Category — Thoughts to ponder

My grandfather Rabbi Aaron Chazan was a giant of a man. He passed away Tuesday morning in Bnei Brak Israel at the ripe age of 96.

Hey, there are tons of things I would like to say about him. But why should I subjective and say my personal feelings about him.

Let his enemies do the work instead. 

In April of 1960, the newspaper Pravda, one of the most read newspapers in Russia, printed this letter to editor.

“The Public Is Called to Arms!” was the title of the letter.

“Dear Editor,

We are asking you to publicize this letter to stir up the public against parents who are sabotaging their children’s Communist heritage with their religious drivel.

These parents educate their children to feel they are holier than everyone else and they don’t respect our principles of honest work and communal living. The religious rituals practiced by the family not only harm the children but also disturb the routine of school.

These are the facts concerning the education that the four Chazan children of our school are subjected to in their home. These children also observe these religious rituals and do not attend on Saturday.

As a result, their achievement is impaired, and the study and discipline of the entire class is disturbed.

On Saturdays students work to thoroughly clean the building of the school. Chazan’s children have no part in this. As a result, they are developing egoistical character traits. Their subversive education has struck deep roots in their conscience; these children do not attribute their absence from school to their parents’ orders, but they themselves declare, “We are strictly religious and cannot transgress out religious law.”

M. Michailova V. Sharimov

Teachers in Public School No 1. in Bolshevo

I couldn’t have described him any better….

Oh and by the way, don’t think that when he arrived in Israel he took a well deserved vacation. On the contrary, he was the first to go make public Passover Seders all around Israel. He was putting of Teffilin to people on the street way before it was popular. Opened many Cheders for children all over Israel. And all that was without a basic knowledge of Hebrew…

And the list goes on…. And will continue to go on, through his hundreds of descendants spread all over the world, from Alaska to China, from Argentina to Germany… and all over the USA and Israel. Yes, he lives on.

Oh, how he lives on.

Goodbye Zaidy. May we meet very soon with the coming of Moshiach. I’m sure you are not stopping your activism up there; you just don’t know how to rest. You never did.

Goodbye. And thank you.

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Friday afternoon July 18th Wal-Mart Honesdale PA. 

As the only Wal-Mart in a thirty mile radius, it attracts many shoppers who come looking for unbeatable prices and a great variety of goods. Each person minds his/her own business, locked up in their own world of bargains and maxed out credit cards.

The boys of a local Yeshivah are here to shop for cheap soda and water. But they have another mission as well: to reach out to another Jew and do a Mitzva with him.

The number of Jews in the area is relatively small, so the challenge to “grab” a Jew is quite a challenge. After a long time, the work paid off. A Jew was found! Well he’s almost sure he’s Jewish. His maternal grandmother had a real Jewish name something like Horowitz, and he remembers how his grandma would make cinnamon luckshin kugel every so often… a sure sign!

No time to lose. Did he ever put on Tefillin? No! Wow a Karkafta (a newbee), it’s pretty rare you meet an unwrapped Jew, and the feeling is quite satisfying. In a second he was totally wrapped with the Jewish antennas, and was praying tearfully to G-d.

A warm handshake and “Shabbat shalom” and it was over. Just another typical Friday afternoon occurrence for a Chabad student.

Shabbat afternoon July 19th Lackawaxen PA, (25 miles away from Wal-Mart).

After serving the Shabbos meal, the Yeshiva’s waiter Dovid decided he needed a break. How about a shabbos walk he told himself, so off he went to the river down in the mountains. The weather was great, the view was breathtaking, and immediately his mood was uplifted.

Upon reaching the river, he sees a car parked on the side, by the river stood a couple fishing. “Hey!” he called out to them. “Good afternoon to you”, they smiled.

“Oh by the way, said the man, are you the boys I did a Mitzva with yesterday in Wal-Mart?”

David who had heard about the “Karkafta”, responded that although he wasn’t the one who did the Mitzva with him; he was from the same group of boys just down the road. And no, although they both have beards, they are not brothers, and not even related!

“Wow! What a coincidence, said the man who by now had introduced himself as Bob, I live thirty miles away, who would ever imagine we would meet again?”

Dovid smiled, “This is not a coincidence; this is divine providence.”

A conversation ensued, with Dovid enlightening Bob on Judaism, and Bob ‘enlightening’ Dovid on fishing…

After an hour or so of conversation they started saying their goodbyes. Dovid reminded Bob to strengthen his Jewish observance; Bob wasn’t sure, “I didn’t grow up like this…”

Dovid smiled as he slowly walked away, “It’s never too late…”

Bob shrugged as he began lowering himself into the water for a dip. He first put his hand into the water, his hand felt something, he grabbed it and pulled it out of the water for all to see…

It was a kippa (skull-cap) … a soaking wet black kippa. Without a moment hesitation he put it on his head.

The water dripped down his face but he didn’t seem to mind, he was in a trance. His wife and Dovid just stood there awestricken by the unbelievable event that has just transpired before their eyes.

After a long moment of silence, Bob smiled “This is the second sign from heaven, two days in a row, telling me to finally come home.”

Having just been taught some of the laws of Shabbos by Dovid, he knew that fishing was not permitted. “G-d had just told me to keep Shabbat”, he smiled as he walked out of the water. His wife just nodded her head in agreement.

Later that day in Yeshiva Dovid told his story, a story of a lone Jew in the hills of Pennsylvania and his great father in heaven.

This story is not over, if fact it has barely begun…

As a staff member in a summer Yeshiva in Pennsylvania, I accompanied the boys on a bike trip yesterday afternoon (Thursday). It was to be a peaceful 25 mile drive with scenic views of rock formations and waterfalls. Weather.com “promised” a sunny 92 degrees day. All seemed perfect.

