1:09:11 Speaker 5 But when they get to Israel, they’re real tourists, I’m telling you. It’s like they don’t...

1:09:16 Speaker 2 They really are.

1:09:16 Speaker 5 It’s so, so far away.

1:09:18 Speaker 2 Oh, my kids! I’m always nervous, so I try to prepare them before we go: “Don’t say this, don’t say that.” Why? We’ll be standing at a bus stop and my daughter will shout, “Mom, look, a Black person!” about an Ethiopian, or “Mom, look, a Jew!” It’s so embarrassing. Or “Daddy, look, a soldier!” They think all soldiers are like the ones who took the Alter Rebbe to prison. It’s so embarrassing. Anyway, we explain to everyone...

1:09:43 Speaker 5 You need to put a little “new immigrant” badge on them.

1:09:45 Speaker 2 “I’m a shlucha.”

1:09:47 Speaker 5 Oh, the stories I could tell. You know, when we got to Israel, my daughter went through a phase—and she kept doing it afterward too—where she’d ask everyone, “Are you Jewish? Are you Jewish?” People had no idea where this little girl had come from.

1:09:59 Speaker 2 How embarrassing. But a real shlucha.

1:10:01 Speaker 5 You’re there going, “No, she didn’t mean...” In another second she’d have asked for documents. Oh, the stories!

1:10:07 Speaker 2 A certificate proving they’re Jewish.

1:10:09 Speaker 5 But really, in terms of their mentality, do you see them as South Americans? Actually, your husband also...

1:10:16 Speaker 2 Yes.

1:10:16 Speaker 5 ...grew up there. So you’re the Israeli one in the family.

1:10:20 Speaker 2 But my husband is really Israeli in his ways.

1:10:23 Speaker 5 Really? How so?

1:10:23 Speaker 2 He knows Israel too, since he lived there. But his personality is really...

1:10:29 Speaker 5 Right, and he speaks Hebrew. How did you meet?

1:10:31 Speaker 2 He made aliyah at seventeen, and that’s where he became involved with Chabad. He was in yeshivah and everything, and then we met there. He already knew Hebrew from living in Israel; he picked it up quickly.

1:10:41 Speaker 5 Nice. So he’s sort of Israeli.

1:10:44 Speaker 2 Yes. Honestly, he really picked up the Israeli mentality. He’s always amazed by things Argentinians do, and I tell him, “You’re Argentinian too!” But in that respect, he’s really Israeli.

1:10:57 Speaker 5 What’s different about the Argentinian mentality, for example?

1:11:01 Speaker 2 First of all, Israelis are more easygoing.

1:11:03 Speaker 5 Really?

1:11:04 Speaker 2 Yes. They say whatever they feel like saying.

1:11:06 Speaker 5 The Argentinians I’ve met gave me the impression that they’re very, very nice people.

1:11:12 Speaker 2 They are very nice. Very warm people.

1:11:15 Speaker 5 Yes.

1:11:15 Speaker 2 But they’re less likely to say things straight to your face.

1:11:21 Speaker 5 More tactful.

1:11:22 Speaker 2 Yes. Israelis have no problem coming over, starting conversations, having heart-to-heart talks, asking you whatever questions they want. Argentinians aren’t like that. They’re more polite. They eat with a knife and fork—even falafel, they eat with a knife and fork.

1:11:35 Speaker 5 Oy vey.

1:11:36 Speaker 2 I make them falafel at my classes, and suddenly they’re eating it with a knife and fork.

1:11:40 Speaker 5 Wow.

1:11:40 Speaker 2 But yes, they’re more polite. They’re very respectful, really respectful. They’re especially considerate of pregnant women. They’re good people.

1:11:53 Speaker 5 Nice. So you’re in favor of your kids being Argentinian rather than...

1:11:57 Speaker 2 They’re both, you know. Maybe I’ve become Argentinian myself by now, but they’re both. My kids are very adaptable. They’re shluchim—shluchim adapt wherever they go.

1:12:08 Speaker 5 Absolutely.

1:12:09 Speaker 2 They develop a kind of resilience.

1:12:10 Speaker 5 They’ve gotten the good things from both sides.

1:12:13 Speaker 2 Baruch Hashem.

1:12:14 Speaker 5 Wow, beautiful. Chana, let’s start wrapping up, because the banquet is soon.

1:12:19 Speaker 2 Yes.

1:12:20 Speaker 5 You need to go put on your makeup and get dressed up. Give us something to end with—something we can’t say goodbye to Chana without hearing.

