Impact!

It is a typical scene in New York to have one or two men receiving a message on their walkie talkies and then immediately running out of the sanctuary during the services, or a family gathering, or a restaurant, etc. on their way to save someone’s life. These men are members of Hatzalah; a volunteer emergency medical service.

An individual by the name of Rabbi Hershel Weber founded an organization called Hatzalah, in Brooklyn, New York in the late 1960s. Rabbi Weber founded Hatzalah to address the needs of the Jewish Community in Williamsburg for an ambulance service that understood its cultural and religious needs, and to improve EMS response time. The organization was a basic first aid group trained in CPR and carrying oxygen. Soon after its inception, Hatzalah expanded, and today has over 80 ambulances and almost 2,000 volunteer EMT’s in the United States. Today, Hatzalah is the largest volunteer Emergency Medical Services and ambulance provider in the United Sates. In New York alone Hatzalah responds to over 250,000 calls a year.

We have just entered the “three weeks” the time on the Jewish calendar, which is designated as the time to mourn for the destruction of the Holy Temple. We use this time to mourn that we are still in exile 2,000 years later. We use this time to lament and ponder the devastation we, as the Jewish people, have endured throughout this dark time of exile. The Sages tell us the Jewish people need to improve their interpersonal relationships with one another in order to bring an end to this darkness. We have to eradicate baseless hatred and put an end to gossiping about one another.

Unfortunately, many of us might be thinking that improving our behavior is worthless because there is so much hate and anger in our communities throughout the world that our actions are inconsequential. During these three weeks our challenge is to realize that every single one of us can make a great impact with a small deed. Rabbi Webber started Hatzalah with an oxygen tank in the trunk of his car, over 40 years later the name Hatzalah is found on ambulances in five different continents.

Point to ponder: What is going to be our small act? How are we personally going to contribute to bringing an end to this dark time in our history? If we fail to make an attempt to improve our community, then who will?

Reacting to Flotilla

This past week, the community worldwide has demonstrated once again, that our brothers and sisters in the holy land are held to a different standard than the rest of the world at large. The immediate world condemnation of the actions of Israel’s naval forces’ on the six-ship Turkish-sponsored Flotilla has proven that nobody is interested in the facts. As Prime Minister Netanyahu so wisely stated “The world treats Israel as guilty until proven guilty.” By now we have all seen the multitude of videos, which have been circulating on the Internet. The videos capture the footage of the “humanitarians” attacking and beating the Israeli soldiers as they descended upon the boat.

The world justifies their anti-Israel position by saying that the soldiers should have never been on the boat to begin with. There are calls for the Israelis to put an end to their occupation of the waters leading into the Gaza strip. It is time for the Israelis to end the blockade and allow “humanitarian” aide to flow freely into Gaza. Of course, nobody is talking about why Israel implemented the blockade. Any state, which is run politically by a recognized terrorist group, is too dangerous to have unilateral control of their borders. It is only a matter of time before the “humanitarian” missions will evolve into military transports.

Throughout the last 48 hours I have received numerous emails encouraging me to watch videos and call and write to my elected officials. I have also noticed that a large percentage of my facebook friends have joined various pro-Israel/know the truth about Flotilla facebook groups. A clear reflection of the anger and frustration the Jewish people worldwide are experiencing. However, I think it is important for us to remember that the greatest way to channel our anger and frustration is through prayer. We must remember that when these events occur and our emotions are in full gear, we have the opportunity to channel them towards G-d through the medium of passionate prayer. Let us not forget the actions of our forefather Yaakov. Before Yaakov had his dreaded encounter with Esau he sent ahead gifts and prayed. Yaakov did not just send gifts, he did not exclusively rely on lobbying his senator and joining facebook groups, he also prayed. In addition to the great lobbying and noise that we are making, we must also pray for the safety of our brothers and sisters.

Tuesday with Mr. Linzer*

This past Tuesday Gary Blumberg and I traveled to Chillicothe, Ohio. We journeyed an hour to perform a very unique and special chesed. We met a man by the name of Mr. Linzer. This meeting was like no other meeting that I had ever experienced. Mr. Linzer is a Jewish man who was born, raised, and lived all 105 years of his life in Chillicothe. For the last five years, he has been demanding to see a Rabbi, and I was given the extraordinary opportunity to be the Rabbi to fulfill that request.

