Fighting Fires and Pedaling Wine Bicycles: The Portland Jewish Oasis - Rabbi Chayim & Simi Mishulovin

00:00 Speaker 1 It was a Friday night, we were just going to sleep, and all of a sudden I hear banging on the front door of my house.

00:06 Speaker 2 That's Rabbi Chaim Mishlovien, Chabad emissary to Portland, Oregon, along with his wife, Simmy.

00:13 Speaker 1 So we go to open the door, and we're told that the Chabad House is on fire. So we run over to the Chabad House, and sure enough, the firefighters are finishing putting out a fire in the upstairs office area. So we knew the upstairs was gone, but the main floor looked okay. On Sunday already I was like, "Okay, what could we do? It's terrible. Like, how do we come back better?"

00:35 Speaker 2 But the Mishlovien's comeback was delayed by yet another tragedy.

00:39 Speaker 1 Wednesday morning, we find out there was another fire. This one destroyed the rest of the building. Nothing survived. So on that day, everything in our shlichus ended. There was nothing we could do anymore. So we were totally lost.

00:56 Speaker 2 But not for long.

00:58 Speaker 1 I said, "That's it. We're not giving up. We're gonna come back full force."

01:02 Speaker 3 You move forward, and you keep your eyes on the vision.

01:05 Speaker 2 Out of that vision arose the Mishlovien's idea to create a unique downtown space designed to serve Portland's Jewish community. That would take lots of planning and hard work, but it would also serve as a model for what the Mishlovien's think Chabad outreach might look like in the future. 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. Here's a great opportunity for you. You rely on the Lamplighters podcast to bring you inspiring stories of Chabad emissaries all over the world. Now you can help keep our series going strong. To dedicate an episode, please email us at podcast@lubavitch.com to explore dedication opportunities. That's podcast@lubavitch.com. To subscribe digitally to Lubavitch International Magazine or to receive it at your doorstep, please visit lubavitch.com/subscribe.

02:46 Speaker 3 I grew up in Portland, Oregon.

02:49 Speaker 2 That's Rebbetzin Simmy Mishlovien.

02:51 Speaker 3 I was born in Melbourne, Australia, and my parents moved here when I was six months old.

02:57 Speaker 2 Simmy's grandparents, the Reichiks, had been sent to California by the previous Rebbe in 1948. Her parents, Rabbi Moshe and Rebbetzin Devorah Wilhelm, began their outreach in Portland in the early '80s. That gave Simmy an advantage in understanding the particular needs of the Jews of her home city. Simmy's husband, Rabbi Chaim Mishlovien, grew up in Los Angeles, where his parents ran a Chabad house on busy Fairfax Avenue. It began as a birthday present to the Lubavitcher Rebbe in honor of his birthday in 1972.

03:35 Speaker 1 And I would see the power of having a place that's open all day, and anybody could come in and get what they need Jewishly, whether it's a physical item, like a Jewish book or a candlestick for Shabbos, or a question answered, or tefillin wrap, mezuzah scroll. It was a Chabad House on steroids.

03:56 Speaker 2 Mishlovien's father and brother still run it. In early 2005, after years of yeshiva and seminary, and outreach in New York, Chicago, France, and Israel, the Mishlovien's were married.

04:09 Speaker 3 And we got married in middle of a snowstorm in Portland on the 19th of Teves, so which was January 13th, 2004.

04:18 Speaker 2 Inspired by their families, Chaim and Simmy had always wanted to go out on shlichus, and they knew where they wanted to be, Portland.

04:27 Speaker 1 And I thought it's a pretty cool city, pretty laid back and kind.

04:31 Speaker 3 So while other ideas came up in other countries and other states, there was a very strong feeling that we could make a huge difference here in Portland.

04:42 Speaker 2 Chaim and Simmy helped in the school and at the camp run by Simmy's father.