1:12:30 Speaker 2 First of all, I want to say that I’m not the only one going through things. And you don’t have to be an official Chabad shliach to know that you’re a shliach. In some way, everyone, wherever they are, is going through something. Everyone carries a sack of stones. Some see them as precious stones, and others as heavy stones. Everyone carries something. We were sent into this world. The soul comes down here in order to rise, and rising isn’t easy. Each person has their own mission, with their own tools and strengths. You have to discover within yourself the strengths Hashem gave you to carry it out in the world—whether that’s with your children, at work, on the street, with your family, or at home, building peace in the home, raising the children. You have to know that you have the tools, and you have to know that you have a role. When I know I’m on a mission, I don’t become bitter. Take the soldiers in Gaza right now: they know they’re on a mission. People ask them, “How can you do it? How can you see all those things and keep functioning—see friends fall, everything?” It’s because they know they’re on a mission. They know they’re soldiers; they know they’re fighting. And so are we. Every Jew is a shliach, every Jew is a soldier, and every Jew has those strengths. When you keep the goal in front of your eyes and know in your mind what you’re working toward, it becomes easier. You don’t become bitter anymore. You know, “I have the strength, because this is my mission.” That’s true for everyone.

1:14:16 Speaker 5 Really knowing that I came down into this world. And if you wake up to one of those awful mornings, suddenly you can say, “Wait, I’m not here for no reason. I’m not here for no reason. I have a role. What’s needed of me?”

1:14:26 Speaker 2 Exactly.

1:14:26 Speaker 5 What needs to be done?

1:14:27 Speaker 2 Exactly.

1:14:27 Speaker 5 Being in that frame of mind really changes your life.

1:14:31 Speaker 2 Yes. What helps me on a morning when I’m not feeling great is putting on music right away. A song can get you moving—a good song, not something depressing. Something uplifting, with encouraging words about miracles or emunah or Modeh Ani, things like that. Then it carries you through the whole day, because songs get stuck in your head and you keep playing them to yourself all day.

1:14:57 Speaker 5 Oh, absolutely.

1:14:57 Speaker 2 So that’s what I do.

1:14:58 Speaker 5 Knowing how to strengthen ourselves.

1:14:59 Speaker 2 Yes.

1:15:00 Speaker 5 You know, when you talk about the girls who watch you and are inspired, and probably write to you, “Wow, Chana!”—it reminds me of the story of a bar mitzvah boy who came to the Rebbe. The Rebbe asked him what sport he liked, and he said, “I like baseball.” The Rebbe kept asking him about it, and the boy said that a month earlier he’d gone to a game, but the team he rooted for started playing badly, so he left. The Rebbe asked him, “Can the players leave in the middle of the game?” He said, “Rebbe, of course not. The players have to stay until the end and give it everything they’ve got. But I’m a spectator.” And the Rebbe told him, “In real life, you have to be a player, not a spectator.” So to everyone watching you, I say: You can watch, be inspired, and say “Wow,” but remember—you’re not just spectators.

1:15:51 Speaker 2 Remember, you’re the players.

1:15:55 Speaker 5 You too, yes. Each of us is here with a different role. Hakadosh Boruch Hu created us different.

1:16:00 Speaker 2 Absolutely.

1:16:01 Speaker 5 On purpose. It’s not by chance.

1:16:02 Speaker 2 Different and unique.

1:16:03 Speaker 5 Yes, and we really need to bring our uniqueness into the world. Every woman listening to us right now: You’re special. You’re special, and the world is waiting for you. It’s not just in—

1:16:13 Speaker 2 Absolutely.

1:16:14 Speaker 5 Not just in Concordia, and not just in Thailand or India. You’re a shlucha of Hakadosh Boruch Hu in this world, so give it everything you’ve got. Come on, imagine what will happen if we all do that together.

1:16:25 Speaker 2 Wow! The Geulah will come.

1:16:27 Speaker 5 Come on, it’s time.

1:16:28 Speaker 2 Let’s get the drums ready.

1:16:30 Speaker 5 Yes. Chana, thank you so much.

1:16:33 Speaker 2 Thank you.

1:16:34 Speaker 5 It was a pleasure, a real pleasure. Listen, I’ve been chasing her around this whole Kinus.

1:16:37 Speaker 2 What a privilege.

1:16:38 Speaker 5 Every few minutes I’d see her and say, “Chana, the podcast, remember? Don’t disappear on me at the last minute.”

1:16:43 Speaker 2 It’s my privilege to be here on your podcast.

1:16:46 Speaker 5 Boruch Hashem.

1:16:46 Speaker 2 You’re so special.

1:16:48 Speaker 5 Boruch Hashem. And we really hope you enjoyed it. If you’re sitting there now thinking, “Wow,” and you feel you’ve gained strength, don’t throw it away. Decide right now on one small change, something you’ll take into your everyday life. That’s what it means to put the lights into vessels.

1:17:07 Speaker 2 Yes, and the main thing is action.

1:17:08 Speaker 5 Yes, action. Action that continues. And may we all merit it, with Hashem’s help. Thank you, Chana.

1:17:12 Speaker 2 Amen. Thank you.

1:17:13 Speaker 5 Thank you.

1:17:13 Speaker 2 Thank you, too, for the strength you’ve given us.