By COLlive reporter
Rabbi Yitzchak Dovid Grossman, Chief Rabbi of Migdal HaEmek in Israel who is known for his Migdal Ohr educational institutions and his outreach work, was visiting New York City this month, he told Ba’kehila magazine in Israel.
A delay in transportation left him on Fifth Avenue with time on his hands, so he decided to walk to the nearby Chabad of Midtown Manhattan, run by Rabbi Yehoshua Metzger.
Rabbi Grossman, member of the Chief Rabbinate Council of Israel, came in time for Mincha. After prayers, a person sitting on the sidelines caught his eye.
“A large fellow was sitting on a mattress,” he says. “When I looked over at him, I noticed that there was a tear on his clothing, as is the custom of mourners. I rushed over and sat with him.”
The man told the visiting rabbi that he was a Baal Teshuva who was born in France, who started he journey back to Judaism after his father fell ill many years ago. His mother had just passed away.
“I started to comfort him and he suddenly burst into tears,” the rabbi said. “He told me about his many hardships he faces as a Baal Teshuva in the big city and his separation from his family. I strengthened him and it seemed to calm him.”
Rabbi Grossman went on to tell the man about a phone call he got during his visit in New York about a Baalas Teshuva woman who had been learning in a Jewish seminary for 3 years; her family forbade her from returning.
Rabbi Grossman related that the director of the seminary asked him to get involved. The rabbi agreed and called the young woman. “She just heard my voice and she started crying. I asked her what happened and she said that she was at that moment asking Hashem to give her a sign that He loves and remembers her.”
As Rabbi Grossman concluded the story, the man who was sitting shiva began to tear up. “Rabbi, you won’t beleive this, but I was just thinking to myself, “my whole family is sitting together in France, and how is it that I am sitting alone, while the reason I left was to increase my connection with Hashem?!”
The man added, “I asked Hashem give my a sign that I am going in the right direction. I asked Him to give me a sign that He remembers and loves me. And just then you came over and told me about the phone call you had.”
Deeply moved, Rabbi Grossman blessed the man and commented to the others in the room, “perhaps I came here just for him…”
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must be HaShem’s way of encouraging achdus!
Great story for my bunk around the bonfire
Yasher koach to rabbi metzger for providing a yid with a place to mourn his loss and the same for R. Grossman for taking time to comfort a yid in need
May you only know of good!
chabad of midtown minhattan is the best and rabbi metzger is doing a great job there!