From Kabul To Fremont: An Afghan Family Moves Into A Chabad House - Rabbi Moshe & Chaya Fuss

00:01 Speaker 1 Tonight, fear and pandemonium outside Kabul Airport as thousands of desperate Afghans try to leave.

00:10 Speaker 2 My daughter was at the Kabul Airport, and I was not sure if she would survive.

00:18 Speaker 3 For security reasons, that's an Afghani man we'll call Malik.

00:22 Speaker 2 If you want me to describe how you would explain this separation, I call it gradual death. I think if I die, the amount of pain that I feel, it will not be that much.

00:37 Speaker 3 In the summer of 2021, Malik was among the millions of people watching the chaos at Kabul Airport from afar as the US military withdrew from Afghanistan after two decades of war. Even before the Taliban swooped back in to fill the void, Malik had fled to Austria with his son. His wife and five-year-old daughter had stayed behind, but Malik was in touch with them as they desperately tried to flee Afghanistan.

01:05 Speaker 2 They were in that crowd. They could not go forward or backward, without water, without food, completely unhygienic, dusty. It was a disaster.

01:17 Speaker 3 Malik's wife, we'll call her Fatima, was identified at the airport by the Taliban as the wife of Malik, who worked for the US government. The Taliban told her...

01:27 Speaker 2 "You are the wife of a Kafir, somebody who assisted Americans. You're the wife of a spy." And she was beaten, and she was bleeding, and she was traumatized.

01:40 Speaker 3 Malik had been turned down by dozens of relief organizations, but he tried one that had been recommended to him, the Alef Institute, a Chabad organization that runs programs for members of isolated groups, like military families, prisoners, and other communities. Alef said from the very outset that it would help. Malik was stunned. He had no idea what the organization was or who ran it, so he asked,

02:07 Speaker 2 "Hey, guys. Who are you?" And they say, "We are Jewish." I was like without speech.

02:14 Speaker 3 Malik, a Muslim, had never met a Jew in Afghanistan. He had been told only negative things about them in school and in mosques, and now he was engaged with a Jewish organization willing to go to extreme lengths to help his family escape the humanitarian disaster in Afghanistan.

02:33 Speaker 2 We heard bad stuff about the Jewish people. Now it's like Jewish helps Muslim. It's like, wow.

02:43 Speaker 3 But that was only the beginning because even more stepped up to help. I'm Gary Wolk, and this is Lamplighters, stories from Chabad emissaries on the Jewish frontier. Life as a Chabad emissary is often joyous, but it can be unpredictable and even dangerous. Chabad has become a ubiquitous presence in every corner of the world, but behind every Chabad house are emissaries, regular people striving to transcend their circumstances and the community that supports and relies on them. These are their stories. Rabbi Moshe and Rebbetzin Chaya Fuss settled in Fremont, California in October of 2012. They had been told that building Jewish community there might be a challenge because there weren't, in Moshe's words, tons of Jews there.

03:44 Speaker 4 And we sort of worked door by door, person by person, from scratch.

03:52 Speaker 5 And it just became a beautiful thriving community. Thank God.

03:55 Speaker 4 And to create that, you know, takes a lot of focus and effort and community work as well, involvement every day. We gotta keep on working and focusing to grow the community.

04:05 Speaker 3 As they were doing that, they were also meeting members of Fremont's many ethnic groups. One of Fremont's largest is its Afghan community, which is estimated by some to be as large as 30,000.

04:17 Speaker 5 There's no one here who doesn't have Afghani friends, Afghani neighbors, an Afghani doctor, an Afghani dentist with... Like, they're just a huge, huge part of the community, and they're really wonderful, kind, gentle people. It's a, it's a very strong Afghani community, and they're very attached to their culture and very proud of who they are.

04:38 Speaker 4 Actually, the space where the Chabad House currently is, it's actually in Mini Kabul.

