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There are thousands of yidden where I live and unfortunately they are not yet Torah Observant–(we kiruv workers like to stay positive and say not yet frum).
It is so clear sometimes who the yiddeshe neshamos are- there is a massive need to be doing chessed, giving on all levels, helping other people. It is just bursting from within them. They don’t fill their needs in being givers with just one organization a year and then say they are patur.
And when it comes down to facing life and reality, their pintele yid does come out. They seek out a connection to Hashem and His Torah hakedosha, because deep down they know where the emes really is.
A few years ago, a friend of the family made a kiddush in a Flatbush shul on Shabbos after davening.
When we got there we were told that another family member had slipped and fallen, and was take to Maimonides by ambulance.
We were now stuck miles from home in the waiting room on Shabbos afternoon, not having made Kiddush, let alone had a chance for a seuda.
We noticed a young chasidishe man who was going in and out of the waiting room.
After a couple of minutes, he approached us and asked if we had had a chance to eat.
It made a night-and-day difference in how we felt, and we were extremely appreciative.
I believe those who participate are unpaid volunteers.
The hakoras hatov that we and many others have towards them is tremendous.
They are providing a great service to those who really need it.
There are innumerable chesed organizations – this is just an expression of thanks to one that has helped up personally.
(in my best policeman voice…)
“so here i was drivin’, doing my patrol as i do every night, up the i95 and down the i95, ya know, check for speeders, people who need help.
T’was at night when it happened, doin’ maa rounds when i see a car stopped at the side of the freeway, flashers on an’ all.
It was a full 3 minutes before i got a chance to turn my car around to the fella, and to my utmost surprise, there were already 5 (and I said 5!!) cars around, all getting out to help him!
Well you know, it’s my duty, so i get out of my car, and i see all those men helping wearin’ those skull caps on their head. Well whaddya know, with so many helpin’ his tire was changed in a jiffy! All the men who stopped, started trickling away till it was just me and the man who had had the flat tire.
So i say, ‘ok you’re all set to go?’ and he says yes. An’ all of a sudden i notice him doing something really wierd! He took of his skull cap and put it in the glove compartment! He noticed me staring with ma mouth wiiide open and he said:
“Ya see, I’m not Jewish but i know, that i’ll always keep this skull cap in my glove compartment and whenever i’ll need help i’ll put it on, and pretty soon, all the Jews will come over to help me. I’ve figured out the secret. They love each other.”
ambush,
Beautiful.
Ambush I’ve heard that story b4 but bot in great detail like that!! Very beautiful
The weirdest thing happened to me last Shabbos. I was sitting by the Shabbos seuda and I was telling my mother how it’s so sad that people don’t keep Shabbos that they don’t even know that they are Jewish or they don’t even know about Shabbos. Then I started crying and I couldn’t stop myself. I am not that type of person. It was like someone else was talking in me and I couldn’t stop crying. I was just thinking about how happy and proud I am to be a Jew and that it’s so sad that these people are not part of our special nation. It’s quite sad.
Anyway, since we are so special it’s so much more sad that these people don’t have what we have even though it is theirs like it is mine.
postsem
your Neshama was crying for the lost children of Hashem. it is probably crying for them all the time. for some zchus you were privileged for a short while to connect to your deeper Neshama.
I guess so because it was really a strange feeling
“I’ve been reading your comments for a while now… you are an intolerant, judgmental person… No, my son, he’d be be upset at how verbally abusive and little ahavas yisroel you exhibit.”
The irony could kill
areivim, my thoughts exactly!
747 alert
opp23: You have a funny penchant of taking your negativity to the wrong threads. Like Mod72 told you in the soup thread, take your bickering elsewhere. Could you find no better place than Why yidden are the best?
Yeh, we’re not appreciating this bickering.
