The Providential Story Behind Banff’s Mobile Kosher Kitchen – Anash.org

In a strange place of care, a shliach saves a life with a kidney donation and a boy’s memory raises kosher in the Canadian Rockies.

By Uziel Scheiner – Chabad.org

A kosher kitchen has arrived in the Canadian town of Banff, Alberta. This $200,000 project brings the first high-quality kosher kitchen to one of North America’s largest cities and tourist destinations. And the whole thing is on wheels.

After twenty years of serving the Jewish community of Edmonton, Alberta, Rabbi David Pinsonhis wife Devorah and their five children moved to the Banff area this fall to open Chabad-Lubavitch of the Canadian Rockies. Banff is defined by its towering snow-capped mountains on a beautiful landscape that, with its beautiful slopes, mountains and parks, crystal rivers and hot springs, make the destination of choice for about 5 million tourists every year.

From the beginning, the Pinsons made making kosher food readily available for residents and visitors to the pristine area one of their top priorities. The answer came in the form of Chabad’s new kosher kitchen, a story of God’s service and the power of what is possible when willing and honest people join efforts for a good cause.

Prayer, Promise and Perfect Comparison

When Howard Moster he arrived in 2017 at Ohel, the resting place of the Rebbe-Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory-from Queens, NY, he came with a heavy heart and weak kidneys. Edmonton Tree, a former police detective in Cincinnati, Ohio, had been able to cope with his medical condition for years.

Indeed, his years in law enforcement and running his own private security firm were defined by physical strength. Besides cooking meat at large cooking events, Moster’s main occupation was construction; he used to renovate people’s houses and built his own house in Maine from scratch.

But the truth is that Moster had been battling polycystic kidney disease for years, a genetic disease that interferes with kidney function and can lead to failure. Eventually, Moster put himself on the transplant list, and began the long and difficult wait for a cadaver kidney.

Rabbi Dovid Pinson, then the youth director of Chabad of Edmonton, accompanied Moster to the Ohel. Standing at the Rebbe’s grave, Moster made a promise to himself: If Gd helped him get a kidney, he would dedicate himself to the great cause of his Jewish community.

Back in Edmonton, Moster continued to wait. However, Pinson got to work. Another way to avoid the transplant list is by receiving a gift from a living donor.

Using his extensive contacts and the network that comes with being a rabbi in a large Jewish community, Pinson began to find a matching kidney donor. Without even knowing who the rabbi was looking for, several people in the community came forward and quietly decided whether they were suitable donors or not.

Each had a different theme. Some were very old, some had an unacceptable pre-existing condition, still had incompatible blood types and anti-diconsonants.

That’s when Rabbi Mendy Blachman, one of Pinson’s colleagues at Chabad of Edmonton, decided to throw his name into the mix. He, too, did not know who the Pinson he intended to host was. It was only after he agreed to undergo compliance tests that Pinson filled him in.

Blachman went to the audition. The results were surprising and conclusive: She looked almost exactly the same—so much so that Moster’s doctor asked her, “Are you sure you’re not related? Because in order to be a close friend you will have to be brothers.”

‘Thank You for Giving Me a Chance’

The main concern of the rabbis was to keep Blachman’s identity as Moster’s donor completely secret. They knew that Moster knowing that his client was someone close to him—one of his rabbis—might have worried him. She had already rejected an offer from a young woman who looked like her because she was of childbearing age, and pregnancy with one kidney can cause problems. Blachman was a full-time rabbi with community responsibilities and a young father of five children under the age of 9.

“There was a lot of concern about what accepting a rabbi’s kidney would mean,” said Moster. But without knowing who his donor was, relieved and grateful, he began to prepare for the installation.

So, Moster and Blachman began a multi-step process for kidney transplantation. This painful event involves many tests and examinations before the actual procedure, which requires both men to visit the hospital regularly to prepare for the procedure. Since confidentiality was a top priority, a careful schedule was used to ensure that Moster and Blachman did not bump into each other during their many hospital visits.

At one point, a scheduling error threatened to derail the entire process. Moster went in for a routine check-up, and Blachman was scheduled to go the same day shortly after with enough time for the two of them not to meet. But delays caught Moster’s appointment, and when he finally left the examination room he bumped into a rabbi who was sleeping with a Jewish man in the waiting room.

