HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) — New York rabbinical students Avraham Levin and Schneur Yecheilov entered the Roxbury Correctional Institution with religious literature and ritual-prayer materials, but with no apprehension.
The bearded, yarmulke-wearing men, both 20, said they have found little to fear and much to ponder while bringing hope, comfort and the promise of kosher food to incarcerated Jews in Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey this summer.
“I wouldn’t say I have anxiety while I’m in there,” Mr. Levin said while visiting the minimum-security state prison near Hagerstown recently. “I would say I’m more worried in Brooklyn at 2 a.m. when no one else is on the street.”
Mr. Levin and Mr. Yecheilov, of the Talmudical Seminary Oholei Torah, in Brooklyn, are part of the Aleph Institute’s nationwide prison outreach program that will visit 5,000 Jewish inmates in 450 prisons in 45 states over six weeks this summer.
The group, based in Miami and founded in 1991, provides social services to families in crisis, works with the Defense Department on religious issues in the military and tries to address the religious needs of the incarcerated.
The group often advocates for the availability of kosher food, helps prisoners prepare for Passover and contacts prison officials on behalf of inmates wishing to light candles as part of religious celebrations.
“The first thing we want to ask is how they are doing and find out what they are lacking in terms of their Judaic practice, and what we can do to help fill those needs,” said Leah Sherman, a spokeswoman for the group, which maintains a database of Jewish prisoners in the U.S.
“If someone cannot set a Seder plate, for instance, the prison may provide an egg and lettuce, but not a shank bone,” she said. “We will cook it and send the shank bone, vacuum-sealed, to them.”
The bone represents the lamb that was sacrificed on the eve of Passover.
Religious education is central to the mission of such volunteer-rabbinical students as Mr. Levin and Mr. Yecheilov, who began their voluntary tour in June in New Jersey. Staying in motels and living modestly, they carried their message into Delaware, then Maryland, arriving in early July.
The state had about 255 Jewish inmates as of November, said Rabbi Harold Axelrod, the only full-time Jewish chaplain in the Maryland correctional system.
Mr. Levin and Mr. Yecheilov said they take copious notes of the inmates’ status and list their requests. They exchange mailing addresses and ask whether the prisoners have experienced anti-Semitism while incarcerated.
“For the most part, they say no,” Mr. Levin said.
In each Maryland prison, Mr. Levin and Mr. Yecheilov said they have generally met with about a half-dozen men. Mr. Yecheilov said some inmates have become observant for the first time while incarcerated.
“It varies in intensity,” he said. “But many are beginning to pray and are learning the Torah.”
Mr. Levin said the visits are sometimes dramatic.
“I had someone look me in the eye and ask me how old I was,” he recounted. “I told him I was 20. He looked at me and said, ’I’ve been locked up longer than you’ve been alive.’ Then he listened to what I had to say.”
The students said they encourage inmates to learn and seek understanding about righting their wrongs. They let inmates know they are not alone and that someone cares about them.
“Everybody has a second chance,” Mr. Levin said. “As long as they are willing to look at their past, offer repentance to God, He will forgive them.”
Please read our comment policy before commenting.