When the German Foreign Minister Arrived for Yizkor
The Channel Tunnel & the Link of Generations
- April 5, 2017
- |
- 9 Nisan 5777
Rabbi YY Jacobson
29 viewsWhen the German Foreign Minister Arrived for Yizkor
The Channel Tunnel & the Link of Generations
Rabbi YY Jacobson
- April 5, 2017
The Dream
A woman woke up one morning and told her husband, “I just dreamed that you gave me a pearl necklace for Valentine’s Day. What do you think it means?”
Her husband replied, “You’ll know tonight!”
His wife was ecstatic. Her heart melted in romance as she anticipated her husband’s gift.
That evening the man came home with a small package and gave it to his wife.
Excited and delighted, she opened it and found inside a book entitled: “The Meaning of Dreams.”
The Channel Tunnel
The Channel Tunnel is one of the biggest engineering projects ever undertaken in the world. Taking more than five years to complete, with more than 13,000 workers from England and France collaborating to realize the vision, the tunnel has been named one of the seven wonders of the modern world.
It is the longest undersea railway tunnel in the world, beneath the English Channel, linking Britain to Europe.
For millennia, England was an island country, with natural protection. The Romans, Napoleon and Hitler all attempted unsuccessfully to defeat Britain by mastering the English Channel. Hitler planned to build a tunnel, but it never worked.
Finally, in 1988, the work began—it is an incredible modern feat.
The Channel Tunnel is a 31-mile rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent, in the United Kingdom, with Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais, near Calais in northern France, beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. At its lowest point, it is 250 ft deep below the sea bed, and 380 ft below sea level.at 23.5 miles, the tunnel has the longest undersea portion of any tunnel in the world. The speed limit for trains in the tunnel is 99 mph.
The conditions underwater were treacherous. Simply building the machines to travel under the water, cut through rock and earth, was incredibly complicated.
Ideas for a cross-Channel fixed link appeared as early as 1802, but British political and press pressure over the compromising of national security stalled attempts to construct a tunnel.
The eventual successful project, organized by Eurotunnel, began construction in 1988 and opened in 1994.
It was at the time the most expensive construction project ever proposed and most ambitious technological project ever attempted. It took 13,000 workers, some did not survive. The cost came in at $21 billion.
An anecdote:
In the 1860’s, when the British and French began thinking again of the idea about building a tunnel under the English Channel to connect their two countries, the engineering companies estimated that it would cost over $20 million (U.S.) to complete– not a small piece of change 150 years ago
So the story goes that a little old Jewish man heard about their plans. He approached the Commissioner of Transportation and said he would do the job for 1 million.
“How’s that possible?” he asked.
“Listen, my son will start digging from one end, I’ll start digging from the other end and we’ll meet in the middle.”
“What happens if you miss?”
“So,” he shrugged, “You’ll have two tunnels.”
If you are wondering, he didn’t get the job!
Miracle of the Eye
But today I want to tell you about another such project, this one does not take six year, or cost 21 billion, or involve 13,000 workers.
In a recent study of embryonic science, it was discovered that when the eye begins to form in an unborn fetus, protruding from the back of the eyeball is the optic nerve containing approximately 1,000,000 individual nerve fibers.
“Coincidentally,” the brain also starts developing the other end of the optic nerve, also with approx. 1,000,000 nerve fibers.
In terms of actual measurement, the distance between the two ends is less than 3 inches. But in cellular size, that’s the equivalent of millions of miles. Over a short period of time, the two ends find each other amidst the myriad of other nerves of the body, join each other seamlessly, accurately matching all 1,000,000 fibers. This is what allows our eyes to see.
The English Tunnel, finally completed in 1994 took six years to build, required some of the most sophisticated, heavy equipment and computerized monitoring, plus many robots, cost $21 billion and came in 80% over budget. Many workers lost their lives. It still has its occasional problems, but overall, it works fine.
There are 7 billion people in the world, with hundreds of billions of mammals, insects, fish and birds. We all, more or less, share the same physiology of the eye. In almost every instance throughout the world, throughout history, the eye-brain connection has worked flawlessly. No heavy equipment, no 21 billion, and no two tunnels.
A marvelous bit of engineering from the Supreme Engineer – G-d.
And this brings me to a third link I want to discuss today—represented by Passover and by Yizkor, which is all about linking “two tunnels,” the past and the future.
Children
We live in a world where we often forget the most vital and important things: Linking the past and the future.
Recently I read of a Rabbi in the West Coast telling of a member who passed away and meeting with the family to prepare his words of eulogy.
“Tell me about your father,” he asked. After a long silence one of his sons volunteered: “Dad loved golf.” Rabbi Feinstein responded that that was nice but “What else did he love, what were his passions? Golf, they all agreed … just golf. Just golf?