“Could you find no better place than Why yidden are the best?”
and the case of irony grows against opp23…
Why yidden are the best:
I went to Lakewood yesterday and on the SIE there was terrible traffic. When I finally neared the exit, I saw that a frum couple had been in an accident. Three other frum people stopped to help them. Isn’t that beautiful? Mi K’amcha Yisroel!
~a~
Beautiful indeed!
Mi K’amcha Yisroel!
The everyday chesed of our brethren is unparalleled. We become so accustomed to such chesed, we sometimes forget how good we have it.
get a load a this- yesterday I lost my mind and a few yidden were so considerate as to stop and ask me if I needed a ride to the local asylum. They even formed a search party with shomrim involved to try and locate the missing brains. Mi k’amcha yisroel! ;);)
(I’m not poking fun, I really lost it)
BS”D
Hmm Arevim – for that you call the Admou”r meCreedmoor’s many chessed organizations, but you need three or more EBT cards.
As for why Yidden are the best, just listen to the list of chessed organizations (real ones) on Lipa’s song “tizke lemitzvos” – except for perhaps mishmeres hatznius that he adds to the list probably for a good laugh.
What were you doing in lakewood? Picking up my graduation present from the CR? 😉
areivim, that is true chessed. Did they find it?
Bear, that’s my favorite part of the song;)
kapusta, actually not. I was on my way to find aussie. I’ve been missin him.
~a~
areivim: i was involved in the search party! we worked real hard! we’re still searching! 😉
anonymisss: yeah where is he? did you find him in the end?
jax: good luck with that 😉
I heard this story about R’ Mendel Kaplan and I think it’s a great story.
This probably goes back to the 50s or 60s.
R’ Mendel was driving from Philadelphia to New York when he saw someone trying to hitch a ride to who knows where. The guy asked R’ Mendel where he’s going and after R’ Mendel told him he said, “hey Rabbi, I’m also going to New York, can I come along?”.
After he starts driving, R’ Mendel tells the person how happy he is to have picked him up. “I hate doing the drive by myself so I am so happy you are here to keep me company.” Later on R’ Mendel apologized and said, “I’m so sorry to take you out of your way, but I really need to get a coffee, can I at least get you a coffee or a soda?” His passenger declined, but did agree to wait in the car right outside while R’ Mendel ran in so that he didn’t have to park.
When they arrived in New York the guy asked to be dropped off at a subway station. Before he left the vehicle he looked at R’ Mendel and said, “you know Rabbi, I just got let out of prison this very evening and I need some money. I was planning on robbing the first person who stopped for me but I just couldn’t do it to you- you were too nice to me”.
Dr. Pepper – I heard that story before somewhere (can’t seem to recall where.)
It is always good to hear stories of the Am Hanivchar being head and shoulders above the rest. I’m sure there are many more stories fellows here can share!
Thinking about Elul Zman…
I was flying to Eretz Yisroel via Toronto (on Air Canada) in the beginning of one Elul Zman.
There were a handful of bochurim from a few different cities on commuter flights flying to Toronto for the major leg of the journey and naturally the twenty or so of us all converged to the same spot in the airport.
Then 4 bochurim from Toronto came to the area where we were waiting- each one carrying a pie of pizza. They told us that they knew that there would be bochurim from other cities on the flight so they brought supper for everyone.
We got drinks, ate, schmoozed and davened Maariv before boarding the flight. We got together again for Shachris but after the plane landed we each went our own way.
As a side point-
A secular person commented to me that he noticed how pleasant such a large group of teenagers were behaving as well as how each and every one of us was dressed so respectfully; wearing shoes, black pants and a button down pressed shirt. (He also pointed out that he never saw a group that size where every single person was wearing glasses!)
very nice!
The recent tornado in upstate NY was a headline for Mi Keamcha Yisroel. My family called to see if we can host a family for shabbos and we were told all families are taken care of and already on their way to their shabbos hosts… this was within 4 hours of hearing the news.
which part didn’t you understand?
