By the Grace of G-d
Dear Friend,
Last week, two days after our daughter’s wedding in New York, the continuation of the seven days of celebrations ( Sheva Brachot ) moved over to the west coast of the USA.
I made a day trip from LA to the S.F. Bay area to visit with some people who used to work/visit Thailand but are currently battling health challenges. The Torah teaches us that Bikur Cholim visiting the ill is a mitzvah.
Our Sages tell us that ‘one mitzvah brings another mitzvah. I saw it unfold before my eyes. I was on the way to fulfil the mitzvah of visiting the sick and by Divine Providence, from the moment I boarded the plane in LAX I was led to other inspiring mitzvahs.
The young man in the seat next to me on the plane guessed that I was Jewish and told me that he too was Jewish. He had just come back from a training session for a Jewish summer program he was chaperoning. We had a wonderful discussion about Jewish learning and observance. In particular he was interested in exploring the synergy between Torah and advanced scientific studies. He was happy to respond positively to my offer to put on Tefillin right there on the plane. As he said ‘it’s the first time in my life wrapping Tefillin on a plane’.
I arrived in San Jose. The Uber driver who accepted my ride went to the wrong terminal in the airport and kept me waiting for longer than usual. During the ride, he had an interesting piece of information to share with me. ‘I could marry a Jewish girl and be accepted in the Jewish community’, he said. ‘How so’ I asked. Well, my mother’s parents were Jewish. Although I was raised Catholic.
‘Would you be open to having a Jewish experience and doing a ‘ritual’ Mitzvah that Jewish boys do when they are thirteen years old’ I asked him. To which he responded that he would welcome the opportunity.
And so it happened that upon arriving at our destination, on a quiet suburban street, I put Tefillin on with my Uber driver who welcomed the opportunity to offer a prayer to Hashem adorned in the thirty-three-hundred-year-old traditional Jewish ornaments. (Picture below).
I would like to point out that our responsibility in terms of sharing Hashem’s message is not limited to interactions with other Jews. The Rebbe reintroduced the concept of actively engaging with all of the nations of the world in teaching them the seven Noahide laws – the Universal Moral Code.
Click here and here for more on this.
In that vein let me share a meaningful Uber experience that I had with a Pakistani driver named Asif.
As I got into the car, I said ‘thank you for coming to pick me up’ in a good-natured humorous tone.
Looking at my destination on his screen, my driver said, “I thank G-d for sending me this ride’. I looked at him quizzically and he continued ‘my daughter learns in college in Queens and asked me if I could pick her up when she finishes class today. I told her that I don’t think I can as I am in Brooklyn but let us see how the day develops. Now that you have asked me to take you from Brooklyn to Queens (I was going to the Rebbe’s Ohel in Cambria Heights, Queens), I will indeed be in the area of her school to pick her up’.
The driver, seeing my excitement at hearing him share a ‘Divine Providence’ story, continued to chatter. Our discussion continued to the topic of charity. Asif shared an inspiring story.
‘Once I wanted to give someone charity, and the person I had in mind just happened to be coming towards me. I had forty dollars in my pocket. I thought to myself, I will give the needy person half of my cash and keep half to myself. Upon reflection I thought, if I truly believe in G-d and that He will give back more than what I give, I should be prepared to hand over all my cash. In a split-second decision I gave the entire forty dollars to the needy person.
Then I started my late afternoon shift of driving my yellow cab (pre-Uber) in Manhattan. Late at night I was flagged down by a man and after I stopped to pick him up, I discovered that there was a drunk man behind him lying on the ground. It was his friend that he was trying to shlep home. I declined the ride explaining that if he threw up in my cab, my entire evening of work would be lost. He begged me and said that he had been refused by so many drivers already. I acceded and helped shlep the drunk into my car, placed a bag in his friend’s hand to catch any possible retching, and upon reaching our destination, helped shlep the drunk man up the steps.
The friend of the drunk, handed me a sixty-dollar tip on top of the fare.
You see, G-d sent me back more than I had given’.