What did he dream of, what were his values, his causes? Well, he always wanted to live on a golf course.”
So, the Rabbi writes: “I prepared a eulogy all about golf. It’s not so hard to do: 18 is chai.”
But we can all do better than that. The first thing Moses told us as a people was “vihigadeta levincha,” tell the story to your children. Build a link between the past and the future. Never get too busy to forget your most vital duty and privilege: yizkor. Remember where you come from, and pass it on to the next generation.
Suitcases
I read a wonderful story:
A man is struggling through a bus station, carrying two huge suitcases, when someone walks up to him, and says: “Excuse me, sir, do you know the time? The man sighs, puts down the two cumbersome suitcases, digs into his pocket, and pulls out a watch. He speaks to the watch and says: “Time, please”. A voice comes out of the watch and says” “The time is five thirty two and a quarter, sir.”
“Wow! That’s some watch! Says the stranger. The man says: “Oh, that’s nothing. Let me show you what else this watch can do.”
He speaks to the watch and says: “Give me the time in Japan, please”. And in a fraction of a second, the watch gives him the time in Japan and the man then asks for the time in Berlin, in Italy, in the Belgium Congo, and again, in a fraction of a second, the watch gives him the time in those places.
“Now look at these wedding photos,” the man said, and within a millisecond, photographs of his wedding appeared in front of them.
“Now play Bach,” he said, and music filled the space as the wedding album scrolled down.
“This watch is a super-powerful, voice-activated, state of the art computer, which is in contact with all of the world’s satellites. And it is also a two-way radio that reaches halfway around the globe.”
“I want to buy it!” said the stranger.
“Oh no, it is not for sale yet. I am still working out the bugs,” said the man.
“I’ve got to have that watch!” said the stranger.
“I’ll give you fifty thousand dollars for it!”
“Oh no, I have already spent more than….” Said the man.
The stranger pulled out a big fat wallet. “Here is two hundred thousand dollars in cash. Count it if you want to.” The stranger thrust the money at the man. “Here, take it. I have to catch my bus!” he said.
“Alright,” said the man, and he took the timepiece and handed it to the stranger.
The stranger smiled and put the watch in his pocket, and started to walk away.
“Hey! Wait a minute!” said the man.
The stranger turned back warily. The man pointed to the two heavy suitcases that he had been struggling to carry through the bus station, and said:
“Don’t forget the batteries.”
Remember the Heavy Price
Sometimes we think we got ourselves the most expensive prize, but we do not realize they exact a heavy price from us. It comes with heavy batteries that we have to shlep with us wherever we go.
Many of us embrace whatever seems so fun and exciting and modern, but forget that there is a price to pay. I love possessions as much as anyone else, but if we have to give all our time and all our strength to accumulating them, and then we have less time and less strength for our children, our mates or for ourselves … we have to ask ourselves: couldn’t we live with a little less … make 5% less to have 5% more time to enjoy life? Think about that man on the bus with his wonderful watch, but who has to carry those heavy bags of batteries with him whatever he does or else the watch doesn’t work.
“Yoo Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg” is a beautiful documentary about Molly Goldberg … she was the star of a radio show and then a television show – in the early ‘50’s. She was one of the first distinctly Jewish personalities on the TV screen. And in the documentary there is a cut from one of the shows where her husband, Jake, says to her, “Molly, I dreamed that someday we will eat off of gold dishes.” And she turns to him and says, “Why? Do you think the food will taste any better?”
Warren Buffet, the Oracle of Omaha, knows a thing or two about money and success. And yet, in a recent biography he is quoted as having told a group of business school students, “Basically, when you get to my age you’ll really measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you, actually do love you. I know people who have a lot of money and they get testimonial dinners and they get hospital wings named after them … but the truth is that nobody in the world loves them.”
The Funeral
Rabbi Harold Kushner tells when he was a pulpit rabbi just starting out, a woman came to see him after the Late Friday Night services. She told him that she had just gotten a call a few hours earlier telling her that her father had died. And this was her question:
“I have had nothing to do with my father for many years now. He mistreated my mother and me when I was young. He left the family when I was young, and he never sent us the money for alimony and childcare that he was supposed to. He married another woman, even though my mother had worked for years in order to send him to Law School, and he had very little to do with us from the time he left. What should I do? I can’t think of a single reason why I should go to his funeral. Can you?”
What would you have said if that woman had asked you that question?
