Didn't Die, Just Fainted

From Revach.net

Reb Shlomo Friefeld, the Rosh Yeshivah of Sh'or Yoshuv was a unique individual with an exceptional ability to affect others through his incredible Ahavas Yisrael and simchas hachaim. His belief in each person's importance and spiritual potential endowed others with the ability to believe in themselves as well. His simchas hachaim was a spiritual inheritance from his rebbe, Reb Yitzchak Hutner, who told him shortly before his death that the key to acquiring light is remaining joyous. Rav Friefeld's simchas hachaim was accompanied by an indomitable optimism.

On one occasion, a friend of Rav Friefeld's received a call from him one morning. His jalopy had died in middle of traffic and he needed help. His friend recruited others and they rushed to the nearby neighborhood where he was stranded in middle of traffic, and helped him push the car to the side out of the way of traffic. His friends, who were fully expecting him to park the car on the side of the street, were shocked to see him floor the gas pedal and reenter the line of traffic. "I need to go to Williamsburg," Rav Friefeld explained. His friends were open-mouthed. "How do you expect to get there when your battery just died?" Rav Friefeld smiled and said, "It didn't die, it just fainted."

Rav Friefeld's friend always remembered that phrase, "It just fainted" as summing up Rav Friefeld's approach to life, his belief that there was always hope and possibility. This was the belief that he was able to exude to others, thereby changing many lives.


(Wings With Which to Fly)