Rebbetzin Chave Hecht working at her desk for Camp Emunah, as she has for the past 60 years. 22 n’shei Chabad NEWSLETTER | nsheichabadnewsletter.com Rebbetzin Chave The name Rebbetzin Chave Hecht, zol gezunt zein, is synonymous with Camp HechtEmunah, the first Chabad overnight camp which she and her late husband, the legendary activist, chossid, counselor and educator Rabbi Yaakov Yehuda (J.J.) Hecht, founded in 1953. Rebbetzin Hecht has been running Camp Emu- nah for 60 years without stop. Rebbetzin Hecht was interviewed exclusively for the N’shei Chabad Newsletter by Mrs. Rosa Grossman. hen my husband and I were chosson and kallah, in the year 5705 (1945), it was customary to have yechidus with the Fri- erdiker Rebbe before the chassunah. We were told two or three weeks before our chassunah that the Freirdiker Rebbe was not feeling well. My chosson made a call every day to the Frierdiker Rebbe’s office to inquire about the Rebbe’s Whealth. The answer he got was always the same: “The Rebbe is not feeling well.” On Sunday morning, the day of our chassunah, I got a call from the Frier- diker Rebbe’s office, telling me to come with my parents and grandparents to 770. My chosson also received the same phone call, telling him to come with his parents. Upon arriving at 770, the Frierdiker Rebbe’s secretary put each fam- ily in a separate room. The Frierdiker Rebbe was then told that both families, with the chosson and kallah, were in 770. The Frierdiker Rebbe gave instruc- tions to his secretary to tell both families to come in together with the chosson and the kallah. Our lives were shaped forever from that yechidus and the bro- chos that we received the day of our chassunah. april 2013 23 EARLY YeARS Rebbe asked the Frierdiker Rebbe I understood that in Montreal the My parents, Reb Elimelech and Mrs. what he needed to know in order mechitzos were made of flowers. Esther Leah Lasker, instilled in us a to be sandek. The Frierdiker Rebbe The Rebbe said, “So make a very positive attitude for doing mitz- answered simply, “A sandek must mechitzah of flowers.” I said it was vos, and a deep awe and respect for hold the baby firmly!” We were also probably very expensive. The Rebbe rabbonim. When I got married, my honored to receive the only pidyon said he would pay for the flower grandmother would never call my haben letter that the Rebbe ever sent. mechitzah at my sister’s chassunah. husband by his name – she always I spoke to my sister and boruch called him “Rabbi Hecht.” Despite PeRSONAL SHLICHUS Hashem she listened and agreed to the fact that he was her grandson- There were two personal Shlichus’n have a mechitzah. My parents paid in-law and many years her junior, that the Rebbe gave directly to me. for the flowers, and the Rebbe was her respect for rabbonim would not There was a woman from our con- very happy to hear that his request allow her to address him casually. gregation who went to the Rebbe to had been fulfilled. When I was fourteen years old, ask for a brachah for her daughter, I attended the Talmud Torah High who was not well. The Rebbe told her HORO’OS FOR CAMP EMUNAH School in the afternoon after pub- she should start going to the mikvah. When the Rebbe introduced mivtza lic school. At that time, a choshuve The Rebbe then asked me to teach neshek, in the 70’s, we were not sure yungerman from my family’s shul her the laws of taharas hamish- how to handle the issue in camp, suggested that I change schools pachah, and to find one more woman because at the time we had many to attend Bais Yaakov. My parents and convince her, too, to go to the frum campers from non-Lubavitcher respected his opinion and decided mikvah. I had no idea how to find homes. (There were not very many to send me to Bais Yaakov. There the second woman that the Rebbe options for camp in those years.) We I was introduced to a totally new had in mind. I started teaching the did not want to encroach on anyone’s way of life. Each of the teachers woman and we made plans for her to family minhagim. We wrote a let- taught from the depths of her soul, go to the mikvah for the first time. ter to the Rebbe asking him how to especially the principal, Rebbetzin She told me that her sister-in-law, approach it. The Rebbe said that we Vichna Kaplan, a”h. who used to go to the mikvah but should introduce the mitzvah in a In