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Siberian Thugs? Shabbat Shalom From Bangkok!
Friday, 5 November, 2021 - 3:14 am
By the Grace of G-d
Dear Friends,
I spent the last weekend in New York in the company of scores of bearded, black-hatted, motivated and highly accomplished ‘Shluchim’.
What are Shluchim? They are a team. Husband and wife. Shliach and shlucha. They are the emissaries of the Rebbe, the representatives of Lubavitch, the messengers of Chabad.
They are the shluchim.
During the Shluchim conference that I was privileged to attend over the weekend, I heard many inspiring stories. One of the best is how one rabbi explained that ‘it was the thugs that convinced me to join them in Siberia’. Watch the clip and I think you too will be inspired.
One of the takeaways of the conference was the power of reframing challenge as being an accelerator rather than a damper. Disruption is something no one asks for. However, what we do with it, how we react to it, can make the difference between depression or leaping to higher peaks.
The world has been through a major upheaval (which we hope will be behind us sooner than the way it seems). We need to try not to get pulled down by all of this, but rather to utilize that for doing things we didn’t think possible before.
The atmosphere as the rabbi’s shared experiences, challenges, motivational stories and miracles was absolutely uplifting and transformational.
We all left with renewed vigor and optimism. With a ‘can do’ attitude, to add more and more acts of goodness and kindness. To launch more programs and broaden the reach to touch every Jew with light and positivity anywhere they may be in the world.
The climax was the joint prayers we made at the Rebbe’s resting place. Each rabbi prayed for his own locale and community. Together, collectively we prayed for the Jewish community the world over, and in a broader sense, for all of the inhabitants of our planet.
The common thread running through everything we discussed, was how to implement the mission that the Rebbe entrusted to us at the last address that the Rebbe gave to the Shluchim in 1991. The Rebbe stated with passion and clarity, that we were embarking on the final stretch of the mission, the culmination of thousands of years of the Jewish journey, BRINGING MASHIACH NOW.
Once the conference was over, I began my work of meeting up with benefactors and supporters of our work. To say thanks for the past and to enlist their partnership and support for the future.
This is what brought me to the streets of Manhattan. There, on the mundane streets of the ‘Big Apple’ an inspiring story happened to me. I share it here with you, as it shows the detailed Divine Providence of Hashem down here on earth. It gives us a chance to see the presence of G-d in the smallest details of our lives.
It was a nice brisk day. Perfect for walking in the streets of Manhattan. When my appointment on 39th street and 6th Ave told me that I was welcome to visit him if I came in the next thirty minutes, I started to walk energetically. I needed to get to my appointment from my previous meeting on 60th St and Madison.
Google maps says its 26 minutes walk. This meant I needed to walk as quickly as possible.
At one street, I made it to the other side just before the light turned. A young man walking next to me exclaimed ‘great, we made the light’. I continued walking, he continued walking. I was in a rush. He seemed to be in a rush too. After a few more blocks of both of us keeping approximately the same pace he commented ‘you have a good pace’. I said thanks. A few blocks later he said, ‘with all of its problems, New York is still a great city’. I agreed with him and told him I had been born in NY. He told me his grandparents came from Russia. I asked him if he was Jewish. He said his mother was. I told him that means that he too is Jewish.
We got to 39th St. and 5th Ave. I turned down 39th. My walking mate said, ‘I also need to turn here’.
Walking down 39th St I asked him, ‘Did you have a Bar Mitzvah’?
‘No’, he said.
I knew that my friends who I was going to visit on 39th St would be very happy if I brought my new friend up to put on Tefilin in their office.
I invited Denis to come up with me to the office. Alan and Steve were overjoyed to hear why I had someone else accompanying me. They exuberantly congratulated Denis as we put on Tefilin together for the very first time in his life.
We said a Lechayim and thus celebrated the Jewish initiation of a soul that had been thirsting (albeit without consciously knowing it) for reuniting with his Jewish roots and performing Mitzvahs.
It doesn’t happen often that people initiate conversation with me in the streets of New York.
Denis told me that he was motivated to speak to me for two reasons.
First of all, he was impressed with my walking pace.
Secondly, he is supervising a construction project at Sloan Ketering Hospital. He said that the people being treated there who look like me are always very nice to him. They greet him warmly and he has a good feeling around them.
This came on the heels of another Tefilin story.
A few days ago, my brother-in-law from Long Island told me the following.
He said that he conducted a funeral for a community member and when they got back to the shiva house, he helped the men lay Tefilin.
One of the relatives commented as he was putting on the Tefilin that the only other time he had put on Tefilin was twenty years ago in Thailand.
He had been traveling. Lost his wallet and was stuck. He had called Chabad and met a rabbi who brought him into his house, gave him a bowl of soup and laid Tefilin with him. After he put on the Tefilin everything seemed better and started to work out. It felt so right to have the Tefilin on.
My brother-in-law pulled out his phone and found a picture of me and asked is this the rabbi you met? The relative said YES, that’s the guy…..
A small world…
I share these stories precisely because they are not miraculous or other worldly. They are reminders that Hashem embeds opportunities along our paths to do Mitzvot and good deeds.
One of the good deeds we can do is to give someone a bowl of physical soup. Another even more critical need we can provide, is spiritual sustenance for the soul. To introduce others to the wonderful world of doing Mitzvahs’.
If you saw something starving and shivering, would you give them a warm bowl of soup?
When you see someone pining and yearning for direction and spiritual motivation, shouldn’t you at least endeavor to provide them with spiritual nourishment and inspiration?
No, don’t be pompous and sanctimonious and approach the other person with a ‘holier than thou’ attitude. That is counterproductive. It pushes people away G-d forbid.
Be genuinely caring for someone else. Empathize, when you see someone who is stuck in the rut of the mindless and endless pursuit of wealth amassment. See if you can introduce them to something of higher value. To something eternal. Bring him close to the Almighty, to His Torah and Mitzvahs.
Above all, try to add LIGHT, POSITIVITY and JOY to yourself and all of those around you.
This is a mission that is possible for each and every one of us to do.
Chodesh Tov!!! Today is the first day of the month of Kislev. A month of miracles and light. A month of victory and thanksgiving!!!
May we merit to experience the greatest victory and blessing of all. The coming of Mashiach speedily!!!!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Yosef Kantor
PS Please G-d I plan to be back in Bangkok before the end of next week. Indeed Thailand opened its borders on November 1, but it is not all that straightforward to get the ‘Thailand Pass’ as there is still a ‘learning curve’ it seems for those administering the system. I am reachable as usual via email or WhatsApp.
PPS I will be visiting the Rebbe’s Ohel resting place before heading back home so if there is a prayer you would like me to make at that special prayer location, please let me know.