This is what the rabbi told her: “I can’t tell you what to do. You have to make the decision for yourself. But let me try to give you one or two possible reasons why maybe you ought to go to the funeral. The first one is: you won’t be mourning the man who died. You will be crying for the father you always wanted and never had. You will be mourning for the relationship you yearned for and never had, and which it is now too late to ever have. And if your mother chooses to go and mourn, she will be mourning for the marriage she gave her heart to, and never got to enjoy. She will be saying Kaddish for the happy life that she was entitled to but never got.
“And as for whether you should go to the funeral or not, if you go and then later feel that it was a mistake to go, nu. You will feel bad for two or three days, and then you’ll get over it. But if you don’t go, and then later decide that you should have gone, you will feel bad for the rest of your life. You do the math.”
I know that some of us are estranged from our parents. It’s not for me to judge who is right or wrong. All I can tell you is that for your sake, and for theirs if they are still alive, I hope you reach out to them. So reach out. And if they don’t appreciate it … IT IS THEIR PROBLEM, not yours! At least you will know that you did the right thing. And if they are not alive, now in these moments before Yizkor, you can reach out and speak to them once again.
The Answering Machine
I recently read this piece entitled “A Grandparents Answering Machine.”
This is how it works.
Good morning . . . At present we are not at home but, please leave your message after you hear the beep. Beeeeeppp...
1. If you are one of our children, dial 1 and then select the option from 1 to 5 in order of "arrival" so we know who it is.
2. If you need us to stay with the children, press 2.
3. If you want to borrow the car, press 3.
4. If you want us to wash your clothes and do the ironing, press 4.
5. If you want the grandchildren to sleep here tonight, press 5.
6. If you want us to pick up the kids at school, press 6.
7. If you want us to prepare a meal for Sunday or to have it delivered to your home, press 7.
8. If you want to come to eat here, press 8.
9. If you need money, dial 9.
If you are going to invite us to dinner, or taking us to the theater, start talking … we are listening!
Don’t Neglect Your Roots
That is why we are named Yisroel. Benei Yisroel. Why not children of Abraham, the first Jew? Or even children of Jacob, the original name of the man later names Yisroel?
Yisroel is an acronym for:
ישראל: יצחק, יעקב, שרה, רבקה, רחל, אברהם, לאה.
The essence of Jewish identity is remember our past, our foundation, our parents, grandparents, and ancestors all the way back to our patriarchs and matriarchs.
Sears Roebuck, founded in 1893, came to symbolize the American way of life. By the mid-1950’s one in every five Americans shopped at Sears. As a symbol of its success they built the Sears Tower in Chicago, which when built this 1450 foot skyscraper was the tallest of its kind. The head of the company explained, “We are the largest company in the country and so it is fitting that we should have the largest headquarters in the country.”
But times changed and time moved on … and now the Sears Tower is the Willis Tower. That’s life!
It was Charles DeGaulle who said, “Cemeteries are filled with irreplaceable people.” We are all replaceable to everyone … everyone except our family! I’m a husband, a father, a grandfather, a brother… no one else will be able to fill those roles.
Your lawyer won’t say kaddish on your yarzheit. Your partner at the company won’t think of you on the day of your anniversary. Your stockbroker, if he comes to say Yizkor, won’t be saying it with you in mind. Only your family will!
The Yizkor Moment
The “Seridei Eish” Rabbi Yechiel Yakov Weinberg, (1884-1966) is recognized as one of the 20th century’s greatest posekim, masters of Jewish law, who presided during the most challenging times at the rise of Nazism between the two world wars and survived the horrors of the Holocaust.
He combined a vast knowledge of Jewish law, an in-depth capacity to decipher many obscure sources and the ability to blend his encyclopedic knowledge of the sciences into his response. He served as the fame Rosh Yeshiva of the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary in Berlin.
One of his foremost students is Rabbi Avraham Abba Weingort, who currently heads the publishing house that prints the Seridei Eish’s manuscripts, and resides in Jerusalem.
He related the following story to a crowd in the city of Modi’in where he was recently invited to speak
It happened at one of the central shule’s in Berlin, at the time when the community gathered for the Yom Kippur service.
Although many of those attending were influenced by the winds of change that were sweeping Germany and Europe, but on this sacred day, they all showed up to participate in the YK service and allow their souls to soak up the holiness of this day.
When the Torah reading was completed, everyone was preparing for the solemn Yizkor’ prayer for the souls of their departed loved ones.
Those whose parents were amongst the living, made their way to the courtyard of the shul, whilst the rest remained inside.
As they were waiting outside for the signal to re-enter the shul and commence the Musaf prayer, they were all taken by surprise to see a motorcade approaching their shul and parking alongside the front entrance. With two official escorts, the fancy car came to a halt, and a police officer came out to open the door of this car. To everyone’s shock and dismay, who emerged if none other than Walther Rathenau the German statesman who served as Foreign Minister during the Weimar Republic. He was an assimilated German Jew, who was assassinated in 1922.
