Reflections From My Journey

I have arrived in America...

From my trip:

1] On the bus ride from JFK to the city [since I am such a chashuve Rov, I wanted to ride in a vehicle larger than a Limo so I took the bus - from Grand Central Station I took the train - even bigger!! SOOOOO chashuv!] the Hispanic [or otherwise very goyish looking] driver asked me if I am Jewish. I said "I think so" [hehe:)]. He said "I keep Shabbat".

Sorry, not a heart warming geirus story. He is a Seventh Day Adventist. I could have told him that גוי ששבת חייב מיתה but I just wanted to get home already and not start trouble. When we parted I wished him a "Shabbat Shalom" and he wished me one in return. I am sure that his Shabbos looks very little like a Jewish Shabbos so no harm done [he probably never even ate potato kugel and can't pronounce "kasha varnishkes"].

2] When I was looking to get married I was sought out a girl who is on the quieter side. Due to my slightly, outgoing personality [slightly:)] I figured that if I marry the bubbly type our home will never have a peaceful, quiet moment. When I was on the plane I found out what might happen when two outgoing people marry. There was a gregarious couple sitting in the next row [his hair was covered but hers wasn't. Can't win 'em all:)] and they were talking to the couple sitting next to them. They were both loudly talking to the same people at the same time.... I was amused:).

3] All of that traveling time [including about an hour and a half (!!) at Kennedy waiting at passport control] allows one to think. I spent a lot of time pondering the following issue: In my lifetime I have invited countless people to my house, for Shabbos or Yom Tov meals or otherwise. A very large percentage of the people who I have invited "couldn't make it". Sometimes with a reason "I really HAVE to eat at the hotel" and sometimes without [not that they owe me an explanation]. Why don't they come? I don't charge. FREE FOOD! I think the reason is that people are not comfortable taking. Sometimes there were people who I would have so enjoyed their company but repeated invitations were politely rebuffed. Also, when people have come over to visit over the years, in almost EVERY instance, they have said "I can't stay long, I am in a rush".

Everybody is in such a rush?? Where is everybody rushing to??? It hasn't happened once that someone came over and said "I am not in a rush, how are you?"

A gemara, a thought and a myse.

 The gemara: At the end of megilla [shout out to my megilla chavrusas Eitan Ross and Abie Korman] it says that despite the fact that one should normally avoid taking [as it says שונא מתנות יחיה],when it makes the giver feel good then he SHOULD take. Sometimes it is harder to take that it is to give. It could mean swallowing pride, it could mean discomfort or it could mean that one feels indebted to his friend. In such instances the chesed of taking is magnified.

The thought: We believe that Hashem wants us to connect. In order to connect to another Jew, both must feel that the other is not in a rush, that he really wants to be there. I believe we are all missing out in our haste to rush to the next place from where we will also rush.


The myse: When the first man went up to the moon, they interviewed the great Ponovitcher Rosh Yeshiva Rav Kahanaman ztz"l [d. 1969] and asked him what he thought. He answered "A man can reach the moon, but lev el lev lo naga'u - people's hearts are no closer." 

It pains me to think of how distant people are from each other....