We arrived in Bonaire at 9 AM and started our day. We put up a mezuzah on the door of a shop, and kept on looking for more contacts.

We decided to try the medical school, which attracts students from all over the world. The students told us that there were two Jewish guys at the school: Jeremy and David.

We found Jeremy right away, and had a wonderful visit. Next project: David.

Driving across the island to the campus where he studies, we got stuck behind a herd of donkeys. (They say that there are more donkeys than people here.) We could not find him. Some people did not know who he was, and one person even knew where he lived but could not recall the street names, so her directions were less than useful. We tried to do what we could . . . but eventually we turned our attention elsewhere.

At 6 o’clock we got a call. David was on the phone. He had heard that we were trying to meet him, and was happy to have us over. He helped us with the directions, and finally we made it!

Arriving at his house, we soon found out that our new Jewish friend comes from none other than Alaska! (He is a fourth-generation Alaskan.) Talk about a change in climate . . .

David had never had a bar mitzvah. After all, he grew up four hundred miles away from the closest synagogue. Eager to remedy the situation, we helped him into tefillin for the first time in his life. A bar mitzvah of an Alaskan Jew in Bonaire! I must say that was a very exciting and emotional time for all three of us.

We blew the shofar, as is customary during the month of Elul, to remind us of the upcoming Rosh Hashanah holiday. We spoke about joining the Jewish community of Curacao for the High Holidays, and that we would help him with a place to stay.

By that time we had to get to the airport to catch our flight back to Curacao, but we made sure to exchange contact information. After all, it is not often that an Alaskan and a Chabadnik meet on a Caribbean island.

Hi,

We are now in the ABC islands, and I want to give you a few updates on our trip.

We were supposed to leave New York last Sunday, but because of the hurricane we were able to leave only on Wednesday. By divine providence, on Monday we found out that one of the seven known Jews in Bonaire is actually in Philadelphia for medical treatment. So we drove out to visit him. We had a long talk. He had wanted some books that would help him cope with the challenges he was going through. Thank G‑d, we were able to help him.

A moment of meaning with just G-d, the Shema and tefillin.

Once we came to Aruba, we had to pack in as much as we could in just one and a half days! (We needed to be in Curacao for Shabbat, as their rabbi had left this past week, and we were to be covering for him.)

We first went to meet the prime minister (who, as you may recall from our last visit, is Jewish). When he heard we are in town, he interrupted his meeting to welcome us! He was full of thanks for the tefillin and matzah that we had sent him from New York. We made up to meet him later that night at his home to install a mezuzah on his door.

The PM installing a mezuzah on his door. Note his wife proudly watching.

After installing the mezuzah, he mentioned that Aruba had just erected a monument to Anne Frank. We talked about some lessons that could be learned from her story.

He gave us a book on Anne Frank, and we gave him a book about the Rebbe and the prime ministers of Israel.

At the new monument to Anne Frank.

During the course of the conversation, we learned that it would be his fiftieth birthday the next day. We wished him l’chaim to a year of leadership and growth in his Jewish observance.

Now we are in Curacao, and are planning to go to Bonaire soon—but just for a day.

Having a blast: Mike tries his hand at the shofar.

We were in Aruba, a small Caribbean island that is home to about 35 Jewish people.

Sunday morning, we started with calling the "Jew of the island." Tony is his name. He knows everyone and everything and waits a whole year for the Roving Rabbis to come.

Sadly, his eyesight is poor, and he suffers a lot from that, but he still came downstairs, got into our yellow compact car and said, "let's go."

So we started off. "Go straight…now turn right…another right." Even with the little eye sight he has, he was able to direct us like a pro. Like he says, "I know the island inside-out."

At last we arrived at the Parliament of Aruba, also home to the office of Mike Eman, the Prime Minster of Aruba, who is Jewish. As we were walking in, we naively asked Tony if we had an appointment. "No, no, we don't need any appointment. A few month ago I was with the Prime Minister, and we were speaking about you guys—he met your friends in the past when he was running for Prime Minister—and he said that when they come to the island this year I should just bring them in."

We came to the secretary and asked if the Prime Minister is in. "He is in Columbia," she replied, "but will be back tomorrow."

We got back into the car, and Tony asked, "Where now?" As per our request, Tony directed us to the Jewish cemetery where Tony showed us were his parents are buried. We said some Psalms together.

Saying Psalms with Tony at his parents' grave.

Bright and early the next morning, we woke up, studied some Torah, prayed, and were on our way to pick up Tony. We drove to the Parliament and waited for the Prime Minister to arrive. When he saw us, he came right over and invited us into his office.

He sent a message to some people who were waiting for him that he would be a little late, and we sat down to speak for a while. We talked about his family and their Jewish heritage. He told us how he is planning on commissioning a monument for Anne Frank in Aruba, to remind people of the Holocaust and how we have to be tolerant of one another. We also spoke about the upcoming New Year and the shofar. He asked, "So did you bring the tefillin?" Of course we had them. So he put on the tefillin, said some prayers and heard the shofar.

