By Dovid Zaklikowski for COLlive and Hasidic Archives
Canadian land developer Louis Mayzel was upbeat and goodhearted, but above all, he was a man of action. Some said that he lived up to the dictum of the Mishnaic sages: “Speak little and do much.” If Mr. Mayzel heard of someone in need or something to be done, he would get to work immediately.
“He was never very, very wealthy,” said his daughter Betty Bloomfield, “and we never lived in a huge home or in excess. Yet, he would do anything for another person… Even if he did not have much, he would share it.”
Mr. Mayzel’s philanthropic deeds became legendary. Every time a police officer was fatally wounded, he provided a scholarship fund for the officer’s children.
“Who is Louis Mayzel?” asked a distraught widow when she learned from a reporter that Mr. Mayzel had given each of her four children a $1,000 educational policy. The gifts were always accompanied by words of kindness and compassion.
“What’s the purpose of living,” Mr. Mayzel would say, “if not for helping [others]? If you are only for yourself, who are you? Love and kindness is the basis of humanity.”
He was active in Bnai Brith, and helped establish the Leonard Mayzel Ontario Lodge, named after his nephew. Throughout his lifetime, he was an ardent supporter of Israel, its causes and activists.
On the eve of the holiday of Sukkos, Mr. Mayzel would drive around Toronto with a truckload of plywood and a carpenter, building sukkahs for people who could not afford their own. (Sukkos commemorates G-d’s protection of the Hebrews as they traveled through the desert after being liberated from slavery in Egypt.)
He was once assisting someone with building a sukkah when the swinging hammer hit his finger, which began to bleed. Someone brought him a bandage, but he said, “If a bit of blood spills for a mitzvah [good deed], I do not need a bandage.”
One year, when his financial situation was tough, he drove around with a friend, pointing out the sukkahs he had helped build. “I could be down financially,” he said, “but—you see that sukkah and that sukkah?—No one can take away that good deed from me.”
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A TRUE CHOSID!
Avery special jew who’s love for the rebbe knew no boundaries are family had the zechus that when he came to the rebbe he stayed in our house