04:44 Speaker 3 In the summer of 2021, there was great concern in Mini Kabul and far beyond it. The US troop withdrawal and the resulting Taliban offensive against the Afghan National Army had created a humanitarian disaster. Thousands of Afghanis packed into Kabul Airport in the desperate attempt to leave the country before the Taliban took full control.

05:09 Speaker 1 While outside the last remaining US base at Kabul Airport, chaos continues. This is what crowds have to face to get inside. Shooting, violence, Taliban whips. American troops worry if they open the gates-

05:25 Speaker 5 So in the summer when we started seeing the news, I couldn't sleep. I would stay up all night just watching videos, and I was horrified, especially for the women and the girls in Afghanistan.

05:35 Speaker 3 Many of the Fuss' Afghani friends showed them text messages from family members trapped in Afghanistan. They saw desperation in those messages.

05:44 Speaker 5 And I was like, "If this is where I live, if I live in an Afghani community, I have to do something. Why would Hashem put me in this place if I can't do anything?"

06:00 Speaker 4 And all of our neighbors

06:02 Speaker 6 Many, many, many people from Afghanistan were walking with their heads down. They were so sad with their families that were being tortured, and they were afraid.

06:13 Speaker 3 So the Fusses, together with all their children, attended a solidarity rally held by the Afghan community on the very same block of their Chabad house.

06:22 Speaker 5 And it was such a heart-rending experience.

06:26 Speaker 6 And I saw in their eyes how much it meant to them by having a religious Jew come to support them in their times of need. And when I told them that we're here on behalf of the Jewish community of Fremont and the greater Bay Area, they were so grateful, and they announced that.

06:43 Speaker 3 But being Chabad emissaries, the Fusses weren't satisfied with that.

06:47 Speaker 5 We collected supplies, and we raised money, but it all felt like such a tiny little bit of help in such a huge tragedy. We're talking about a huge amount of people whose lives are turned upside down, who just had their rights taken away, who are being killed, and people are selling their organs on the black market to feed their family. And we kept saying to each other, like, "If we live here, and we're here in this community, and we're shluchim, we're here for every single human being, we have to do something more."

07:19 Speaker 3 The Fusses wouldn't find out until months later what that something more would be. In 2018, Malik, remember that's not his real name, had fled to Austria with his son, Hamid.

07:32 Speaker 6 I had a great house. I had cars. I had good life. I had good status. I had to leave all of that, and I'm here, and I live in poverty.

07:43 Speaker 3 After the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan, Malik worked for the International Red Cross and the United Nations. In 2008, he began working for the US government. He was well-connected, and he spoke two local languages, as well as English and German.

08:00 Speaker 6 And I don't regret I helped thousands of people. It was a right decision, and I feel still like what I was doing, I was making more positive changes in the day-to-day life of people.

08:15 Speaker 3 But the Taliban hated Malik's resume almost as much as he hated theirs. For years, they made death threats against him and his family. They attempted to kidnap his son, Hamid, several times. They feared that if the Taliban were successful, they'd force him to be a suicide bomber. The Taliban burned the farm run by Malik's sister and brother-in-law, who were both judges who had sentenced Taliban fighters to jail sentences for their war crimes. His brother, a neurosurgeon, was kidnapped and tortured by the Taliban after he treated a man whose hands and legs they amputated for one alleged crime or another. By August 2021, Malik hadn't seen his wife and daughter for well over three years. Malik was trying anything he could think of to get them out of Afghanistan before the advancing Taliban.

09:14 Speaker 6 I sent email to the president of Tajikistan. I sent email to consulate of India. I called. I don't know what I did. It was like when you're drowning, and you do anything you can to basically stay alive, to survive.

09:29 Speaker 3 On August 24th, Fatima and Amina went to Kabul Airport, hoping to catch a flight out.

09:35 Speaker 6 They were in that crowd. They could not go forward or backward, without water, without food, completely unhygienic, dusty. It was a disaster.