Walther made his way into the large shule, ignoring all the stares and looks of the bystanders. He took a siddur and prepared to recite the Yizkor for his beloved parents.
Although, far from any trace of Jewish observance, Yizkor occupied a sacred spot in his heart.
At the conclusion of the Yizkor, he closed the siddur, turned around and made his way outside, into the car that was patiently waiting for him all along, and drove away.
A commotion erupted inside the Synagogue. ‘What a shanda, blatant desecration of this holy day’, some said. ‘How dare he walks in to our shule, with such disregard for the solemn day, comes in for 10 minutes and then leaves’!!
This is when R’ Yechiel Yakov Weinberg walked up to the Bima and requested to say a few words. The shule become silent.
‘How dare anyone can even contemplate spurning the sincere actions of Walther Rathenau, who came to recite the Yizkor prayer for the memory of his parents’?
‘Is there any greater Mitzvah than to show love and respect to our parents, alive or otherwise? Yes, he is sadly removed from any religious observance, but this does not give us the right to despise him. I am certain, said the Sredei Eish, that his action of displaying such love and respect to his parents, will strengthen his connection to his hollowed past and even to his future. I have no doubt that this action will influence his decedents in the future’.
The heartfelt words of the Sredei Eish left a strong impression on the congregants, and they continued with the Musaf prayer.
When Rabbi Avraham Abba Weingort, concluded this story, one of the participants of the crowd stood up, and with tears flowing from his eyes said, ‘How true were the words of your teacher and mentor the ‘Sredei Eish’.
You see, I am a great-grandson of Walther Rathenau, the ‘assimilated Jew’ who occupied his role as Foreign Minister for a short few years until he was sadly assassinated because of his Jewishness. My father already fully returned to his roots and I too continue to follow in his footsteps.
Friends, this is the power of Judaism to link “tunnels” and generations. We never forget our past, so that our future does not forget us.
Our greatest investment can be in the future. Give your children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, the gift of Yidishkeit, of Torah and of Mitzvos. The “tunnel” that has taken us on an incredible journey over thousands of years and hundreds of thousands of miles, throughout the entire world, under some of the most difficult conditions, must continue to inspire us to continue the journey, until we reach the destination speedily in our days.
The Letter
There is a Rabbi who recently shared an amazing experience.
He officiated at the funeral of an elderly woman. Her son got up to eulogize her. His eulogy consisted of reading a letter, and here are excerpts of what he had to say:
About 12 years ago I wrote my mother a letter. She made me promise that I would save it and read it as her eulogy. Mom, I keep my promises.
Mother, First and foremost, I LOVE YOU! I know that you know it, but I also know that I haven’t said it enough. Although some things may go without saying, others must be said, so I’ll say it again: I LOVE YOU.
Throughout the years you have always been there when I needed you. How you did it, I’ll never know. “Thank you” seems so inadequate but what else can I say?
Now before you get too big of a head, you’re not perfect. God does not create perfect people. I still disagree with some of your advice and opinions. That is a child’s prerogative. But, as the song says, “… with all your faults, I love you still!”
I wouldn’t trade those faults for anything.
I probably shouldn’t be talking about this but I will. Eventually God will call you to come to him for your just and eternal reward. When that day comes, there will be such a void created in my life that I couldn’t possibly begin to compare to anything that has happened to me. What makes it worse is that, on that most sorrowful day of my life, I won’t have your shoulder.
I do know, however, that you will be looking down on us from heaven and that all those prayers you uttered on behalf of me and my family will, from that day through eternity, be delivered by you directly to the Almighty.
This was the eulogy a boy read at his mother’s funeral.
My friends, if you are fortunate enough to have a living parent, why don’t you write them such a letter? Believe me when I tell you: every parent’s dream is to get such a letter … to be told that they are loved and appreciated. And if your parents are gone, now is the time … you can speak these words to them. Remember the words: “You’re not perfect. God does not create perfect people. Yes, I still disagree with some of your advice and opinions—that is a child’s prerogative. But as the song says: with all your faults, I love you still. I wouldn’t trade those faults for anything.”
Write those words, say those words, live those words … and hopefully someday your dream will come true and those words will be said of you.
And if you are fortunate enough to be living in a home where you are not living alone, tonight – and every night – say to your loved ones the words some of our mothers said to all of us before we went to sleep. Remember?
Good Night
Sleep well
I love you
And add: pleasant dreams!