Unfortunately, I have a relative in the hospital. That realtive has been hospitalized so many times in the past few years that I am constantly going to the Bikur Holim room. The Bikur Holim room and all it’s wonderful volunteers are all amazing. I love how all yidden from all backgrounds come together. I feel it is my sanctuary from being with my ill family remember. Also, to the hospital chaplains, who I have met, you are all so wonderful. When they come to visit, they also offer words of compassion and offer their words of speedy recovery to the other non-jewish patients. I must say give a big Yasher Ko’ach to all. You are all truly a Kiddush Hashem. I am so proud to part of this nation. “Mi’ Ka”macha Yisrael” is constantly on my lips and in my heart, when I go to visit my relative in the hospital.
mazal, so true! May your relative have a refuah shelaimah.
When landing in Israel, don’t you have that same feeling? Yidden are the BEST
(among many other feelings for Eretz Yisroel)
mod, i was told to put it in a more serious thread so..
Before the summer i was in a supermarket and i witnessed a Morah with a bunch of small children walking down the aisles. She was showing the young children all the diffrent foods and explaining what bracha to make on it and why. e.g. she showed them a carrot and said that we all have to thank Hashem for creating such wonderful vegetables. This vegetable we make a ha’admaa on because it grows from the ground. She explained to them that it is a huge miracle how Hashem creates food from the ground.
I thought to myself, look at the amazing difference between a jewish school and a muslim school. IN a Jewish school they are teaching about creation and to thank G-d for creating and to continue creating. IN the muslim schools their teaching destruction. How to destruct. How good destruction is. They teach them how to use guns at young ages. UNBELIEVABLE. Every morning when you say the bracha of “Shelo Usani Go” we all should think in to what we are saying and mean what we are saying.
wow!
that’s so nice! Thank You!
your’e welcome
My friend’s brother is a volunteer for Bikur Cholim and every night after seder he goes to the hospital to restock the fridges and to see if there is any way he can help. My friend was telling me the stories her brother told her about his trip one night. He just says it as if it is nothing but really he is doing amazing work making people’s stay much easyer by translating or getting through some red tape. It’s amazing what these people do and without thinking that they are great or that they deserve thank yous. That is why YIDDEN ARE THE BEST!!
postsem, have you got any specifics you’d like to share?
Well I don’t really want to say specifics because my friend might be on the sight and I don’t want her to recognize the stories and figure me out. But I’ll just say a few things she told me that there was a man who did not speak english so her brother signed him in and stayed with him to translate everything the doctors were saying. He also told the hospital to put his name down on the man’s chart if there are any problems to call him. Also she told me that all of a sudden he got a text to come to the ER and within seconds he was there with a whole minyan of men in case the man died. Baruch Hashem they were able to revive him. It just shows that if you really care, nothing is to hard. Even to get a minyan in a minutes time and to be available for a stranger night or day during seder or during free time.
Wow! Those stories are truly amazing! Mi K’amcha Yisroel!
postsem, wow!
WOW!
that’s really something special!
Someone I know, sent a reply card for a wedding and wrote at the bottom something like “the time of the chuppah is a special time for tefilla. Please put down names of people who are awaiting their yeshua.”
Wow. That is so selfless.
I dont like this thread… There are good Jews and bad Jews. Jews are not at all immune from the trappings and dangers that are out there. There are Jewish philanthropists, there are Jewish murderers. There are Jewish geniuses and there are Jewish dummies.
To claim or even try and postulate that Yidden are better than anyone else, is silly, ridiculous and dangerous.
We are DIFFERENT – not better. We are supposed to be a ‘light unto the nations’ because we have the Torah. We should be proud of that.
The moment we start to think of ourselves as ‘better’ is the moment when we can start to justify all sorts of chillul hashem.
“I dont like this thread…”
then why bump it?
I don’t like it but I unhate it a little.
I have a thread hanging from my talis.
Why is the statement that Jews can use their free will in a bad way so controversial?
We are the nation chosen by G-d Himself for a reason. Because we are the best.
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