Weekly Chasidic Story #1265 (s5782-27) 4 Adar II 5782/March 7, 2022)

"Raspberry Preserves"

This was not the sort of conversation one would expect on a Sunday morning grocery run…

Connection: Revealed reason: This week we append to the weekly Torah reading the passage (Deut. 25:17-19) about Amalek called "Zachor," and almost for sure the Jew-hating Nazis (as in this story) were true descendants of Amalek, the grandson of Esau.

Story in PDF format for more convenient printing

Raspberry Preserves

At a supermarket in New Jersey one Sunday [in 2021], Professor Michael Perino found a small, elderly woman standing in front of a high shelf holding "Bonne Maman" preserves. She was having trouble finding the flavor she wanted because the jars were set back on the shelf.

She couldn't read the labels. She could barely reach them. He offered to help.

After he handed her the raspberry preserves, she thanked him, paused, and then asked, "Do you know why I buy this brand?"

He laughed and replied, "Because it tastes good?"

"That's true, true, it tastes good. But that's not the reason."

She paused again. "I am a Holocaust survivor."

This was not the sort of conversation one would expect on a Sunday grocery run!

She continued. "During the war, the [Chapoulart] family that owns the company hid my family. So now I always buy it. And whenever I go to the store, my grandkids remind me, 'Bubbe, don't forget the jelly.'"

"That was the best reason I ever heard to buy any company's product." Perino thought to himself. Then he smiled and she smiled behind their masks, and they went their separate ways.

The professor researched the story and indeed, the town that Andros Company, the makers of Bonne Maman, comes from, hid and saved Jewish families in WW2. It was called Biars sur Cere [located in southwestern France], which then had about 800 villagers.

This is an excerpt from an article he found:
"You have to understand what it was like then. There were posters on the walls, from the Nazis and from the collaborators, and they said if you were found to help a Jew, a freemason, a communist, a socialist, or a pervert, you will be shot on sight. Despite the great danger in which helping put the villagers in, still they kept the children safe."

She was right -a good reason to buy Bonne Maman products. And, concluded Professor Perino, a poignant reminder that when we look out for each other it can change lives, and that there are good and selfless people in the world.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Source: Adapted and supplemented by Yerachmiel Tilles from the report by Rabbi Yisrael Bernath, which is based on <Michael Perino @ProfessorPerino>.

Connection: Revealed reason: This week we append to the weekly Torah reading the passage (Deut. 25:17-19) about Amalek called "Zachor," and almost for sure the Jew-hating Nazis (as in this story) were true descendants of Amalek, the grandson of Esau.
FYI: These three verses contain three separate commandments. One of them you fulfill simply by going to synagogue this Saturday and hearing them read publicly from the secondTorah scroll, after the regular weekly reading is completed.

The personal reason: I [YT] just received a jar of Bonne Maman bitter orange marmalade from Mrs. Reba-Minna Domnitz, the person who called my attention to the above story.

Yerachmiel Tilles is co-founder and associate director of Ascent-of-Safed, and chief editor of this website (and of KabbalaOnline.org). He has hundreds of published stories to his credit, and many have been translated into other languages. He tells them live at Ascent nearly every Saturday night.

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