04:47 Speaker 1 When the camp was over that summer, I was thinking, "Now what?" That was a great experience, but there's another 10 months till next summer. What other splash could we do? Then I remembered about my father's Chabad House and the style. So I said, "You know what? How about I get a bunch of merchandise, mezuzahs, tefillin, books, Shabbos candles, and it could become a, so to speak, Jewish hangout, a easy way to connect to the community and meet a rabbi without having to belong to synagogue, pay a fee, make an appointment with the rabbi. Easy access to your Jewish community."

05:30 Speaker 2 The Mishlovien's knew from research and experience that Portlanders don't necessarily embrace traditional models.

05:37 Speaker 1 There's a lot of out-of-box thinking. They're looking for, like, the living room experience, the backyard experience, so to speak, the more personal experience. They're not looking to be the one with the biggest house, fanciest car, most prestigious job. Portland lifestyle, the Portland mentality might be more open to Chabad philosophy, to spirituality than others because they want something deeper. They want something more meaningful.

06:09 Speaker 2 The Mishlovins rented an unused storefront at a reasonable monthly rate. They already had some books and some folding tables, so they borrowed some money to buy Judaica to sell. They branded their first storefront Everything Jewish. They began attracting people right away.

06:28 Speaker 1 Yep. From day one, Jew after Jew, and even non-Jew, would come in, connect, get their Jewish needs, their Jewish fix, and have that connection.

06:39 Speaker 3 So many different types of people, you know, young families, uh, young professionals, college students, people who are in their golden age. People could walk in the door, and they could buy their Jewish articles, whatever they'll need for their home. You know, whatever it might be to celebrate a Jewish moment.

06:58 Speaker 2 One year before Rosh Hashanah, Rabbi Mishlovin took an informal survey. He asked where the people he met went to synagogue. He learned something very interesting.

07:09 Speaker 1 Most had no plans to go to shul anywhere, but they were coming to a Jewish place, and we didn't have any food. They were coming to connect. They were coming to talk. They were coming to a mitzvah, and this is our crowd. This is the people that we felt like we were impacting every single day.

07:25 Speaker 2 For about 14 years, the Mishlovins ran the Everything Jewish space and grew their community. But in 2019, the building that housed Everything Jewish was sold. The Mishlovins moved to a bigger, and they hoped better, place up the street. The future was looking bright.

07:43 Speaker 1 I felt like wherever I would go, people knew the place. On a citywide level, it was making an impact. Every day, people would come in, and most of them are not people that would be found in a shul on any, uh, sort of regular basis.

08:01 Speaker 2 The Mishlovins were living their dream, successful Jewish outreach in a city they loved and knew held great potential for an increase in Jewish life. But then in August 2020, a tragedy.

08:15 Speaker 1 It was a Friday night. We were just going to sleep, and all of a sudden I hear banging on the front door of my house. So we go to open the door, and we're told that the Chabad house is on fire.

08:29 Speaker 3 Our neighbor came over and told us that the Chabad house was on fire.

08:34 Speaker 1 So we run over to the Chabad house, and sure enough, the firefighters are finishing putting out a fire in the upstairs office area. And we go inside. The upstairs was gone, but the main floor looked okay.

08:49 Speaker 2 Initially, the cause of the fire was listed as electrical failure. The Mishlovins began the difficult process of trying to salvage the books and merchandise that had survived on the first floor and prepare for a rebuild.

09:03 Speaker 1 On Sunday already, I was like, "Okay, what could we do? It's terrible. Like, how do we come back better?" And Wednesday morning, we find out there was another fire. This one destroyed the rest of the building. Nothing survived. The furniture, the merchandise, the walls, the roof, everything was basically destroyed. FBI came out, city came out, and this time it was definitely arson, and, uh, they even suspect that the first one might've been arson too.

09:39 Speaker 2 You had put so much work into your outreach by this point. How did this hit you?

09:45 Speaker 1 First total shock, and then I felt so lost.

09:49 Speaker 3 It was devastating, you know?