the 1940’s, when I attended had stopped, would accompany her. very nice, gentle manner. All the girls Bais Yaakov, life in the Jewish com- I realized that the sister-in-law must should be given the opportunity to munity was very different than it be the other woman that the Rebbe light but nobody should be pressured. is now. In my frum Jewish neigh- was referring to. Boruch Hashem, One year there was a Stoliner borhood, I could count on one hand I was able to convince her, too, to chossid who started a boys’ camp in how many women had a sheitel, and return to a full commitment to the the area. There were no other girls’ how many men had a beard. We had laws of taharas hamishpachah. Both camps nearby, so he enrolled his never heard of cholov Yisroel or glatt women started to go to the mikvah daughters in Camp Emunah. The kosher. When the Frierdiker Rebbe and continued thereafter. first Erev Shabbos in camp, the girls came to America, his influence on My second Shlichus came about saw everyone else lighting Shabbos the Jewish community was seen and through a yechidus we had with the candles and they were not sure what felt immediately. Rebbe in 1955, in honor of our son’s to do. They called their father, and upsherenish, which took place on he said that if it was minhag hamo- ReLATIONSHIP Lag B’omer. The Rebbe told me, “I kom that girls light Shabbos candles, WITH THE ReBBE understand that your sister is get- they should do so as well. The Rebbe was not only our Rebbe, ting married in the next few weeks. We once sent the Rebbe a bro- he was our personal mashpia. We Please talk to her about having a chure for Camp Emunah, which always consulted with the Rebbe mechitzah at her chassunah.” included the camp’s full daily sched- regarding every facet of our lives. I told the Rebbe I would speak to ule. The Rebbe asked us why we had To give you an understanding my sister about having a mechit- a learning session in the morning of how close the Rebbe was to us, zah at her chassunah, but it would but not in the afternoon. Because we were honored that the Rebbe not be easy to convince her because of this we added a small learning agreed to be sandek for our firstborn I had not had a mechitzah at my session called “Din a Day” before son, Sholom Dov Ber, in 1946. That own wedding, ten years earlier. In Minchah. We reported this to the was the first time the Rebbe ever 1955, it was still a very new concept Rebbe and he was very happy. served as a sandek at a bris. Hav- in this country to have a mechitzah There was a time when it was ing never been a sandek before, the at a wedding. I told the Rebbe that difficult for us to get enough 24 n’shei Chabad NEWSLETTER | nsheichabadnewsletter.com FOUNDING CAMP EMUNAH In the summer of 1952, my husband and I were in the country, staying near Camp Agudah. We decided to visit the camp Shabbos afternoon. The camp spirit during shalosh seudos was so inspiring that after Shabbos we resolved to ask the Rebbe if we could open a Lubavitcher camp. We put in a tzetel several times, each time asking for haskamah to start a camp, until the Rebbe was finally maskim. When we had organized all the basic requirements to start the camp, we sent in a tzetel with two requests: to acquire a suit- able property, and to name it Camp Emunah. Boruch Hashem, the Rebbe gave his blessing to both these proposals. We decided to open a girls’ camp because we thought girls would be easier to manage than boys. (We would later learn, however, that running a girls’ camp is actually more difficult in almost every way.) In the summer of 1953, with the Rebbe’s brachah and haskamah, we started the first ever Lubavitcher over- night camp. On 15 Tammuz 5720 (July 10, 1960), the Rebbe visited Camp Gan Yisroel and Camp Emunah (see photos, this page) Photos: LubavitchArchives.com. april 2013 25 1950’s 1970’s In the early years, most of our campers were In 1971 we started Tiny Tots, for children from K-3, as one of kids from the Release Time program, who the 70 new mosdos that the Rebbe asked for in honor of his 70th learned in public schools during the day but birthday. One mother told me that she was happy her daughters were taken out for religious instruction. We were accepted into Tiny Tots. They were so poor that at home would try to get the kids from Released Time the girls had to share beds.