09:47 Speaker 3 But Malik and Hamid were able to stay in touch. What they learned horrified them.

09:52 Speaker 7 I never imagined that my sister would sleep on the street without eating or without food or without any toilet or going to the bath. I mean, I could never have imagined it.

10:06 Speaker 6 My daughter and my wife could not get on the flight in August at Kabul Airport, and my daughter was there, and I was not sure if she would survive.

10:22 Speaker 3 On that day, five-year-old Amina was trampled by a crowd stampeding to an open gate. She was bloodied, terrified, and alone because Fatima had been detained by the Taliban, who accused her of being the wife of a spy.

10:37 Speaker 6 And she was beaten, and she was bleeding, and she was traumatized.

10:48 Speaker 3 Somehow, Fatima and Amina found each other. They spent the night in the airport, but went back home the next day. Malik was more desperate than ever to get his loved ones out, and then there was a breakthrough.

11:01 Speaker 6 And somebody said that there is a woman who might help you, a woman called Tatiana, and she's in Poland, and she's Jewish.

11:09 Speaker 3 Tatiana was an aid worker for the Alef Institute in Poland.

11:13 Speaker 6 I said, "Okay, let me give it a try. In the worst case, they would say no." I called her, and I said, "I helped the US government. I want you to help me," and I explained the situation. This is what's going on.

11:26 Speaker 3 Just a short while later, Malik got a call at 3:00 in the morning, asking him to have his wife, daughter, brother, sister, and brother-in-law take photos of their IDs and send them to her.

11:38 Speaker 6 And then few days later, she told me that they are manifested. I felt like it's a dream. Is it really true what I'm hearing?

11:48 Speaker 3 Malik was given instructions to relay to his family members. They were all given passwords that would get them through various checkpoints and into safe houses.

11:58 Speaker 6 It was like a detective movie, but in reality.

12:06 Speaker 2 And then they said, "Next morning we will fly." It was early in the morning when they were boarded on the plane.

12:13 Speaker 3 But Malik was beside himself, fearful of what the Taliban might do if they found out a Jewish organization had coordinated a flight out for his family and for hundreds of their countrymen and women. But-

12:27 Speaker 2 When the plane took off, I felt myself like reborn

12:32 Speaker 3 In mid-October, a flight arranged by Aleph exited Afghan airspace. It carried 380 passengers. Fatima and Amina were on it.

12:42 Speaker 2 You fly like VIP. They took care of everybody. The person is old, oh, he needs some assistant, or she's a woman with kids, oh, they need these additional stuff. They were well taken care of. I was touched. I was so happy.

13:02 Speaker 3 Fatima and Amina landed safely in Abu Dhabi and joined thousands of other refugees in the international humanitarian city there. In late October, another Aleph sponsored flight arrived in Abu Dhabi. This one carried Malik's parents, sister, and brother-in-law.

13:19 Speaker 2 And then they were taken to safe places, given nice rooms, food, you know, nice place to stay, clothes, everything. You know, well organized, well planned.

13:31 Speaker 3 Malik was in a state of disbelief, so he asked Tatiana-

13:35 Speaker 2 "Hey guys, who are you?"

13:37 Speaker 3 Tatiana told him that Aleph was run by Chabad, a Jewish organization.

13:42 Speaker 2 I was like without speech, and I said, "You know, Tatiana, we heard bad stuff about the Jewish people." Now it's like Jewish helps Muslim. It's like wow.

13:57 Speaker 3 Malik was so touched that he began assisting Aleph in various humanitarian operations. Remember that he was well-connected and speaks many languages, but he wanted to find a way to get all the members of his family, including himself and his son, to the United States. In January 2022, Rabbi Yossi Charitan was working a new job that he had held for less than a year as a development strategy writer for Aleph Institute, but he was shifted from a prevention initiative to the crisis in Afghanistan. Now he was trying to get donors to sponsor rescue operations.