09:52 Speaker 2 On the day of the first fire, Simmy had just finished an 18-year run teaching at the local Jewish day school. The camp at which they both worked had just ended and wouldn't open again until the following summer.

10:05 Speaker 1 So on that day, everything in our shlichus ended. The camp ended. She doesn't teach anymore. Our main day job, so to speak, ended. We had no income. It was like our mission ended. Our shlichus ended. There was nothing we could do anymore. So we were totally lost.

10:26 Speaker 2 The shock of their loss subsided a bit, and the Mishlovins reengaged with the essential mission shared by each and every Chabad emissary, to rebuild.

10:36 Speaker 3 You move forward, and you keep your eyes on the vision.

10:39 Speaker 1 I said, "That's it. We're not giving up. We're gonna come back full force."

10:43 Speaker 2 That would require funds and time, but the Mishlovins did have one very important asset already within their community.

10:52 Speaker 4 My name is David Howitt.

10:54 Speaker 2 Howitt is former chief counsel at Adidas. He's the founder and CEO of the Meriwether Group, a consultancy firm that works with entrepreneurs in building innovative brands. But Howitt, who grew up in Michigan, had more than just business expertise. He had strong memories of positive experiences at a Gan Israel camp run by Rabbi Yosef and Rebbetzin Sara Weingarten in Grand Rapids.

11:21 Speaker 4 And Gan Israel and the Chabad House and the family in Western Michigan really just showed unconditional love and support and really kind of wrapped me in a hug, if you will, a Jewish hug. I felt safe there. I felt like I was with family. I felt like I was home, and it was really the first time I had ever felt that level of safety in being Jewish and acceptance for who I am at my core. What I think it did is it planted a beautiful seed inside me.

11:59 Speaker 2 Howitt says that seed remained largely dormant through his bar mitzvah, his parents' divorce, college, marriage, fatherhood, and success in the legal profession, and then in running his own businesses. But he carried that seed with him a couple thousand miles to the west. He arrived in Portland in 1991.

12:20 Speaker 4 I had been searching for a way to access my Jewish iden- ... soul and my Jewish faith and my Jewish practice. And I had, um, you know, checked out a lot of things. I'd gone to a couple of the temples here in Portland. I had gone to a number of services, and each time I just left feeling like it just didn't click. And I was sort of feeling sad and alone and wondering if maybe that Jewish seed in me wasn't going to find its sun and light and water, and that was the time when I was like, "Wait a minute. I remember in my childhood this relationship I had at Camp Gan Israel. I remember that feeling of love, that Jewish hug."

13:02 Speaker 2 Howard felt he needed to reconnect with Chabad, so he reached out to Rabbi Chaim and Simmy online. Soon, he was visiting them at Everything Jewish before the fire.

13:13 Speaker 4 So it was basically like I was back home again. It was immediate, just absolute unconditional love. They're just incredibly kind people, and they have a amazing way of meeting you where you are and taking it from there and, and really supporting you from that place.

13:34 Speaker 2 Howard learned Torah with Rabbi Misheloven and began taking on Jewish practice at his own pace, and it became clear after the two devastating fires that Howard was just the person to spearhead the rebuilding process.

13:49 Speaker 4 To walk through a house of worship and to see prayer books, mezuzahs charred and burned and blackened, it just breaks your heart. It lit a fire of its own in me, but not a fire of destruction, a fire of purpose and a fire of wanting to be part of a solution. It's hard for me to say this, but my whole life I've either kept my Jewishness close to the chest, or I've outright hid it. And after having visited the burnt shul, I really felt like this is time for me to step into my Jewishness and to let it out in big, beautiful ways.

14:33 Speaker 2 So Howard got to work.

14:35 Speaker 4 We sat down. We had envisioning sessions with Rabbi and Simmy. I brought a couple key members of my team into that, who are very, very good at running these processes. We created the vision.