As I walked into Mr. Linzer’s house, I found him sitting on an easy chair lost in thought, as the television in front of him was blasting at a very loud volume. His daughter (who is in her late 70’s) yelled into his ear that a rabbi was present to see him. He immediately came to life, and a huge smile appeared on his face. He looked at me and yelled, “A Rabbi, you’re a Rabbi?” His daughter then yelled into his ear, “it took us five years, but we finally brought you a Rabbi. Dad, do you have any questions for him?” Mr. Linzer looked at me, smiled, and said “nope, no questions.” His daughter asked him “is there anything that you want to tell the Rabbi?” “Nope,” he replied.

As I took a seat next Mr. Linzer, I glanced at the pictures adorning his coffee table. The picture of his grandson in particular caught my eye, as he was dressed in a Santa Claus outfit. I opened the Artscroll siddur to the Shema and read it with him. He could not read Hebrew and had no appreciation for the significance of the prayer we were about to read. I read out loud as he followed with his eyes. He then stopped me, looked me in the eye, and asked, “Who is Hashem?” Trying to ignore the devastating feeling that this 105-year-old man does not know who Hashem is, I explained to him that Hashem is G-d. He thanked me and I continued to read. A few minutes passed, and he looked up again and proclaimed, “Hashem is G-d, there is only one G-d, G-d is everywhere!” He then caressed the siddur and repeatedly said that this is a beautiful book.

Every Jew has a special spark somewhere in the depths of his/her heart. For some, that spark can be the drive for their entire lives, for others, it can take over one hundred years to surface. May Mr. Linzer live and be well until 120.

*The real name has been changed

Life Changing or Great Story

I would like to thank my Thursday morning Navi class for inspiring these words.


Recently, on Manhattan Island overlooking the Hudson River, one of the most memorable reunions in the last decade took place. All 150 passengers and the 5 members of the flight crew of “the miracle on the Hudson” returned to the location of where their plane safely landed in the middle of the Hudson River. The reunion marked the one-year anniversary of the miraculous emergency landing, where all the passengers of the flight survived. Many shared how that short few minute experience has permanently changed their perspective on life. One person talked about how every morning when he wakes up he is truly grateful for the opportunity to live another day.
Throughout our lives we have all experienced, witnessed, or heard about an event that we felt was truly uplifting and inspirational. We have all proclaimed from that point on we are going to improve and become better people. Unfortunately, for many of us our new path to greatness ended with our declarations. As time progressed the experience shifted from inspirational to a great memory or a fun story to share. We are failing to seize the moment. Typically, while we feel the joy of inspiration we declare tomorrow I am going to be better. The key is to change on the spot while we feel great. At that moment we have to let the inspiration propel us into action. We must take the steps forward at that very moment.
In this weeks Torah portion (Beshalach) one of the most amazing and inspirational events of all time took place on behalf of the Jewish people. The Jewish people were standing on the bank of the Sea, trapped as their Egyptian nemesis headed their way with the intentions of returning the Jewish people to slavery. At that very moment G-d split the sea and the Jewish people were saved. The Jewish people immediately responded to this awesome experience with song and praise to Hashem. They did not wait until the next day, rather the Torah tells us “Then Moshe and the Children of Israel chose to sing”. The Children of Israel understood that they needed to choose and commit themselves to spiritual growth immediately.

The Olympics: Uniting the World Through Competition

This evening is the kickoff of the winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Olympics is an international sporting event where a large portion of the world comes to together for “friendly” competition. The two week long event generates millions of dollars, creates intriguing story lines, and turns athletes into heroes. As much fun as the Olympics may be, I must admit that I struggle with what the purpose of the Olympics are.

One may suggest the objective of the Olympics is world unity. However, when your goal is to unify a group of people; competition is not the ideal path to take. The opening ceremony of the Olympics proves this point. The Olympians parade into the stadium waving the flag of the country they represent. The athletes are not thinking one world one people. They are thinking our country is the best and we are going to win more gold than any other country. Throughout the world as people watch the event on television they are rooting for their country. They are taking pride when they hear their national anthem being played as their fellow countrymen receive a gold medal. They are not thinking “wow, we have so much in common with everyone else in the world, it is about time we put our differences to rest.”

In this weeks Torah portion (Mishpatim) the Torah commands the Jewish people to travel to Jerusalem three times a year to celebrate the Festivals together. People from every tribe, from every region throughout the land of Israel must come and celebrate the holidays together as unified people. The pilgrimages teach us an invaluable lesson: regardless of where we live, what we look like, and the language we speak, all Jews are on the same team with the same goal. Our goal is to live by the word of the Torah and strengthen our relationship (as one people) with our Creator.

