Commuting for Shabbos

It’s Friday in Berthoud, Colo., and the nearest synagogue is miles away. Shabbat arrives in a few hours. Even for the fittest of the fit, snowdrifts and bitter cold negate walking to shul. Now what? For Michael and Joyce Jennings, originally from Nebraska, the solution is a kashered, 34-foot long vehicle dubbed the Shabbat Mobile. The Jennings, whose “average age is 61,” have lived in this rural, cactus-dotted setting west of Berthoud for 20 years. In addition to owning their own home on six acres of forested land, Mike operates a specialized machine shop out of the garage. Rabbi Yaakov Borenstein of the Chabad Jewish Center of Longmont, which the Jennings have attended for years, intensified their gravitational pull toward Orthodox Judaism. Prior to their […]