14:47 Speaker 2 The Mishelovens and their team of volunteers met and decided that they wanted an open, inviting storefront that had the look and feel of a rabbi's study, the smell of a Jewish kitchen, and Judaica for sale that would inspire people to create sacred spaces in their own homes. It would include comfy furniture, artwork, and a warm, easy vibe.

15:10 Speaker 4 And that's what hatched the concept for the Oasis.

15:16 Speaker 1 One of the things that we're thinking is if we're to be better and bigger, how do we do that? We said, "Hey, first of all, it's gonna include that we're not gonna be renters anymore," so we wanted to buy something to bring this organization to downtown.

15:29 Speaker 4 And that obviously required fundraising, and it required going into the community and asking for support. It required negotiations on the building. It required mortgages.

15:40 Speaker 2 But there was a lack of available and affordable real estate downtown. Rabbi Misheloven says there were only three buildings listed for less than $5 million, and the economy had been stalled by COVID.

15:54 Speaker 3 You know, we didn't even know when people were gonna start coming out again. There were so many obstacles.

16:00 Speaker 2 But in October 2020, with the help of a broker with Chabad ties, they found two side-by-side storefronts in Portland's trendy Pearl District. One was a former sheepskin store, the other a closed diner.

16:15 Speaker 1 Put an offer in. We got accepted. We low-balled, it got accepted. It was a whole miracle on its own.

16:19 Speaker 4 The fact that we were able to acquire two really, really beautiful pieces of property contiguous to each other in what is one of the most vibrant and central parts of Portland, it alone is a miracle.

16:33 Speaker 2 But the Mishelovens were advised that renovation would take at least six months.

16:38 Speaker 3 So in order to remodel, basically we gutted everything in the space, and with the help of a wonderful friend and designer who wanted to make sure that we keep to our vision, we were able to design that feeling that we have in mind.

16:57 Speaker 2 That took about a year and a half, during which there was still concern that people weren't yet ready to meet in public spaces. But the word had gotten out about this hip, innovative new space that was under construction. The Mishelovens were flooded with texts and emails with requests from people wanting to visit during the renovation.

17:17 Speaker 1 "We want a mezuzah. I want to put on tefillin." I got this call one time, "Hey, my mom died. Could I come get a hug?" People wanted to come study. They wanted to connect.

17:27 Speaker 3 It was important for us to feel that there was life around the Oasis already, so we would do challah Fridays. We did a little Hanukkah pop-up, 'cause it was hard not to have that connection with the people.

17:44 Speaker 1 And we felt like we had to open up as soon as possible. We couldn't wait.

17:53 Speaker 4 And Baruch Hashem, we were able to get that done.

17:56 Speaker 2 In November 2022, Jewish Oasis officially opened.

18:01 Speaker 3 And people are, are like wowed and feel warm just by walking into the space.

18:06 Speaker 4 And it feels like you're walking into the rabbi's den. You could sit down on a nice old couch with a rabbi and have a really lovely conversation.

18:17 Speaker 2 Simmy's kitchen is the other important component of Jewish Oasis.

18:21 Speaker 4 You know, the smell of the cooking, the love, the ingredients, the kosherness- the intention behind the kitchen, behind the food, and behind the experience of a Jewish kitchen.

18:34 Speaker 3 There's a library as well as books for sale, art and Judaica. We have a bicycle with kosher wine that people could have a l'chaim.

18:44 Speaker 2 Wait, what's a wine bicycle?

18:46 Speaker 3 In the large wheel of the bicycle, there's place for eight bottles of wine, and it turns the wine. And then on top, uh, you could put cups. There's, like, a, a little stand for it.

18:58 Speaker 2 This homey arrangement is attracting people who live and work in Portland's Pearl District, but the word is getting out far beyond it, like the Oregon coast. George Quesenbery lives there after having resided in California, Missouri, and the Carolinas. George says he grew up with some Yiddishkeit. After decades of exploring other religions, he felt lost.