We presented him with "Towards a Meaningful Life," a book based on the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, of righteous memory. He asked us to keep in touch and send him the email addresses of the rabbis who had come in the past few years.

Showing us a picture of his mother who had recently passed away.

Right before we left Aruba for Bonaire (were we currently are), we printed pictures of our time together, framed them, drove back to the Parliament and gave them to the Prime Minister. He then placed them on the table in his office (right next to the photo of his mother). Then came—again—the tefillin and the blowing of the shofar.

As we were preparing to leave, he asked that we arrange him his own pair of tefillin. So if you're ever in Aruba and need to find a pair of tefillin, you can always get one from the Prime Minister!

We hugged, wished him and the whole of Aruba a happy and sweet new year, and ran downstairs to catch our next appointment.

The Prime Minister trying his hand as the shofar.

We met the P. Family in their lovely home. Although Mr. P. is not Jewish, he is very accepting of his Venezuelan-Jewish wife and kids and encourages them to explore and grow in their Judaism.

The kids are very nice, and lapped up whatever we shared with them. We spoke about every Jewish topic under the sun: the month of Elul, Jewish education, bar-mitzvahs and Jewish camps. We helped the older boy don tefillin and install a mezuzah on the front door.

The boys were especially interested in attending Jewish summer camps the coming summer and we told them that we would, G‑d willing, help them find good ones.

Mrs. P. told us that her oldest daughter studies in Atlanta and was thrilled when we told her how to get in touch with the Chabad center there. The kids were also very happy to find out about Chabad's website just for Jewish kids.

By the time we got back to our lodgings, we already had an email from Mrs. P. thanking us for the visit and telling us how wonderful the kids' website is.

Our first stop of the day was a store called "La-Maderna," owned by a Jewish man named Benjy. He is quite religious, and at times our conversation turned emotional.

Our next visit was to Gad, from Diamond International. We spoke for a while, helped him put on tefillin, and scheduled a repeat visit for tomorrow.

We then paid a visit to the Jewish proprietor of a cigar shop. She is an elderly lady who is totally unaffiliated, and was impressed with our open style of connecting to all kinds of Jews. We had a very nice discussion about how G‑d expects each of us to serve Him to the best of our abilities. She took upon herself the mitzvah of lighting Shabbat candles every Friday evening before sunset.

We then headed over to the "La-Linda Clothing Store" and met the owner. He said that he needed some time to get ready to put on tefillin, and asked us to come back tomorrow to show him the ropes (or should we say straps?).

Finally, we made it to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Albert, who both anxiously await the "Annual Chabad Visit." Mrs. Albert told us that the second she heard we were in town, she advised the security guard in advance to make sure to let us in! While enjoying a cool kosher drink (bought just for us), we discussed their family, community, and the possibility of moving to Israel. We sold them a couple of Jewish books which we had schlepped with us, and put up two mezuzahs on their doors. Mr. Albert took us outside to show us the fruit trees that he has growing in his backyard (one of them which was planted from Israeli seeds) and we ended up lingering there for hours! At long last, we said goodbye, with plans for another visit before we leave the island.

Our planned adventures for tomorrow include: visiting David who does imports, Martha from the Israeli Consulate, Shea who owns a large mall, and a candidate for president of Aruba.

Sholom and I settled into our seats for a quiet flight. Between us sat a man whom we both initially thought was of Italian descent. A few minutes into the flight, he removed a Russian periodical from his handbag. I inquired if he was perhaps Jewish, and sure enough, we caught a live one! We spent the rest of our flight chatting and enjoying each other's company. Between finding our luggage and arranging a car, we helped him wrap tefillin (see pic.) and exchanged contact information. He was overjoyed to receive an invitation to our Shabbat service.

After such a grand beginning, we quickly unpacked in our hotel room, bought some basic food, and headed out to meet Yaakov Attas, the Jewish community president, to introduce ourselves and exchange contacts. We were expecting an easy drive, not anticipating any adventure. The problem was that our GPS had yet to realize that we had left Brooklyn. So we resorted to the old-fashioned method of asking around. Driving around town cluelessly, we asked three people unsuccessfully for directions, and what luck, on our fourth try we met a Jew! Our new friend is from Queens, NY, and he was shocked to see two yeshiva students here in Aruba. He quickly became the fifth member of our growing Shabbat minyan. But still no directions!

Moving along, we met a local who finally informed us that it would be quite difficult to find the address that we were looking for on our own. So he offered to bike ahead, and we followed in the car (pretty cool!). On the way, we happened to pass the Conservative Temple and noticed the rabbi's car, so we set up a time to meet with him at 11 o'clock tomorrow morning. We also scheduled a time tomorrow to visit with Yaakov.

Very fulfilling day today, and looking forward to more to come...