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By Yossi Solomon, Beis Moshiach Magazine

The Chabad House in Cozumel, Mexico has become one of the major Chabad Houses in South America, and its popularity is spread through word of mouth to the many Israeli tourists who travel through the area.

The Chabad House was opened by Rabbi Dudi Caplin in 5770, fourteen years ago, along with his friend, Rabbi Shlomi Peleg. It was the first Chabad House opened in Central America for Israeli tourists. Following his success, dozens of other Chabad Houses were opened for tourists in Mexico and throughout Central America.

The Chabad House in Cozumel has expanded thanks to the work of Rabbi Caplin and his wife Chana. They work with the hundred or so local Jews and with the thousands of Israelis who pass through, mainly in the summer.

In addition to the Chabad House, they started a Talmud Torah, a Machon Semicha for talmidim-shluchim who come to help them, a double (for men and women) mikva, restaurants, a yeshiva for baalei teshuva, along with a variety of other Jewish services that are needed for a vibrant Jewish community. At the Chabad House of Cozumel, for those who know the shluchim, everything is done on a grand scale.

HELP FROM THE PRISON

The beginning, like that of many Chabad Houses, wasn’t easy with the shluchim having to go to court and wage battles.

“Upon arriving in Cozumel,” begins R’ Caplin, “We looked for a permanent place for our Chabad House. Just at that time, there was a Jew from Mexico City who was in jail for money laundering. Together with him sat the former governor of our area. This was a prison for the wealthy, with relatively decent conditions.

“My mashpia came from Miami to visit us and encourage us as we started out. On the way, he stopped in Mexico City to visit someone who davened in his shul but was caught and imprisoned. During his visit, he told him about the Rebbe’s shluchim who had recently come to Cozumel. The former governor, who was serving his sentence, heard this and said to tell the shluchim that he would take care of what they needed.

“I requested a permanent place for the Chabad House. The former governor used the connections he had in our district and asked someone senior in the government to come and help us. When the man came, we pointed at a certain house and asked for it, for our activities. The government representative said he would connect us with those in charge of the building and recommend us.

“The building was very neglected for years. We were told we could go in, renovate it, and it would be ours. We wanted to ensure this would be ours and so we went to the government offices and were given official documentation for the building.

THE COAST GUARD COMES IN

The shluchim got busy with the renovations which lasted several months. When they were done, they opened the doors and dozens of Israeli tourists visited daily and enjoyed physical and spiritual delights. They were exposed to the world of Chabad, Judaism, and Chassidus.

They started a restaurant which became busy. Then, two years later, a government official, someone in the Mexican Coast Guard office, decided that the shluchim had to leave the building because the government wanted to use it.

“I guess that since we were doing so well, someone wanted the place for himself,” says R’ Caplin. “Of course, we refused to leave and we said things couldn’t work that way after we had gotten a promise, and after we had renovated at high cost to us. And, if they insisted on having the place, they had to give us notice so we could find an alternative location. We had no other place to be.”

The government officials refused to listen and as time passed, the tension between the sides grew. At some point, the Coast Guard decided to create facts on the ground and they arrived at the door of the building and opened a command office of the Coast Guard. If that wasn’t enough, this was erev Pesach and the shluchim expected to host 400 people for the Seder the next day. It was the busiest, most stressful time of the year.

“It was surreal. As the hours went by, more and more tourists came to the Chabad House to be with us for the Seder and what did they find at the entrance? Soldiers of the Coast Guard of Mexico! They had set up tables, chairs and office equipment with masses of papers, just like a real command post. They simply started working within the Chabad House.”

The government had counted on the fact that the Jews were people who came from the outside and weren’t familiar with the law. They hoped that by being guests in the country, they would give in easily, which did not happen.

DIDON NOTZACH FROM AN UNEXPECTED SOURCE

Three months earlier, Max, a Jew who lives in Mexico City, called R’ Caplin.

“I have a friend, a lawyer, Oscar Delgadillo, who wants to become a Jew. How can you help him?”

R’ Caplin explained that the Chabad House did not deal with conversions and he should speak to authorized rabbis. The friend understood but still wanted help. “Since you are a Jewish rabbi and speak Spanish, can you answer his questions about Judaism?” R’ Caplin said okay.

The lawyer went to the Chabad House and asked about which books he needed to study to become more familiar with Judaism. R’ Caplin sent him to the Beis Din in Mexico where he was helped and given direction.

Oscar bought the books and began studying them, from morning till night.

“I didn’t really know him; I just knew that he is a lawyer who wants to convert,” says R’ Caplin.

It turned out to be amazing divine providence because the lawyer was sent from heaven at just the right time.

“When the people from the Mexican Coast Guard invaded our Chabad House, we were in the middle of Shacharis. They were not moved by the fact that we were in the middle of a religious ceremony. They just locked the doors with iron chains. We were shocked. We had come from western countries and knew that legal things didn’t work this way, especially not by a government office.

“This was at the beginning of our shlichus and we called the municipality who said that they couldn’t help because they were only in charge of local matters and the Coast Guard was federal (national).

“We finished davening and saw there was no way to get out except by jumping over the bars. Oscar, who was there, asked for my passport and said he needed it in order to see how he could help get the Coast Guard out.

“Three hours later he came back to the Chabad House with a warrant that ordered all members of the Coast Guard to clear out immediately. In Mexico there is a law that if you lock people up without their ability to get out, it’s considered kidnapping. Mexico is sensitive about their kidnapping problem and that is why this was considered something very serious under the law. Oscar, an experienced lawyer, knew this and he submitted a complaint against the Coast Guard for locking the Chabad House from the outside without allowing people to get out.