14:37 Speaker 8 And my job was to collect stories, to collect narratives from the various people that we were rescuing or that had been rescued, and, uh, one of the people that I was put in touch with was Malik. I was told, "Give him a call. Connect with him. You'll be able to hear some of his story. You'll be able to connect with some of the other refugees and have some more stories based on that."

14:58 Speaker 3 Charitan held a Zoom meeting with Malik and heard all about his efforts to coordinate with operatives on the ground in Afghanistan and put together lists of people who needed immediate evacuation from the country. He also learned that Malik had a friend in Petaluma, California, who had helped secure a job for him. Malik was awaiting a US visa. That gave Charitan an idea. He called Rabbi Moshe Fuss at his Fremont, California, Chabad house.

15:26 Speaker 4 So he told us that Malik was currently in Vienna with his son, Hamid. They've been separated from their family for some years, and they were hoping to move to the United States so that he can then bring the rest of his family over to the United States.

15:42 Speaker 5 I remember actually hearing my husband on the phone, and he was, like, having this conversation, and I was like, "Oh, okay, here's our moment." Like, this is when we're really gonna be able to do something that will make a huge, huge difference.

15:57 Speaker 4 Yiddishkay teaches us that if we have an opportunity to act, to do something that can impact one person, one family, then we have to act immediately, right away. This is an opportunity that came up, it fell in our laps, and we got a call from Aleph. There was no question in our minds that we were gonna be there to assist them to get them stabilized here in the United States.

16:21 Speaker 5 He said, you know, "I invited them to come see Chabad, and let's meet them."

16:25 Speaker 3 In February, Malik's visa was approved, and he and Hamid flew to California.

16:30 Speaker 2 Like, I just came, you know, with empty pockets. I just came with my clothes, you know?

16:36 Speaker 3 Malik's friend in Petaluma put them up at first, but it was a long one-hour commute to his job. In February, the Fusses invited Malik and Hamid for dinner.

16:46 Speaker 5 When Malik walked in, it was almost like meeting a brother. Like, it was just such a great person, such a wonderful guy, and, you know, when Malik told his story and the details of it, how his wife was beaten and how he had no hope, hearing a firsthand account, it was horrendous. Me and my daughters and my husband, we were listening to this story, and we were all just in tears. And the death threats and the, just the evilness of what they endured and their resilience, I guess you hear these stories in the news and you read them and, and they're real and you know they're real, but when you actually hear it from a real person, it really breaks your heart. And we were just like, "Let's just do this." Like, I don't even think we discussed it. My husband told them, "You'll come, and you'll live here for as long as you need."

17:33 Speaker 4 And it turns out we happened to have a space in the back of Chabad that we were using for our classes and Hebrew school, and we said, you know, "Maybe we can just make that into a space for him to stay."

17:46 Speaker 2 And then they showed me their school, and they say, "Well, here, if you are fine to stay here, we are happy to give it to you as long as you want."

17:54 Speaker 4 And we quickly turned it over into a space for him and his family to be able to stay there.

17:59 Speaker 2 It was great. They furnished the place. They made it a great place for us.

18:05 Speaker 5 So we sent out an email to the community, and some friends of mine posted on social media in all, like, the buy nothing groups and stuff like that. And the entire community, not just the Jewish community, just came together and created this beautiful home for them

18:21 Speaker 2 Furniture, dishes, everything, you know, like a normal apartment

18:25 Speaker 3 Hamid said he'd been reluctant to leave Austria at first, but when he got to the Fuss' Chabad house...

18:31 Speaker 7 It was a great place. I mean, I feel like, like a free bird to stay here, like my home country.

18:43 Speaker 5 People shopped for their fridge, like the little touches, novels, games, lamps, making sure there were throw blankets, making sure there were brand new fluffy towels, and chocolates, and Starbucks cards, so just they could really f- be given the treatment they deserve.

18:57 Speaker 2 It was great help, you know?

