By Dovid Zaklikowski for COLlive and Hasidic Archives
The Sheftel family was a mainstay of the Jewish community in Worcester, Massachusetts, helping to found the city’s Chabad school. In the 1930s, Milton Sheftel married Sophia Ulman, the daughter of fervent Chasidic Jews.
Like many others in their generation, they thought that a religious lifestyle would prevent them from achieving professional success, and thus abandoned their Jewish observance.
The Sheftels had a son, Larry, and at the encouragement of the Ulman grandparents, they briefly enrolled him in the Chabad school in Worcester. During the short period when Larry attended the school, the family opened Reed Plastics Corporation. The business was successful, and the newly wealthy Sheftels slowly became involved in the local Reform temple.
In the 1960s, Larry and his wife found themselves craving a more traditional prayer experience, and began attending the Chabad synagogue in Worcester. Eventually, they decided to send their children to the Chabad school Larry had briefly attended as a child.
The small Jewish community in Worcester followed the younger Sheftel couple’s journey with interest. Larry, now the president of the plastics company, seemed to be living proof that Jewish observance need not interfere with success in business.
In 1988, the Sheftels sold Reed Plastics to Sandoz Chemical Corporation for a large sum. Larry continued to work as the director of development at Dicer Corporation in Haverhill for some time after the sale, but soon began to feel that he needed a break from business.
Despite their wealth, the Sheftels always lived modestly. “Money is not important in life. Everyone needs money, but it is a just facilitator,” Larry likes to say. “The most important thing you need is a solid grounding of faith and morality.”
At a private audience in September 1991, Larry told the Rebbe, “I have enough money to live comfortably, to give charity comfortably, and to do everything comfortably. I’m thinking to learn Torah for two hours a day, and to help Chabad for two hours a day.” He wanted to assist his local Chabad rabbi, Rabbi Herschel Fogelman, with fundraising.
The Rebbe raised two objections to this plan: Larry was then in his early 50s, and the Rebbe felt he could use his time more productively. Second, the Rebbe emphasized that by continuing to work in the business world, Larry would be “sanctifying G-d’s name,” creating a positive impression on people who otherwise might not encounter a proud Jew.
The Rebbe acknowledged that it was strange for him to be advising someone to pursue business rather than study Torah. “Nevertheless, it is a good idea to show an example of a successful businessman who has set times every day to learn Torah,” he said.
Larry took the Rebbe’s advice and continued working in the plastics and real estate fields for many years.
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