By the Grace of G-d
Dear Friend,
I saw him coming out of the Rebbe’s Ohel and he looked like ‘one of the boys’. Graying beard. Fedora. Long black coat. A typical chabadnik if you judged from his appearance. But if you knew him from before, you would know that his background was totally atypical.
Liraz, had the soul of a ‘seeker’. His search for the ‘truth’ led him to study Eastern religions and spend more than four years trekking through Asia. A graduate of the one of the IDF elite units, his eventual plan was to cycle from China to Turkey via bicycle. From Turkey he would take a ferry back to Israel.
If there was one ironclad rule that Liraz kept to, it was his decision not to enter any Chabad House. He didn’t want any contact with the observance of Torah. The other religious isms seemed too attractive. It was not easy to keep his commitment not to enter a Chabad House while traveling through Asia but Liraz had thus far successfully avoided entering any Chabad House.
It was in Thailand that his plans took a drastic change.
While making a new passport in the Embassy of Israel in Bangkok he was told payment can be made only in Thai Baht. A nice fellow traveler offered to lend Liraz Thai currency as he didn’t have any with him. ‘Where will I meet you to pay you back?’ asked Liraz of the magnanimous young lady who had lent him the money. ‘I hang out in the Chabad House’ she replied. To which Liraz said ‘I have a rule that I don’t enter Chabad Houses’. To which the young lady replied ‘I too, am not religious and usually would not enter a place like that, but here it is different. It’s a home away from home for travelers. A warm welcoming environment and no pressure at all’.
Liraz had no choice but to enter the Chabad House near Kaosarn Rd to return the loan. It was there that he met Rabbi Nechemya. The free coffee and refreshments were a tremendous draw, Liraz recalls. He attended one of the three-day seminars that Chabad of Thailand offers, up in the mountains. A little while after attending the seminar, he realized that the Torah is true and that he would like to live a Jewishly observant life.
To make a long story short, Liraz went back to Israel, attended a Yeshiva and a few years later married a religious girl and together they are Chabad shluchim on a college campus in Jerusalem. They are a popular couple and run a very successful Chabad outreach program for students.
This part of the story I knew. It had taken several years to unfold, and I was privy to the details as they were taking place. It was inspiring to see the passion that Liraz brought to his Jewish observance.
I greeted Liraz heartily after he finished his prayers at the the Ohel and asked him how things are going.
Things are going very well, responded Liraz.
‘Actually, one of the students that my wife and I had the merit to inspire to become Jewishly observant, just got engaged to be married. This young man had an interesting idea. He wanted to see what the Lubavitcher Rebbe was doing at the moment of his birth. He calculated the time in New York on the day and time of his birth in Israel. He then went to the website that records all the photos and video footage of the Rebbe and was able to find the moment of his birth. The Rebbe was distributing dollars at that time. A group of children from a Chabad School in Boston was visiting the Rebbe that day and during the minute of his birth these children were receiving dollars for tzedakah from the Rebbe.’
‘There was a young girl named Anat who was receiving a dollar from the Rebbe at that minute’ said the young man to Liraz.
Liraz asked for the family name of that girl as his wife’s name is also Anat.
After hearing the last name he realized that incredibly, it was indeed his wife Anat, that was receiving the mission of distributing the dollar bill to tzedakah. When she was a young girl, her family had spent time in Boston where her father got a degree from Harvard University. The school had taken the students to visit the Rebbe. The Rebbe had given Anat a dollar and a mission.
This was taking place at the exact same moment as the young man who was later inspired to commit to Judaism by Anat and her husband was being born.
This story, told to me on the eve of the Rebbe’s yahrzeit left me uplifted and inspired.
It adds a deeper dimension to the concept of Jewish leadership. ‘Moshe was a shepherd’ says the Torah. True Jewish leaders are modeled after Moshe. Just as a shepherd needs to look out for every single sheep, so does a true Jewish leader need to look out for every single Jew.
The Rebbe, in his capacity as ‘Shepherd of Israel’ gave Anat the gift to participate in the shepherding of Am Yisrael. As she was receiving her blessing and dollar from the Rebbe, a Jewish boy was being born in Israel. This boy would grow up and be inspired by Anat and her family.
It was not just to Anat. And it was not a one-time event.
The Rebbe gave our generation the ultimate gift. He invited all of us to join in this initiative of shepherding the Jews of our generation.
The Rebbe send emissaries/shluchim all around the world to officially represent him and thus the world is dotted with Chabad Houses. From East to West and from North to South.
The Rebbe also deputized every member of Am Yisrael, to join in this special undertaking.
Don’t be bashful. Invite your friend or acquaintance to deepen their relationship with G-d, Torah and Mitzvahs. In this way they will be connecting to their own quintessential self. Our deepest selves are a part of G-d, and therefore a Jew can never truly be happy in the long term, unless they are actively ‘serving G-d’. Living a lifestyle antithetical to G-d’s intention for your soul, cannot produce a healthy and meaningful life. Cosmically it simply cannot work.
How can you take part? Simply introduce your fellow Jews to a mitzvah that they may not yet be familiar with.
Introducing a fellow Jew to Torah and Mitzvahs is the greatest gift and good deed you can do for them. You don’t need to know much. The little you know may be more than what your friend knows. Even if you only know the letter Alef, if you meet someone who doesn’t yet even know the ‘Alef’, you should teach them Alef….
The Rebbe chose certain mitzvot to focus on as a beginning step. The ‘10 point mitzvah campaign’ was created to encourage Jews to perform even just one mitzva. Even one mitzvah, done only one time, has eternal value in the eyes of Hashem.
Don’t take my word for it. Try it. Offer your fellow Jew the opportunity to do a mitzvah. Even if you think they will reject it. You may be in for a surprise. The soul of a Jew is awake to G-d. Sometimes it just needs to be given the opportunity to seize.
May the inspiration of the Rebbe continue to grow and spread as his students inspire other students who inspire further students. Until the day will come when the world will be blessed to be collectively inspired and motivated to serve G-d.
The world with thus be full of peace and meaningfulness with the coming of Mashiach, AMEN
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Yosef Kantor