- Comment
Class Summary:
The Channel Tunnel is one of the biggest engineering projects ever undertaken in the world. Taking more than five years to complete, with more than 13,000 workers from England and France collaborating to realize the vision, the tunnel has been named one of the seven wonders of the modern world.
It is the longest undersea rail way tunnel in the world, beneath the English Channel, linking Britain to Europe.
For millennia, England was an island country, with natural protection. The Romans, Napoleon and Hitler all attempted unsuccessfully to defeat Britain by mastering the English Channel. Hitler planned to build a tunnel, but it never worked.
Finally, in 1988, the work began—it is an incredible modern feat.
But we have our own challenging tunnel dig to link the past and the future—and that is the essence of Yizkor. It is the reason we are forever defined as “children of Israel,” not “children of Abraham.”
The story of the Jewish German Foregien Minister, later assassinated, who arrived to shul for Yizkor and the crowd was up in arms, yet Rabbi Yechiel Weinberg defended him. The results of that event were incredible. The story of son who read, at his mother’s funeral, a letter he wrote to her 12 years earlier. The story of the woman who did not want to show up at her father’s funeral, due to his abuse and the advice she got from her Rabbi. The story of a eulogy that has nothing else to it besides the theme of golf.
The science of how millions of fibers in the eye and the brain meet up; the anecdote of the two suitcases; what Warren Buffet said about real friends; what happens to Sears in Chicago—all these anecdotes and stories teach us about our privilege to invest in our link to our past and our link to our future.
The Dream
A woman woke up one morning and told her husband, “I just dreamed that you gave me a pearl necklace for Valentine’s Day. What do you think it means?”
Her husband replied, “You’ll know tonight!”
His wife was ecstatic. Her heart melted in romance as she anticipated her husband’s gift.
That evening the man came home with a small package and gave it to his wife.
Excited and delighted, she opened it and found inside a book entitled: “The Meaning of Dreams.”
The Channel Tunnel
The Channel Tunnel is one of the biggest engineering projects ever undertaken in the world. Taking more than five years to complete, with more than 13,000 workers from England and France collaborating to realize the vision, the tunnel has been named one of the seven wonders of the modern world.
It is the longest undersea railway tunnel in the world, beneath the English Channel, linking Britain to Europe.
For millennia, England was an island country, with natural protection. The Romans, Napoleon and Hitler all attempted unsuccessfully to defeat Britain by mastering the English Channel. Hitler planned to build a tunnel, but it never worked.
Finally, in 1988, the work began—it is an incredible modern feat.
The Channel Tunnel is a 31-mile rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent, in the United Kingdom, with Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais, near Calais in northern France, beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. At its lowest point, it is 250 ft deep below the sea bed, and 380 ft below sea level.at 23.5 miles, the tunnel has the longest undersea portion of any tunnel in the world. The speed limit for trains in the tunnel is 99 mph.
The conditions underwater were treacherous. Simply building the machines to travel under the water, cut through rock and earth, was incredibly complicated.
Ideas for a cross-Channel fixed link appeared as early as 1802, but British political and press pressure over the compromising of national security stalled attempts to construct a tunnel.
The eventual successful project, organized by Eurotunnel, began construction in 1988 and opened in 1994.
It was at the time the most expensive construction project ever proposed and most ambitious technological project ever attempted. It took 13,000 workers, some did not survive. The cost came in at $21 billion.
An anecdote:
In the 1860’s, when the British and French began thinking again of the idea about building a tunnel under the English Channel to connect their two countries, the engineering companies estimated that it would cost over $20 million (U.S.) to complete– not a small piece of change 150 years ago
So the story goes that a little old Jewish man heard about their plans. He approached the Commissioner of Transportation and said he would do the job for 1 million.
“How’s that possible?” he asked.
“Listen, my son will start digging from one end, I’ll start digging from the other end and we’ll meet in the middle.”
“What happens if you miss?”
“So,” he shrugged, “You’ll have two tunnels.”
If you are wondering, he didn’t get the job!
Miracle of the Eye
But today I want to tell you about another such project, this one does not take six year, or cost 21 billion, or involve 13,000 workers.
In a recent study of embryonic science, it was discovered that when the eye begins to form in an unborn fetus, protruding from the back of the eyeball is the optic nerve containing approximately 1,000,000 individual nerve fibers.
“Coincidentally,” the brain also starts developing the other end of the optic nerve, also with approx. 1,000,000 nerve fibers.
In terms of actual measurement, the distance between the two ends is less than 3 inches. But in cellular size, that’s the equivalent of millions of miles. Over a short period of time, the two ends find each other amidst the myriad of other nerves of the body, join each other seamlessly, accurately matching all 1,000,000 fibers. This is what allows our eyes to see.