Immediately, Moster knew. As his rabbi—and the kidney donor—stood before him, a wave of emotion overcame him. A few weeks later, Howard Moster and Rabbi Mendy Blachman were wheeled into the operating room for a transplant. Hours later, the operation was over, and days later, Rabbi Blachman, visited Moster to heal him in his hospital room. The men asked, and Blachman took out a tefillin that he helped Moster put on. Before leaving, Moster again thanked Blachman for saving his life. Blachman turned to Moster and said, “Thank you for giving me the opportunity to do such a great mitzvah!”

A New Kitchen Takes Shape

After the transfer, Moster and Pinson began to think of ways in which Moster could fulfill his desire to give back to the community in gratitude to G‑d. The fact that he found the necessary organ immediately after his visit to Ohel and of all the people of the world, his identical donor was one of his rabbis Chabad, shining as a clear sign from G‑d. “It was clear that the Rebbe played a big role in me getting a kidney,” said Moster.

When they thought about the needs of Alberta’s Jewish community, they soon had an idea. The community of Alberta as a whole had a lack of kosher options, and with many tourists visiting the area, a sustainable kosher place was in great demand.

“The idea was born for a mobile kosher kitchen,” Pinson said. “We envisioned a state-of-the-art kosher kitchen that could be pulled into any event, resort or venue and would provide a complete experience for all present.”

With Moster’s knowledge of construction, his background in government that would allow him to help manage funds and grants, and his passion for cooking large parties and bringing great food to large groups of people, the project , like his new kidney, was a perfect match.

The biggest obstacle to establishing a mobile kosher kitchen was funding. With an estimated project cost of $200,000, finding enough money to support the project was Pinson’s concern. Getting the initial seed money to get the project off the ground was the first thing.

It came in the form of one family who, after their tragedy, wanted to dedicate something important to the community in memory of their loved one.

Daniel Weig he was an active boy in the city of Edmonton. His parents, Judah and Administration, raised three children in Edmonton. Daniel was the eldest. In addition to being a studious child who excelled in school, Daniel volunteered to work at summer camps as a custodian and guide, teaching children outdoor skills and first aid.

On his 19th birthday, Daniel tragically committed suicide. His family struggled to come to terms with his death and, after an unimaginable tragedy, tried to find a constructive way to remember Daniel’s life.

They approached Rabbi Pinson for ideas. Among other ideas, Pinson talked about a mobile kosher kitchen. The Weigs were amazed. Aside from the original premise of the project, the idea spoke to them because of how it fit with Daniel’s life.

The many summers Daniel volunteered at a Jewish summer camp in Edmonton led to attention. Yehudah Weig said: “Every summer these kids came back thinner than they left. “There aren’t a lot of kosher options in Alberta. Bringing in a kosher kitchen that can be used to meet the needs of the community would be a great addition. ”

The Weigs donated to the cause, including money from selling Daniel’s car, and held a fundraiser. Soon they were able to raise the initial funds to start a mobile kosher kitchen.

‘Everyone Helps in Their Own Way’

Almost six years later – after raising money, getting grants, losing grants, taking out loans, raising more money, putting in heavy industrial equipment, and a global pandemic – Banff’s mobile kosher kitchen is ready.

The 36-foot unit has a barbecue and grill area; two six-burner gas ovens; charbroiler, griddle, full-standing refrigerator and freezer; 50 kg deep fryers; and soon, the Traeger smoker. It also has full service tables and drainage boards; two large sinks; shelves; hot and fresh water tank; above 200 kg propane; and a 10,500-watt generator, which means the kitchen “can be rolled out in the middle of the desert and feed 200 people,” says Rabbi Pinson.

Moster sees the kitchen as not only a place of good for the Jewish community, but a vehicle for spiritual growth and good for the entire Canadian Rockies.

“Everybody helps in their own way,” Moster said. “Rabbis have their job to help people do mitzvahs and I help in my way. They said, ‘feed them, and they will come.’ This kitchen will allow us to create great events for the community, which will increase participation from people who may not otherwise have done so. ”

For Pinson, Moster, the Weig family and the entire Banff Banff community, the new mobile kitchen represents more than just kosher food. It is a new solution to meet the needs of the restless Jewish community, and hopefully, it will be a tool to raise the spiritual level of the entire province.