Rabbi Thanks Ping Pong Star

Estee Ackerman, the 11-year-old table tennis star who was recently disqualified from the national finals when she refused to play on Friday evening, was praised by a Chabad rabbi.

Rabbi Anchelle Perl, Director of Chabad of Mineola in Long Island, NY, and an old family friend, stopped by the Ackerman residence to shared an intriguing lesson from his hand-made Passover ‘generational chain.’

Rabbi Perl began by lauding the Kiddush Hashem she created by stating, “my yiddishkeit and observance of Shabbat is more important than ping pong.”

He said that the statement reminded many that they are members of the Jewish people, who are links in “a chain that started over 3,000 years ago and will make it to the finish line with the coming of Moshiach.”

Pointing to his generational chain made of key rings, Perl said: “It is now 3,300 years since we received that freedom in Egypt at Passover. If we imagine the average age of having a child to be about 25 years of age, there are four generations each century. That means there is a total of 132 people stretching from our forefathers in Egypt to us today.

“132 people have sat Seder night after Seder night, year after year, and with every fiber of their heart and soul have made sure that this treasure would become mine and yours. Today’s generation are the 133rd link in this holy chain, standing strong on the vertical shoulders of 132 people, begging us not to disappoint them.”

He added that “today we must make sure that the younger generation, the 134th link in this holy chain, learn of their sacred Torah responsibilities and to pass on our legacy to number 135.”