The English Tunnel, finally completed in 1994 took six years to build, required some of the most sophisticated, heavy equipment and computerized monitoring, plus many robots, cost $21 billion and came in 80% over budget. Many workers lost their lives. It still has its occasional problems, but overall, it works fine.
There are 7 billion people in the world, with hundreds of billions of mammals, insects, fish and birds. We all, more or less, share the same physiology of the eye. In almost every instance throughout the world, throughout history, the eye-brain connection has worked flawlessly. No heavy equipment, no 21 billion, and no two tunnels.
A marvelous bit of engineering from the Supreme Engineer – G-d.
And this brings me to a third link I want to discuss today—represented by Passover and by Yizkor, which is all about linking “two tunnels,” the past and the future.
Children
We live in a world where we often forget the most vital and important things: Linking the past and the future.
Recently I read of a Rabbi in the West Coast telling of a member who passed away and meeting with the family to prepare his words of eulogy.
“Tell me about your father,” he asked. After a long silence one of his sons volunteered: “Dad loved golf.” Rabbi Feinstein responded that that was nice but “What else did he love, what were his passions? Golf, they all agreed … just golf. Just golf?
What did he dream of, what were his values, his causes? Well, he always wanted to live on a golf course.”
So, the Rabbi writes: “I prepared a eulogy all about golf. It’s not so hard to do: 18 is chai.”
But we can all do better than that. The first thing Moses told us as a people was “vihigadeta levincha,” tell the story to your children. Build a link between the past and the future. Never get too busy to forget your most vital duty and privilege: yizkor. Remember where you come from, and pass it on to the next generation.
Suitcases
I read a wonderful story:
A man is struggling through a bus station, carrying two huge suitcases, when someone walks up to him, and says: “Excuse me, sir, do you know the time? The man sighs, puts down the two cumbersome suitcases, digs into his pocket, and pulls out a watch. He speaks to the watch and says: “Time, please”. A voice comes out of the watch and says” “The time is five thirty two and a quarter, sir.”
“Wow! That’s some watch! Says the stranger. The man says: “Oh, that’s nothing. Let me show you what else this watch can do.”
He speaks to the watch and says: “Give me the time in Japan, please”. And in a fraction of a second, the watch gives him the time in Japan and the man then asks for the time in Berlin, in Italy, in the Belgium Congo, and again, in a fraction of a second, the watch gives him the time in those places.
“Now look at these wedding photos,” the man said, and within a millisecond, photographs of his wedding appeared in front of them.
“Now play Bach,” he said, and music filled the space as the wedding album scrolled down.
“This watch is a super-powerful, voice-activated, state of the art computer, which is in contact with all of the world’s satellites. And it is also a two-way radio that reaches halfway around the globe.”
“I want to buy it!” said the stranger.
“Oh no, it is not for sale yet. I am still working out the bugs,” said the man.
“I’ve got to have that watch!” said the stranger.
“I’ll give you fifty thousand dollars for it!”
“Oh no, I have already spent more than….” Said the man.
The stranger pulled out a big fat wallet. “Here is two hundred thousand dollars in cash. Count it if you want to.” The stranger thrust the money at the man. “Here, take it. I have to catch my bus!” he said.
“Alright,” said the man, and he took the timepiece and handed it to the stranger.
The stranger smiled and put the watch in his pocket, and started to walk away.
“Hey! Wait a minute!” said the man.
The stranger turned back warily. The man pointed to the two heavy suitcases that he had been struggling to carry through the bus station, and said:
“Don’t forget the batteries.”
Remember the Heavy Price
Sometimes we think we got ourselves the most expensive prize, but we do not realize they exact a heavy price from us. It comes with heavy batteries that we have to shlep with us wherever we go.
Many of us embrace whatever seems so fun and exciting and modern, but forget that there is a price to pay. I love possessions as much as anyone else, but if we have to give all our time and all our strength to accumulating them, and then we have less time and less strength for our children, our mates or for ourselves … we have to ask ourselves: couldn’t we live with a little less … make 5% less to have 5% more time to enjoy life? Think about that man on the bus with his wonderful watch, but who has to carry those heavy bags of batteries with him whatever he does or else the watch doesn’t work.
“Yoo Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg” is a beautiful documentary about Molly Goldberg … she was the star of a radio show and then a television show – in the early ‘50’s. She was one of the first distinctly Jewish personalities on the TV screen. And in the documentary there is a cut from one of the shows where her husband, Jake, says to her, “Molly, I dreamed that someday we will eat off of gold dishes.” And she turns to him and says, “Why? Do you think the food will taste any better?”