“We were able to host the hundreds of guests for the Seder, as we had planned.”

MOVING ON

The legal case and the attendant loss caused the government to stop harassing the Chabad House and they left the building to the shluchim. This time, they were also given an official permit for their continued stay there.

The following year, the shluchim continued working in that location but it had become too small for all their activities. “Due to the the harassment by the Coast Guard, the mayor decided to help us and he offered us a place in the middle of the island, a building three times the size. The city designated the most central building which is at the entrance of the city center. Today, all our activities happen in this spacious, central building.

“It’s our ‘Didon Notzach,’” says R’ Caplin with satisfaction. “Since then, over a decade later, the place has continued to flourish. To my great delight, this location has also become small.”

What are you planning on doing now?

Now, we are in advanced stages of planning to buy a permanent place. Facing the sea is a famous building which we plan on buying and designing to look like 770. It is so centrally located that the seven million people who pass through here every year will encounter it.

What about Oscar?

Oscar? He’s, boruch Hashem, married and has children. He converted and his Jewish name is Yonatan. He went to learn in a Chabad yeshiva in Eretz Yisrael. Like Rabi Akiva, he began learning in yeshiva at age forty. Today, he’s part of the Chabad community in Mexico City and a serious participant in all our programs. He lit the first light at the menorah-lighting ceremony we did here. We went up together in the cherry picker dozens of meters high. We saw how one light can light up all the darkness in the world.

What is your message for all Chassidim from your personal Didon Notzach?

The message from our Didon Notzach story is, often we experience things that seem bad to us, but in the end, things work out well. I can testify that I saw how all the tough times we went through, were junctures from which we grew tremendously. They were the most meaningful points of light in our lives, just like the Rebbe’s Didon Notzach. The gentile judge accepted the Rebbetzin’s declaration that both the Rebbe and the sefarim belong to the Chassidim. This would usually not be accepted in a federal court but within the darkness of the court case over the sefarim, we got to hear it.

I see how specifically from the darkness, the brightest lights emerge, and this is true for everyone. Hashem wants us to bring out all our kochos and although on an ordinary day we don’t use all our kochos, on days when we have a challenge, we take out all our kochos and then we reveal the victory that exists within us.

I see this in our Didon Notzach and also with other shluchim who are forced to go through difficult challenges, at times even having to go to court and contend with various obstacles. Just as in our Didon Notzach of Hei Teves 5747, we had a great victory, and like our Didon Notzach in Cozumel, following which we got a big, beautiful building in the center of the city, and from here we will move to an even bigger place, literally on the ocean – which will serve to make a tremendous kiddush Hashem, so too, we will merit a Didon Notzach in Eretz Yisrael. We just pray that we don’t have to go through any more difficult events, but will already merit the final Didon Notzach with the true and complete Geula.

SPREADING THE MOSHIACH MESSAGE IN COZUMEL

Rabbi Dudi Caplin:

Before we came to Cozumel, I made a hachlata, that when people call me, I will first say, “Moshiach now.” I saw a sicha of the Rebbe (Tzav 5745) in which the Rebbe tells about a wealthy Jewish man who didn’t want to respond with “Moshiach now” on the phone so he wouldn’t seem like a crazy person. Then the Rebbe said, “The truth of the matter is, the opposite is correct. An absolutely normal person, dressed like a normal person and who speaks like a normal person etc. who suddenly begins shouting, ‘Moshiach now’ – it’s specifically this type of behavior which  affects and inspires the pnimiyus of the other, because in truth his soul also shouts, ‘Moshiach now.’”

When I saw this, I took it upon myself. Today, everybody in the Jewish community in Cozumel knows that when they speak to me on the phone, we start with “Moshiach now.”

We also bring in inyanei Moshiach and Geula through the group conversations that we host. We speak about “what is Moshiach,” about the importance of doing every mitzva in order to bring the Geula. Unfortunately, following what happened in Eretz Yisrael, the understanding that we need the Geula has become most obvious. There’s no Jew who is not waiting for the Geula. Everyone understands that there is no government and no military force that can save the Jewish people aside from Moshiach himself. Now, all that’s left is for them to learn what Moshiach is and that’s what we are focused on now.

We had a young man here who came from a very anti-religious family. He didn’t want to step foot in the Chabad House but one of the gimmicks we developed here is a bracelet that we give out which can be used for discounts in various stores. Since he wanted to save money, he came to the Chabad House.

When I met him, I asked him what he’s about and he told me that he wants to do good in the world. He volunteered in various places in the world. I asked him, “What is your ultimate goal in life?” He said he wants all people in the world to be good to one another. I explained to him that I know someone who from before the age of three had this vision, but he also did something about it and dedicated his life to this, that people experience G-dliness and spirituality and do goodness and kindness in the world. This person, I went on to say, did not suffice with that; he sent out representatives to the entire world who are also busy making this vision come true.

The young man said this sounded amazing and he wanted to join. I told him to come that night to the Chabad House. He came, and although he’s not religious, he wanted to be a shliach of the Rebbe. Today, he tells everyone he meets that the Rebbe is his inspiration.

From this story, one of many, we can see clearly how it’s specifically the Geula that connects everyone to Yiddishkeit.

The goyim here are also ready for the Geula. We do many acts of goodness and kindness with them in the form of the Seven Noahide Laws. We soon plan on opening a Museum of Tolerance with the goal being to show how without jealousy and competition, we will have the Geula and it’s in our hands, by starting to live the era of  Geula right now. It’s a big project that we are already working on.

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