SPECIAL: Indigenous Peoples Month Series, Part 2

Chief Midegah Mide Ogichidaa Winini is a Hereditary Chief of the Adik Songab Doodem (clan) of the Ojibway of the Anishinaabeg people. Midegah is also a direct lineal descendant of Chief Miscomukquoh, Sub Chief Joseph Montriel, and Red Lake Principle Chief Old Chief Medweganoonind, all signers of the 1863 and 1864 Old Crossing Treaties. All 3 of Chief Red Bears sisters are Chief Midegah's grandmothers (Techomegood Margaret Bottineau wife of Charles Bottineau; Utinawasis Margaret Grant wife of Cuthbert Grant; and Machequayaince Margaret Bottineau wife of Chief Pewanakum a signatory on the 1789 Treaty at Fort Harmar). Utinawasis in Cree means Sky Child; Techomegood in Assiniboine means Clear Sky Woman; Machequayaince in Chippewa means Clear Sky Woman. Chief Midegah is also a lineal descendant of Metis Chiefs Joseph Perronteau, Jean Baptiste Paul Charette, and Francois Desjarlais "Chief Peaysis"; additionally through his mother, Chief Midegah is one of 100,000 lineal descendants of famed Indian Pocahontas or Amonute Matoaka. Midegah's family maintains the grave location of Chief Little Shell I who died in 1813. Midegah also descends from Chief Tabashaw the oldest son of Chief Little Shell I. Rabbi Yosef Silverman was raised in a loving and healthy family with a very strong Jewish identity and love of Israel and Conservative upbringing. At the age of 20, he met a Chabad rabbi on campus who introduced him to Orthodox Judaism and the Chabad Lubavitch movement headed by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi M.M. Schneerson. After visiting the Rebbe during an “Encounter with Chabad” weekend in Crown Heights in December 1980 during winter break from university, he returned back to school and began exploring a part of Judaism that he never knew existed. During his senior year a rabbi began teaching the book which is the basis for the Chabad philosophy, the Tanya. It deeply resonated within him and after several months of weekly study sessions, he was interested in learning more intensively in a Yeshiva environment at the Rabbinical College of America, Yeshiva Tiferes Bachurim, to pursue serious study. What began as a summer study program turned into three intensive years of study with amazing teachers and frequent visits to Crown Heights, NY to learn with the Lubavitcher Rebbe at the large public gatherings known as “Farbrengens”. The result was that he was now Orthodox or more specifically Chassidic in his Judaism. After three years, he married and moved to Kfar Chabad, Israel for another 2-year period until he received rabbinical ordination. He and his family moved back to the USA and he began working in sales and then eventually joined his family's manufacturing business in Pittsburgh, PA. Unlike many rabbis who became full-time emissaries of the Rebbe, he was advised by the Rebbe to be in business and continue to be an emissary to teach and be involved in community programs at the same time. For the past 31 years Rabbi Silverman has been very involved in Campus outreach, as well as volunteering as a chaplain at the local jail, involvement with the community and school and regularly teaching classes and learning one on one while continuing to study the Torah. Websites:  The Seven Grandfather Teachings – How to Live a Good Life: www.Pembinachippewa.org The 7 Commandments in G-d’s Moral Code for Mankind:  www.AskNoah.org Article: Exploring the connections between Jews and Native Americans