The Jewish Response to Anti-Semitism

As I studied this week’s Torah portion (Shemos), it occurred to me that the Egyptian enslavement of the Jewish people was our nation’s first brush with anti-semitism. Unfortunately, our experience with anti-semitism has not stopped in Egypt; rather it has continued throughout our history. No matter where the Jewish people have lived, at some point in time anti-semitism managed to rear its ugly face. Regardless of how hospitable our host country may have been, somehow they too evolved into a source of terror and pain. The modern day Jew is no exception; anti-semitism is still alive and well and something we all endure. Although we may have no control over the prevalence of anti-semitism, we do have the ability to decide how we as Jews will respond.

Naturally, many of us may feel that the only method of combating anti-semitism is to fight back. If someone punches us in the face we must respond in kind. We cannot allow ourselves to be treated like doormats and be stepped all over.

The problem with the “eye for an eye” approach is, at best it is a short-term solution. Even if we are successful in winning the battle, we are not going to win the war. There are too many people who are motivated to put an end to Judaism.

There is another philosophy, which believes that the only way to extinguish the flames of anti-semitism is for the Jewish people to conform to their surroundings and try our best to fit in. They believe the source of tension between the Jews and the rest of the world is our insistence on being different.

Unfortunately, history has shown that the ‘blending in” belief is flawed. The assimilated Jew has never been immune to anti-semitism. Anti-semites do not care about how well you fit in to society; a dirty Jew is a dirty Jew.

The most potent way to fight anti-semitism is to resolve to re-commit ourselves with even more intensity to our Jewish heritage. Every time a Jew performs a commandment of the Torah filled with pride it is a slap in the face of anti-semitism. When we instill in our children the honor and beauty of Judaism, it is a step in defeating those who want to crack the very foundation of Judaism. The goal of anti-semitism is to harass and break the will of the Jew. Our job is to respond and demonstrate to the world and ourselves that nothing can deter us from our mission to be closer to our Creator and to sanctify His name.

Bad Decision or Destiny: The Struggle with Used Car Salesmen

Recently, Hope “requested” (AKA: demanded) that she would like to replace her 2000 Chrysler 300m for a new used Honda Odyssey. Inspired by the desire to seize the opportunity to make my wife happy (she will kill me if I don’t buy it), this past week I embarked on the dark harrowing journey of used car shopping. Along this journey I have had the many wonderful opportunities to meet with the devil himself disguised as a used car salesman.

From the moment I walk through the doors of the dealerships and receive the warm greetings, I can already feel them sucking the dollar bills out of my wallet. My fear of the salesmen getting the upper hand has transformed me from a nice Kollel Rabbi into a ruthless bargainer (perhaps a little bit of an exaggeration). Unfortunately, in the last 72 hours, I have blown two really good deals and allowed them to slip away because I believed I could get a better price elsewhere. Hope insists that my greed and strong desire to prevail over the salesmen have gotten the better of me (and she will not be happy next week when we drive to New Jersey in the Chrysler). I prefer the comforting words of my close friends that it is “beshert,” it was obviously not meant to be, rather than accepting the possibility that I am being too greedy. G-d did not want me to be the proud owner of those cars (which happened to be exactly what we were looking for).

Our different perspectives on my lost opportunities remind me of a question I have on this weeks Torah portion (Vayigash). In this weeks Torah portion Joseph reveals himself to his brothers and informs them that he is the Viceroy of Egypt, and the brother that they sold into slavery 22 years ago. One can only imagine the embarrassment and shame the brothers experienced when they were standing once again face to face with Joseph. Immediately following his revelation to his brothers Joseph offered the following message to them: “And now, be not distressed, nor reproach yourselves for having sold me here, for it was to be a provider that G-d sent me ahead of you.”

My greed in my experience trying to buy a used car, and the brothers’ jealousy, led us both to make bad decisions. Can there still be an element of “beshert?” What was Joseph telling his brothers? Was he telling them that they were not liable for inappropriately selling him into slavery, since it enabled him to be in the position to save his family? If this is not the message of Joseph then what is the message? Is he simply trying to make them not feel bad for selling him into slavery, or is there something deeper going on? Please share with me your thoughts on this verse.