Warren Buffet, the Oracle of Omaha, knows a thing or two about money and success. And yet, in a recent biography he is quoted as having told a group of business school students, “Basically, when you get to my age you’ll really measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you, actually do love you. I know people who have a lot of money and they get testimonial dinners and they get hospital wings named after them … but the truth is that nobody in the world loves them.”
The Funeral
Rabbi Harold Kushner tells when he was a pulpit rabbi just starting out, a woman came to see him after the Late Friday Night services. She told him that she had just gotten a call a few hours earlier telling her that her father had died. And this was her question:
“I have had nothing to do with my father for many years now. He mistreated my mother and me when I was young. He left the family when I was young, and he never sent us the money for alimony and childcare that he was supposed to. He married another woman, even though my mother had worked for years in order to send him to Law School, and he had very little to do with us from the time he left. What should I do? I can’t think of a single reason why I should go to his funeral. Can you?”
What would you have said if that woman had asked you that question?
This is what the rabbi told her: “I can’t tell you what to do. You have to make the decision for yourself. But let me try to give you one or two possible reasons why maybe you ought to go to the funeral. The first one is: you won’t be mourning the man who died. You will be crying for the father you always wanted and never had. You will be mourning for the relationship you yearned for and never had, and which it is now too late to ever have. And if your mother chooses to go and mourn, she will be mourning for the marriage she gave her heart to, and never got to enjoy. She will be saying Kaddish for the happy life that she was entitled to but never got.
“And as for whether you should go to the funeral or not, if you go and then later feel that it was a mistake to go, nu. You will feel bad for two or three days, and then you’ll get over it. But if you don’t go, and then later decide that you should have gone, you will feel bad for the rest of your life. You do the math.”
I know that some of us are estranged from our parents. It’s not for me to judge who is right or wrong. All I can tell you is that for your sake, and for theirs if they are still alive, I hope you reach out to them. So reach out. And if they don’t appreciate it … IT IS THEIR PROBLEM, not yours! At least you will know that you did the right thing. And if they are not alive, now in these moments before Yizkor, you can reach out and speak to them once again.
The Answering Machine
I recently read this piece entitled “A Grandparents Answering Machine.”
This is how it works.
Good morning . . . At present we are not at home but, please leave your message after you hear the beep. Beeeeeppp...
1. If you are one of our children, dial 1 and then select the option from 1 to 5 in order of "arrival" so we know who it is.
2. If you need us to stay with the children, press 2.
3. If you want to borrow the car, press 3.
4. If you want us to wash your clothes and do the ironing, press 4.
5. If you want the grandchildren to sleep here tonight, press 5.
6. If you want us to pick up the kids at school, press 6.
7. If you want us to prepare a meal for Sunday or to have it delivered to your home, press 7.
8. If you want to come to eat here, press 8.
9. If you need money, dial 9.
If you are going to invite us to dinner, or taking us to the theater, start talking … we are listening!
Don’t Neglect Your Roots
That is why we are named Yisroel. Benei Yisroel. Why not children of Abraham, the first Jew? Or even children of Jacob, the original name of the man later names Yisroel?
Yisroel is an acronym for:
ישראל: יצחק, יעקב, שרה, רבקה, רחל, אברהם, לאה.
The essence of Jewish identity is remember our past, our foundation, our parents, grandparents, and ancestors all the way back to our patriarchs and matriarchs.
Sears Roebuck, founded in 1893, came to symbolize the American way of life. By the mid-1950’s one in every five Americans shopped at Sears. As a symbol of its success they built the Sears Tower in Chicago, which when built this 1450 foot skyscraper was the tallest of its kind. The head of the company explained, “We are the largest company in the country and so it is fitting that we should have the largest headquarters in the country.”
But times changed and time moved on … and now the Sears Tower is the Willis Tower. That’s life!
It was Charles DeGaulle who said, “Cemeteries are filled with irreplaceable people.” We are all replaceable to everyone … everyone except our family! I’m a husband, a father, a grandfather, a brother… no one else will be able to fill those roles.
Your lawyer won’t say kaddish on your yarzheit. Your partner at the company won’t think of you on the day of your anniversary. Your stockbroker, if he comes to say Yizkor, won’t be saying it with you in mind. Only your family will!
The Yizkor Moment
The “Seridei Eish” Rabbi Yechiel Yakov Weinberg, (1884-1966) is recognized as one of the 20th century’s greatest posekim, masters of Jewish law, who presided during the most challenging times at the rise of Nazism between the two world wars and survived the horrors of the Holocaust.
He combined a vast knowledge of Jewish law, an in-depth capacity to decipher many obscure sources and the ability to blend his encyclopedic knowledge of the sciences into his response. He served as the fame Rosh Yeshiva of the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary in Berlin.
