A remarkable occurence that I witnessed with the two blue eyes I
have thanks to Hashem, mom and dad.
Thanks Hashem, mom and dad for my eyes!! Couldn't see a thing
without them. They mean as much and more to me than my glasses.
This Shabbos I witnessed a well known Rov, a gadol bi-torah and tzidkus, who was
walking down a Jerusalem street when he passed by an older man walking
very slowly and being helped by a younger man [ostensibly his son]. He smiled
and turned to the man and said [in yiddish] with tremendous excitement [as
if this man was some celebrity] something to the effect of "It is so
great to see a smiling Jew before Yom Kippur!! [The Jew hadn't been smiling -
he actually looked quite in distress]. I wish you an amazing new year filled
with many brachos." He shook the man's hand warmly [and the son wanted a
piece so he stuck out his hand and got a handshake as well] and continued
on his way. The elderly man asked the younger man who the Rabbi was. The
younger man said his name and he nodded in recognition.
This scene shook me to my core.
We [at least I] are not on his learning level. For that I would have
to learn continuously for a thousand years and I still wouldn't be close. [I can't imagine how long it would take me just to learn the Minchas Chinuch by heart - and that is just the tip of the iceberg]. But
we CAN stop and brighten the day of total strangers. However, we
generally choose not to for various reasons - maybe we are
self-conscious or self- absorbed or "self" other things but the
bottom line is the concept of "self".
The greatest thing we can do is STEP OUT OF OUR WORLD OF SELF
[and "selfies" for that matter] and focus on what we can do to
brighten up someone else's day. We ALL have that power.
Let's do it.