The driver, recognizing that I am a religious Jew, asked me to share some wisdom with him. I told him that he should continue to spread the message of the belief in one G-d. And that G-d is the Eye that sees and the Ear that hears so that mankind behaves morally not for fear of the police, but because G-d has instructed the laws of morality. Moreover, he should share with his riders the importance of helping others and giving charity, thus fulfilling the instruction of the Creator who created humanity in His image.
Wherever we go and whomever we meet, there is always a Divine purpose. Sometimes, all it takes is being present enough (not fully immersed in the gadgets we carry around that create constant distraction) to recognize the opportunity that is in front of your eyes.
There is another story I heard recently.
Not from an Uber driver but from a fellow elderly rabbinic passenger from Jerusalem with whom I was sharing an Uber ride.
‘About thirty-five years ago I was on a visit to NY with my wife and daughter’ related Reb C.Y. Cohen. ‘The Rebbe was distributing dollars to those who had come to see him’.
(The Rebbe would give dollars to the thousands of men women and children who came to greet him every Sunday. The Rebbe would hand each one a dollar which they in turn were to give to a person in need. Or as most would do, keep that dollar that was given personally by the Tzadik and give its exchange (with an addition) to tzedakah).
Reb CYC continued ‘my daughter asked the Rebbe for dollars for her sisters who were back in Israel. The Rebbe asked how many sisters do you have. She responded that she has two. The Rebbe asked ‘how many sisters do you have’? Again, she answered that she has two sisters. Yet another time the Rebbe asked and the same response. I looked at my wife not knowing why the Rebbe wasn’t just accepting our daughters’ answers. Till my wife exclaimed. Yes, we do have a third daughter. But she is already married and out of the house.
The Rebbe handed my daughter four dollars, one for her, and one for each of her sisters.
Reb CYC concluded his story and pointed out the incredulousness of it. Here we were, parents of our daughters, yet we had momentarily overlooked one of them. The Rebbe, who had never met our family and to my knowledge didn’t have any pre-information about how many children we had, obviously had holy powers that allowed him to sense that our daughter had more than two sisters.
I was most inspired by the story. It shows how the Rebbe was tuned in to the needs of the ‘sheep’ in the generation that he was ‘shepherding’.
The world shepherd is used to describe Moshe and all the future true leadership of the Jewish people. Thus, I use the word shepherd to describe the Rebbe, for that is the true function of Jewish leadership.
The Rebbe, positioned as he was in history just after the Holocaust, shepherded the broken generation to incredible growth and miraculous rebirth.
Perhaps even more remarkable, is the Rebbes leadership to our unique generation of wealth. We are a generation that has affluence and freedom that previous generations didn’t have. Under those privileged conditions, we are not being persecuted by pogroms and massacres as in the past, but we are challenged by assimilation and apathy.
The Rebbe addressed the needs of this generation. Through the myriads of programs, directives, personal mentoring and lengthy public addresses. Judaism, under the leadership of the Rebbe, was turned outward.
What does this mean to you and I personally?
It is the job of a leader to shepherd his flock. To be in in tune with every single soul. Even if the physical family may have overlooked their child/sibling, it is the holy function of the Tzadik to ensure that they are remembered and connected to Hashem and his Torah.
On Thursday of this week, June 22nd corresponding with the third (Gimmel) of Tammuz the Hilula/Yartzeit of the Rebbe.
The Rebbe’s inspiration, guidance and blessings continue to yield fruits and connect souls to G-d as we study his teachings, fulfil his directives and visit his resting place at the Ohel in New York.
The Rebbe believed in each and every one of us and empowered us to dare to reach for higher achievements than we naturally would aim for.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks ob”m famously said of his experience of meeting the Rebbe many times:
‘ You saw your reflection in the Rebbe’s eyes, and you were suddenly much bigger than you thought you were.” Click here for his full remarks .
My friend, take up the Rebbe’s inspiration and make if your own.
Consider taking a few moments to peruse this website dedicated to the Rebbe’s legacy and join in his mission of making this world a better place and bringing Mashiach.
No one can remain on the sidelines in this massive undertaking to finish the darkness of this exile. It takes the efforts of each and every one of us to finally bring this exile to an end and bring Mashiach NOW.
Shabbat Shalom
Chodesh Tov (Monday and Tuesday)
Rabbi Yosef Kantor