For Rabbi Abie Iktin, summer's end means one thing: it's Elul, and he’s off to bring his lost brothers a taste of Yom Tov spirit
(Photos: Mordy Gilden)
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s I make my way up the New York State Thruway toward Kingston a city of 20000 not far from the state capital in Albany the Baal Shem Tov is very much on my mind. Card-carrying Litvak I may be but stories of the legendary tzaddik and his talmidim setting out on a horse-drawn wagon in search of hidden Jews are an indelible part of my childhood Shabbos afternoon memories.
Ulster County isn’t White Russia and this sunny end-of-summer day isn’t the frigid winter setting of those tales; nor for that matter is the Best Western in town anything like the kretchmeh or inn that figures in every good chassidishe maiseh. But Rabbi Avrohom Boruch Itkin the dynamic Chabad shaliach who greets me as I pull into the parking lot at the Agudas Achim shul onKingston’sLucas Avenue would have been right at home on one of the Baal Shem’s journeys.
I’m here today to ride along on a wagon of his own which he has loaded up with everything he needs for a pre–Yom Tov hunt for the forgotten spiritually and sometimes physically needy Jews of upstate New York: a shofar a pair of tefillin and dozens of delectable miniature honey cakes and pamphlets introducing the upcoming Jewish holidays.
The 31-year-old Rabbi Abie (or A.B.) as he’s known all over these parts arrived in Kingston with Rebbetzin Binie nine years ago. Her brother Rabbi Yitzchok Hecht has headed the area’s lone Orthodox shul since moving here with Rebbetzin Leah on the fateful day of September 11 2001. Progress has been slow but steady — the latest news out of Kingston is that ground has been broken for a first-ever mikveh.
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