At the starting point we split into a few groups, the fast-finish-first, the intermediates and the slow-take-it-easy drivers. Each group was accompanied by a staff member. I was with the last group.

We were a small group of three plus a guide, and we were taking our time taking in the scenery and enjoying ourselves. After driving for a while we checked the map to find our present location, and we were pleasantly surprised to know that we had already covered over fifteen miles. Eight miles remained.

Eight miles I will never forget for the rest of my life.

Out of nowhere – Boom! The skies opened up in a downpour and hailstorm I have yet to experience. The lightening, the thunder was unlike anything you can imagine. Later the guide would tell us that he cannot remember such a storm in his 31 years as a guide on this trail. (The other boys ahead had already made it to the destination and were waiting for us impatiently on the bus.)

Due to the forecast of sunny weather, I had smeared on my face a large amount of sun screen. Now thanks to the rain it was blinding me. I had to close my eyes for three seconds then wipe my eyes, open one eye for a split second to check if I was still on the trail! I drove like this for over twenty minutes! (driving off the trail more than once) Until all the sun screen was totally washed off my face.

At one point we almost flipped over a fallen tree right in middle of the path. We later confirmed that it was not there just a few minutes earlier…

We were scared. Terrified.

With hail slapping across our faces and hands, and powerful winds throwing us to all sides, all we could think of was:

“We must go on! No stopping! We much reach the destination! No time for complaining! No one can come and save you here, you must do it alone! Yes, it’s painful and scary, but if you don’t go forward it will only make things much worse.

One step at a time, one foot at a time. Look ahead and go ahead. Go! Go! Go!”

The three of us learned the greatest of life’s lessons in that hour stretch…

p.s. just a few minutes after loading the bus to come home, the clouds parted and the sun came out… as if it all happened for us to learn these lessons…

The time has come to open the archives (blog) and find some of the timeless messages and lessons from our sages. I’ve chosen 16 of them to share with you.

1. I have learned… to appreciate and cherish different views than my own, and even thank G-d for it. For how boring would it be if we all thought, looked and spoke the same!

2. I have learned… that in everyone lies unlimited positive potential, and our job as parents, educators and friends is to dig and dig. Sometimes it can take years and years, to discover the gold that was always there.

3. I have learned… that our failures are a preparation for the growth that follows, i.e. Failure is a non-existing word; it’s but part one of the climb!

4. I have learned… that it’s never too late to change! All that is needed is a paradigm shift from “I can’t!” to “I can!”.

5. I have learned… that G-d is no more in the Himalayas than He is in the Dead Sea. Like the Kotzker Rebbe said: G-d is wherever you let Him in.

6. I have learned… that our soul is a candle and our teachers are the matches, but only we can ignite the flame.

7. I have learned… that when I come to Heaven, they won’t ask me why I wasn’t as righteous as Moses. Abraham or David; they will ask why I wasn’t myself…

8. I have learned… that leadership is not a birthright given to a select few. Each and every one of us is a leader and we must search for circumstances to practice it.

9. I have learned… that we are all role models either for good or the opposite; there is no running away from it.

10. I have learned… that ego equals low self esteem. Whereas humility leads to a healthy self esteem. Ego is about me. Self esteem is about my purpose.

11. I have learned… that when I miss a flight, there is no need for the plane to crash to convince me that it was Divine providence!

12. I have learned… that when talking to family or friend it’s not about what is spoken, but the love and warmth that is shared.

13. I have learned… that just as when one begins his journey one must know his destination, so too in life, we must have a clear vision and defined mission as we turn on our ignition.

14. I have learned… that to love the other I must first love myself. He who gossips proves his own self hate.

15. I have learned… that we must never cease learning…

***

16. I have learned… to always smile…

“I’m nervous,” the patient tells the doctor. “It’s my first surgery!”
“Don’t worry,” the doctor replies. “It’s my first one as well!”

Chaim came back from a long trip to Minsk. “Minsk is a crazy city!” he told his friends.

“Why?” they asked.

“Well, in Minsk I found a socialist, a communist, a Zionist, a Bundist, a leftist, a rightist, a devout religious, a secular, a closed minded in the box and a free thinker!”

His friends didn’t understand: “But isn’t that a normal community, where you have different people with different ideas?!”

“Ah, said Chaim, you don’t understand;

“This was all the same person!”

***

We are a nation who argues. A lot.

From ancient history when Abraham and Moses argued with the divine, to the present where the bricks and cement of synagogues and Jewish social halls vibrate from the sound of verbal battle on the widest spectrum of subjects, from how-cold-is-it-really-outside-including-the-windshield, to the ‘only’ solution to global hunger.

Life as we know it. I say yes you say no.

But then we hear the peace loving nudniks who cry for peace; “Why must we argue?” “We are all sons from the same Father!” “All problems arise from disagreement!” and a whole lot of peace babble. ‘If we would all agree to agree’, life would be so simple and harmonious. Blah blah.

Now could anyone please tell me where this notion that we must think alike originate from?

I’ll tell you who came up with the idea of mouth shutting due to “it’s gonna cause a fight!”? The tyrants, the dictators, the communists! This is not and never was a Jewish concept.

Our history is full of rabbis and teachers debating arguing and defending their ideas and thoughts. The Talmud is but a microcosm of hundreds of years of debates on a myriad of topics. It is but part of our psyche.

All the way back when it all began, the Jews had come to Sinai for the giving of the Torah, as they prepared for this momentous occasion, Rashi says they camped “as one person and one heart”. Peace.

Notice how he says “One heart!” No mention of ‘one brain’, because we are not supposed to share brains!

Imagine what the world would be like if we all looked the same, thought the same, and agreed on everything, following the leaders like a bunch of zombies. One man says something and we all nod.

I guess it would look like Israeli politics.