By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for the Five Towns Jewish Times

Rabbi Pesach Krohn, the noted Mohel, author, and lecturer has done it again with “Illuminations of the Maggid.” It is an inspiring new book from ArtScroll that builds Emunah, fortifies our Avodas Hashem, and captures our attention. It does all three at once.

Residents of Kew Gardens remember how Rabbi Krohn would host the famed Maggid of Yerushalayim – Rav Shalom Schwadron zt”l. Now, he has become a Maggid in his own right. And with the power of ArtScroll’s worldwide distribution – one with a reach far beyond the shtetl visits of European Maggidim of yesteryear.

To add icing to the cake, this volume is a speaker’s and teacher’s dream come true. It has a topical index, a name index, a psukim index and a Gemorah index. On page 348 – there is even an index for stories on different parts of the Siddur. There is no better manner to bring out a point one is making in Chumash, Navi, and even a Gemorah than to say over a real life lesson from a contemporary story. It helps bring Torah to life.

Do you want a story about Rav Yisroel Belsky? Look it up in the name index and you will soon read about a witty new understanding of a Chazal – one that you did not know beforehand but can tell is vintage Rabbi Belsky zt”l. How he uses a maamar in halacha and restates it to teach us a moral lesson.

The book is filled with remarkable and undeniable stories of Hashgacha pratis – replete with names. How a heroic Ben Torah took over the parenting efforts of a young child whose parents were quite ill, only to, quite by accident, have his own daughter marry the young man after they had lost contact for close to two decades (p. 257).

There are also stories of being dan lekaf z’chus – judging people favorably. Rav Yitzchok Zilberstein Shlita told Rabbi Krohn a story of a Rav who attended a wedding of the daughter of an occasional mispallel. When he greeted him, the Kallah’s father said, “Nobody called you.” Was this a case of Kamtza and Bar Kamtza? No it was not. The Rav had loaned a cell phone to the Kallah’s father because he had lost his own. The Kallah’s father wanted to reassure the Rav that he had not missed any phone calls.

There are also remarkable stories of “Mi Ka’amcha Yisroel.” An El Al flight has a child aboard who suffers a medical emergency. The plane must land in Ireland. Instead of being angry the other passengers recite tehillim together and provide invaluable assistance to the couple and child. One person tucks a one hundred dollar bill into the husband’s pocket saying, “You’ll need this in Ireland.” Another couple took care of the couple’s other child. Food and blankets are prepared. Contact info is given. Mi Ka’mcha Yisroel.

The book itself is very well organized with five different sections for each of the inspiring stories. They are: Deeds of Distinction, Master Minding, Perfection in Performance, Camaraderie and Connection, and Prudent Perspectives. It has 350 pages of illuminating stories.

Believe it or not, this book is the twelfth of the Maggid book series. This reviewer highly recommends it.

The reviewer can be reached at [email protected]