Rabbi Mendel Prus has been the head of the Chabad of Doylestown for a little less than 20 years. At one point about a decade ago, he met someone during the campaign that the organization held for a new facility, hoping to garner donations and momentum toward his goal. He thought he was meeting them, at least.
“He says, ‘I want to correct you. You met me before you moved to Doylestown, and I suggested that you do not move here. I told you there’s not enough Jewish people, and you should not move here, but I see that you have, and nevertheless, you’re successful and you’re growing,’” Prus said.
Doylestown is located within Central Bucks, a region with one of the largest public school districts in Pennsylvania. But despite its population size, Central Bucks is not dotted with synagogues like some other areas outside the city, like the Main Line. For Prus, that just meant that there was an opportunity. While the reach and clientele of the Chabad of Doylestown has grown in the past 20 years, its mission has remained the same.
“To reach every single Jew in Central Bucks County and to enhance their Judaism and to be accessible. Just to meet people where they are and make it intellectually stimulating and to make Judaism fun,” he said. “My goal is to enhance their Judaism, even just by adding one mitzvah. That’s what we’ve been doing since we started.”
For some branches of Chabad, an international organization associated with the Hasidic Jewish movement that serves Jews of all types, the places they are going are filled with Jews. Some are able to garner donations and support before they even open, with a population of Jewish people excited to welcome the friendly rabbis who put on a seemingly endless number of events. That was not the case for Prus.
“We really started from scratch. We started from nothing. We had to, number one, find people. Number two, create interest, and number three, create the activities. And then, obviously, it was our responsibility to find all the activities as well,” he said.
The way that Prus and his wife, Dassie, did that was by being welcoming people in and going to people if they wouldn’t come to them. Today, Prus travels to Penn Medicine Bucks County when a Jew in the hospital needs spiritual counseling. He even goes to Bucks County Correctional Facility to meet with Jewish inmates. He said that some people are interested in exploring their Jewish identity but don’t want to come to the Chabad itself.
That’s fine by Prus.
“There are individuals who don’t ever step foot in our facility. I just meet them through other ways. I go to their place of work or their office, or I meet them in their homes. It all depends on who they are,” he said.
Early on, the Chabad of Doylestown’s approach to gaining traction was through the grassroots. For an early High Holiday celebration, Prus thought of a creative way to spread his message to all Jews, or potential Jews, in the area.
“I sent out a postcard to Jewish-sounding last names and businesses inviting them to Rosh Hashanah,” he said.
He was nervous before the event, as he was unsure of how many people would simply discard the invitation. But then he was delighted with the results.
“We had 35 people and there are some people today that are still [here] since that first time they came,” he said.
Whether it’s at Hebrew school, holiday celebrations, a menorah lighting at the Bucks County Justice Center, weekly classes or something else, Jews in Doylestown have a friendly place to call their own. For Prus, every new face is a chance to spread the joy of Judaism.
“We try to be welcoming. I try to welcome everyone and try to make sure that when people come, they enjoy it and actually gain something from coming. That they actually learn something,” he said.