18:59 Speaker 3 Now, you might be wondering how a Muslim family would feel living in a Chabad house.

19:04 Speaker 5 So first of all, they came in completely open-minded, wanting to learn. And you know, Hamid's a teenage boy, so as long as there's delicious food, he was good You know? Food, parties, like who, who wouldn't like that?

19:17 Speaker 3 In a Chabad house, of course, that translates to the Friday night Shabbos meal, which Malik and Hamid took to right away.

19:24 Speaker 2 We learn about Shabbat Shalom, very friendly nights, and people, family, friends get together. And what I really liked about that, you know, you get rid of all these devices, digitals. It- it's just time for family and friends, and you talk about good stuff.

19:41 Speaker 3 Malik and Hamid don't drink wine, but the Fuss' had that covered.

19:46 Speaker 4 Absolutely. So yeah, Hamid loved the grape juice.

19:51 Speaker 2 We learn about Passover, and it really reminded me what's happening in today's Afghanistan. You see the pattern. It looks like the Taliban or the Nazis exactly learned the history, and they are repeating the history in Afghanistan.

20:07 Speaker 3 But on the second day of Passover, Malik's celebration of freedom only increased. Fatima, who had gotten a visa, arrived in California with Amina.

20:17 Speaker 2 I was so excited. I was so excited. I could not stop my tears, and I'm grateful for the Jewish community who basically welcomed her and my daughter with what they could to make their stay pleasant. They came, welcomed them, you know, and it was a great experience.

20:41 Speaker 5 That was so exciting. We weren't able to go to the airport because it was the Chag, it was a holiday. And when I met Fatima, it felt like I was meeting a sister. It was a really, really special meeting when I got to meet her, and she hugged me and kissed me, and couldn't let go of me and just kept thanking me, and I was like, I... I mean, it was an honor for us to be there for them. But it was really special to see the family reuniting.

21:04 Speaker 3 Malik says many people he met at Shabbos dinners and Passover Seders have helped him with rides and other assistance. He's had honest discussions with Jewish people that shattered the stereotypes that were rampant in Afghanistan, and the Fuss' daughters have befriended Amina.

21:21 Speaker 4 Our children played with Amina. First they played in their apartment, and then eventually she felt comfortable, and she came out into the Chabad house, and they went upstairs to the children's play area.

21:36 Speaker 5 She was running up and down the hallways, and running in the backyard, and playing with dolls, and just being really silly like a typical little girl.

21:44 Speaker 4 And they played together for so long, and since then they've connected, and they're wonderful friends.

21:49 Speaker 5 And that was so beautiful to see. Children are so resilient, and they really have the capacity to heal from their trauma and from things that they've seen. It was just this constant really communal, like shtetl environment of really helping them get on their own two feet and be independent. And you know, the Jewish people in the city, they kept telling us, "Wow, like this is such a Kiddush Hashem and such Tikkun Olam that the Chabad community is doing this," but really we all did it together.

22:20 Speaker 3 Fatima is a religious Muslim, so she had concerns about living in the US.

22:25 Speaker 5 When she came here, she was like a little unsure of what it's like to be in an American place, and to dress modestly and cover your hair, and I told her, "You know, you don't have to choose. I dress modestly, I cover my hair, and I, I still integrate fully into American society, and that's okay." We have all these like deep discussions about stuff because we have so much in common.

22:46 Speaker 4 And in fact, I think she feels more empowered to be connected to her traditions by speaking to my wife Chaya, and seeing how observant she is, and still being able to be comfortable here, and being able to grow in her traditions and family, and connection here in the community.

23:03 Speaker 3 All of this has helped Malik and his family find their way toward independence. Malik has two jobs. Fatima is learning English and is looking for work. Amina and Hamid are planning to attend school in the fall. They're hoping that Malik's parents and sister and brother-in-law, still in Abu Dhabi, can make it to the US soon. And since it's summer and Hamid is a teen, he's doing a very California sort of thing.

