Weekly Chasidic Story

"Two Crumpled Pictures"

"Dear Mr. and Mrs. C. Your seven-year-old son, Boaz, says that he hates religious rabbis, but he doesn't know why."

Connection: Weekly Torah reading: Gen. 12:5

Story in PDF format for more convenient printing

TWO CRUMPLED PICTURES

Seven-year-old Boaz (fictitious name) came home almost in tears from his school in Kfar Vradim and handed his mother an envelope.

Kfar Vardim is a small, pastoral, village in the north of Israel founded on "open thinking" and liberal ideals. An "open, progressive school" was founded there, which attempted to eliminate divisions of aptitude, beliefs, and even pupils and teachers. This is where little Boaz learned.

His mother opened the envelope and found a letter from Boaz's teacher together with a crumpled picture of a rabbi.

"Dear Mr. and Mrs. C. This morning there were a few of these cards in our school. Someone must have put them here last night. Your son Boaz got so very angry when he saw them that he crumpled two of them up and threw them into the trash can. He said he hates religious rabbis, but he doesn't know why.

"So I suggested that maybe it would be fun if he did some research and write a paper on this rabbi. That way he wouldn't judge without knowing the facts. I hope you agree and would appreciate your feedback."

His mother looked at the crumpled picture. Under it was written in Hebrew; "The Lubavitcher Rebbe," and on the other side it said "Commandments to Bring Moshiach: Put on Tefillin every weekday. Learn Torah. Give Charity," and more.

At first, Boaz's parents just wanted to agree with their son and say no to the research. After all, those religious pictures had no place in their son's open school. Their little Boaz was right! But something about the rabbi in that picture aroused their curiosity.

"What do you think?" his mother asked his father. They talked it over and finally decided to help Boaz write the paper; maybe it would be fun!

But it wasn't as easy as they thought. First of all, the encyclopedia in their house had nothing written on "Lubavitch," "Rebbe" or "Moshiach," and almost nothing on "Commandments". And the Kfar Vardim public library didn't have much more, except for some Jewish stories by secular authors.

So they called a few friends.

After several phone calls they discovered that this Lubavitch Rebbe was also called the Rebbe of Chabad, had representatives in places called "Chabad Houses" all over Israel, and there was one in a town not far from them.

Little Boaz really was beginning to regret that he got everyone into this mess, but he was also getting curious.

The next day they picked him up after school and drove to the Chabad House they heard about. They felt a bit uneasy going into a religious Charedi ('ultra-Othodox') place but, after all, it was just a small school project.

There they were in for a few surprises. First of all, the rabbi in charge was young, pleasant and even seemed to be happy; all of which were the opposite of what they supposed Judaism to be.

Then they discovered that this Lubavitcher Rebbe had written many dozens of books, some answering questions and others explaining Judaism's plan for the world.

Plan for the world?

They had always just figured that religious Judaism was insular and removed of the world. They couldn't figure out what was happening, and if it wouldn't have been for the young rabbi's beard and hat, they would have thought they were in the wrong place.

They talked for a while, borrowed several books and pamphlets and returned home to begin work.

They sat down, got organized and tried to objectively write a proper essay but each piece of information made them realize they had no idea what Judaism, especially Chassidic Judaism, was all about.

But what they did understand had its effect.

Especially when they got to the philosophy of the Baal Shem Tov--the father of Chassidic thought.

He taught that G-d is constantly creating, enlivening, and providing everything . . . that Torah is G-d's inner wisdom and will . . . and that the Jews are "part" of G-d Himself (see Tanya, books1-2).

This, and the Baal Shem's use of Jewish mysticism and emphasis on joy, was not what they were expecting.

They finished the paper, Boaz handed it in to his teacher the next morning, and their life returned to normal.

Almost.

Boaz's father couldn't get the ideas they had read out of his mind.

Somehow, they made sense to him. He brought it up with his wife but she didn't agree at all. In fact, she found the ideas abhorrent.

Little Boaz was in the middle. So the topic was rarely discussed at home. It continued this way for several months, until one day Mrs. C. told her husband that she saw an advertisement for a three-day seminar in Jewish mysticism at a place called "Ascent" in the northern Israel city of Tsfat. She signed up for herself and her husband, explaining to him, "I figured that mysticism might be interesting. So why not?"

Anyway, the last day of the seminar found Mrs. C. convinced that Judaism has a soul and Mr. C aware that he wasn't really Jewish! He revealed that his father had been Jewish but not his mother.

Nine months later Mr. C. reappeared at Ascent with his wife but it was almost impossible to recognize them. He had taken a nine-month leave from work, converted to Judaism, and now sported a beard, hat, and tzitzit. His wife looked like someone that had been religious all her life.

All because their precious son had crumpled a picture, and thanks to the concern of an "liberal, progressive" teacher.

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Source: Edited and supplemented by Yerachmiel Tilles from a free translation-adaptation by Rabbi Tuvia Bolton of an article in Bais Moshiach magazine, #509).

Connection - Weekly Torah reading: Gen. 12:5.

Biographical note:
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe (11 Nissan 1902 - 3 Tammuz 1994), became the seventh Rebbe of the Chabad dynasty after his father-in-law, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, passed away in Brooklyn on 10 Shvat 1950. He is widely acknowledged as the greatest Jewish leader of the second half of the 20th century. Although a dominant scholar in both the revealed and hidden aspects of Torah and fluent in many languages and scientific subjects, the Rebbe is best known for his extraordinary love and concern for every Jew on the planet. His emissaries around the globe dedicated to strengthening Judaism number in the thousands. Many hundreds of volumes of his teachings have been printed, and hundreds of English renditions too.

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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