19:22 Speaker 5 There was never any peace or satisfaction in anything that I did in my life or anything I attained. I always felt this hole within me, and nothing would fill that.

19:37 Speaker 2 George lives an almost two-hour drive from Portland. He visited some shuls there and the Jewish Museum, but he didn't find the connection he was looking for until he learned about Jewish Oasis.

19:49 Speaker 5 And so I, I go, and I, um, I don't know why I'm going, but I just felt like that's what I had to do. I felt like I had to go.

19:57 Speaker 2 George first visited Jewish Oasis last December. He was immediately taken with the space.

20:03 Speaker 5 There's a massive menorah on the inside, and it's facing the street. And you see Hebrew writing and, and all these beautiful things. I, I just felt at home. It just felt like I was where I belonged.

20:14 Speaker 1 He comes in. We put on tefillin. The first time was the first time in his life.

20:18 Speaker 5 I just feel so welcome. I feel like I met my brother. I feel like I've reconnected with someone I've known my entire life.

20:23 Speaker 2 George says he wanted to dive into Yiddishkeit right away, but-

20:28 Speaker 5 You know, where do I start? Um, do I start with observances? Do I start with just diving in and reading and studying and relearning Hebrew? Where do I start? So I did ask the rabbi that, and he gave me some resources.

20:41 Speaker 1 We talk. He gets some Jewish books and drives right back to his town.

20:46 Speaker 5 I got home, and I, I just began studying again. And it just, it set me on fire. I am slowly working my way into being observant.

21:00 Speaker 4 Rabbi and Simmy have created something where we meet the Jewish people where they are.

21:07 Speaker 2 That's David Howitt again.

21:09 Speaker 4 And as a result, they feel safe, like I did as a little boy, loved, held, seen, hugged. And when you feel that way, your heart opens. And when your heart opens, everything is possible.

21:25 Speaker 2 Jewish Oasis is now open from 10:00 to 6:00 most Mondays through Thursdays, with shorter hours on Sundays and Fridays. The Misholovins run formal and informal learning sessions. On Fridays, a group of regulars assembles for a pre-Shabbat schmooze over Simmy's matzo ball soup and various mirth-inspiring beverages. One flows from the wheel of a bicycle. Simmy gives out fresh homemade loaves of challah for people to bring home.

21:54 Speaker 3 The whole point of that was really to be able to give out candles on Erev Shabbos, and to have women light those Shabbos candles and li- and yeah, and, and experience Shabbos in your home.

22:06 Speaker 2 And now there are big plans to open a kosher cafe in the vacant storefront the Misholovins own right next door. Simmy and Chaim are the first to admit that creating a hip and open downtown storefront has been a challenge, but they feel strongly that their model can be Chabad's wave of the future.

22:28 Speaker 1 This is happening. This is successful. This is working. This is outreach on steroids. We could change the world. We can make Yiddishkeit accessible to every single person by doing these kind of things.

22:39 Speaker 2 David Howitt agrees.

22:41 Speaker 4 This could potentially be a blueprint for all over the world. I think it could be a model that could roll out all over and really allow Chabad to continue its mission in a really powerful and new way. It's the most inclusive, most loving, most open-armed, most approachable Jewishness that I have seen or felt in the world, and that's what the world needs.

23:10 Speaker 5 It's come find out. Come find out. And the invitation is for everyone, and the door is always open. I love that so much.

23:18 Speaker 2 Simmy Misholovin says the rebirth of their outreach with the opening of Jewish Oasis was inspired by an important Hasidic idea.

23:27 Speaker 3 Sometimes it takes broken spirit. A shattered heart could be the best vessel. But wherever we are, Hashem is with us, helping us. The Oasis story, we could see the blessings in it. We've been reminded more than once that we need to reaffirm our commitment to being a source of light and love.

23:56 Speaker 2 I'm Gary Wolek. 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 at L-U-B-A-V-I-T-C-H dot 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.