23:33 Speaker 7 So I want to be a lifeguard, and then I have the lifeguard license, so I could do next year, uh, a job in a lifeguard position, so I could earn money.

23:43 Speaker 3 In the meantime, they've all moved into their own apartment.

23:46 Speaker 5 It's just really beautiful to see their family healing, and being together, and very much being on their own two feet.

23:53 Speaker 3 But Malik and his family still visit the Fuss' in their Chabad house.

23:57 Speaker 2 Now, like I go to synagogue, and I say, "I feel here so safe, and I feel like I'm like it's my house," and I, I, it's like I don't feel like, you know, it's, it's a strange place to go to. And when I meet Rabbi, I hug, and I say, "It feels home."

24:15 Speaker 3 In fact, the family from Afghanistan sometimes helps the Fuss' feel even more at home there.

24:21 Speaker 2 Once we also went there and cooked, and we cooked Afghani dishes, and they were so, so excited. "Oh, we never tried this."

24:32 Speaker 3 Malik and his family are still far from being completely independent. They still use pseudonyms in many places to protect themselves and family members still in Afghanistan. They're still suspect in the eyes of some in the US because of where they're from and the associations that automatically creates. But they're alive, they're fighting, and they're always looking to do better in every way. They see their experience at Chabad of Fremont with the Fuss' as a foundation for that.

25:02 Speaker 2 We can still have different beliefs, but can we still live in peace? We should talk to each other. We should, you know, respect each other. Yeah, this is a example, a good model for peace.

25:18 Speaker 4 By having those conversations and having this experience with them coming here, it enabled them to understand us and us to understand them.

25:28 Speaker 2 And the history should talk about it. You know, Jewish helped Muslims. Muslims should also help Jewish. Why not?

25:38 Speaker 3 The Alef Institute's Rabbi Yossi Charitan thinks the story of how the Fusses helped Malik and his family teaches an important lesson.

25:46 Speaker 9 There's a lot that we really don't know about other people in the world, and when people begin to learn and understand who the Jewish people are, it just ends up creating a great Kiddush Hashem, and brings humanity to a more peaceful relationship. You know, on a, on a micro level, I mean, you know, maybe from one person to another person, but there's a ripple effect that comes out of that as well.

26:09 Speaker 3 So what's next for the Fusses and Chabad of Fremont? The apartment in the back of their Chabad house is now being used for camp counselors, but it will also be available for people undergoing medical treatments or anyone who needs a little help. And the Fusses are open to hosting another refugee family that might need it.

26:28 Speaker 10 And if we can be there for people who are suffering, why shouldn't we? It didn't take away from our Chabad activities. We didn't cancel any events. We just worked a little harder, right? We can all work harder. We can continue to push ourselves harder.

26:41 Speaker 3 The Fusses are still looking out for Malik and family, and they're thinking about their future.

26:46 Speaker 10 You know, it's so funny, I always tell Hamid that he's gonna be in college campus one day, and he's gonna go into a Chabad House and say, "Oh, I'm here for challah," and they'll be like, "How do you know where challah is?" And he'll say, "I lived in a Chabad House." The Rebbe looked at every single person as though they were created in the image of God, because every person is created in the image of God, and that's the way we try to look at every single person, and we try to just think like, "What would the Rebbe do in a situation?" And, and try to be his ambassadors here in Fremont.

27:30 Speaker 3 I'm Gary Wolik. Thanks for listening to Lamplighters: Stories from Chabad Emissaries on the Jewish Frontier. We welcome your questions and comments about what you've just heard on Lamplighters. Please email us at podcast@lubavitch.com, and if you know of a great story involving Chabad emissaries or the people they inspire, please let us know about them. That's podcast@L-U-B-A-V-I-T-C-H.com. To subscribe digitally to Lubavitch International Magazine or to receive it at your doorstep, please visit lubavitch.com/subscribe. This is a Lubavitch International podcast.