One of his foremost students is Rabbi Avraham Abba Weingort, who currently heads the publishing house that prints the Seridei Eish’s manuscripts, and resides in Jerusalem.
He related the following story to a crowd in the city of Modi’in where he was recently invited to speak
It happened at one of the central shule’s in Berlin, at the time when the community gathered for the Yom Kippur service.
Although many of those attending were influenced by the winds of change that were sweeping Germany and Europe, but on this sacred day, they all showed up to participate in the YK service and allow their souls to soak up the holiness of this day.
When the Torah reading was completed, everyone was preparing for the solemn Yizkor’ prayer for the souls of their departed loved ones.
Those whose parents were amongst the living, made their way to the courtyard of the shul, whilst the rest remained inside.
As they were waiting outside for the signal to re-enter the shul and commence the Musaf prayer, they were all taken by surprise to see a motorcade approaching their shul and parking alongside the front entrance. With two official escorts, the fancy car came to a halt, and a police officer came out to open the door of this car. To everyone’s shock and dismay, who emerged if none other than Walther Rathenau the German statesman who served as Foreign Minister during the Weimar Republic. He was an assimilated German Jew, who was assassinated in 1922.
Walther made his way into the large shule, ignoring all the stares and looks of the bystanders. He took a siddur and prepared to recite the Yizkor for his beloved parents.
Although, far from any trace of Jewish observance, Yizkor occupied a sacred spot in his heart.
At the conclusion of the Yizkor, he closed the siddur, turned around and made his way outside, into the car that was patiently waiting for him all along, and drove away.
A commotion erupted inside the Synagogue. ‘What a shanda, blatant desecration of this holy day’, some said. ‘How dare he walks in to our shule, with such disregard for the solemn day, comes in for 10 minutes and then leaves’!!
This is when R’ Yechiel Yakov Weinberg walked up to the Bima and requested to say a few words. The shule become silent.
‘How dare anyone can even contemplate spurning the sincere actions of Walther Rathenau, who came to recite the Yizkor prayer for the memory of his parents’?
‘Is there any greater Mitzvah than to show love and respect to our parents, alive or otherwise? Yes, he is sadly removed from any religious observance, but this does not give us the right to despise him. I am certain, said the Sredei Eish, that his action of displaying such love and respect to his parents, will strengthen his connection to his hollowed past and even to his future. I have no doubt that this action will influence his decedents in the future’.
The heartfelt words of the Sredei Eish left a strong impression on the congregants, and they continued with the Musaf prayer.
When Rabbi Avraham Abba Weingort, concluded this story, one of the participants of the crowd stood up, and with tears flowing from his eyes said, ‘How true were the words of your teacher and mentor the ‘Sredei Eish’.
You see, I am a great-grandson of Walther Rathenau, the ‘assimilated Jew’ who occupied his role as Foreign Minister for a short few years until he was sadly assassinated because of his Jewishness. My father already fully returned to his roots and I too continue to follow in his footsteps.
Friends, this is the power of Judaism to link “tunnels” and generations. We never forget our past, so that our future does not forget us.
Our greatest investment can be in the future. Give your children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, the gift of Yidishkeit, of Torah and of Mitzvos. The “tunnel” that has taken us on an incredible journey over thousands of years and hundreds of thousands of miles, throughout the entire world, under some of the most difficult conditions, must continue to inspire us to continue the journey, until we reach the destination speedily in our days.
The Letter
There is a Rabbi who recently shared an amazing experience.
He officiated at the funeral of an elderly woman. Her son got up to eulogize her. His eulogy consisted of reading a letter, and here are excerpts of what he had to say:
About 12 years ago I wrote my mother a letter. She made me promise that I would save it and read it as her eulogy. Mom, I keep my promises.
Mother, First and foremost, I LOVE YOU! I know that you know it, but I also know that I haven’t said it enough. Although some things may go without saying, others must be said, so I’ll say it again: I LOVE YOU.
Throughout the years you have always been there when I needed you. How you did it, I’ll never know. “Thank you” seems so inadequate but what else can I say?
Now before you get too big of a head, you’re not perfect. God does not create perfect people. I still disagree with some of your advice and opinions. That is a child’s prerogative. But, as the song says, “… with all your faults, I love you still!”
I wouldn’t trade those faults for anything.
I probably shouldn’t be talking about this but I will. Eventually God will call you to come to him for your just and eternal reward. When that day comes, there will be such a void created in my life that I couldn’t possibly begin to compare to anything that has happened to me. What makes it worse is that, on that most sorrowful day of my life, I won’t have your shoulder.
I do know, however, that you will be looking down on us from heaven and that all those prayers you uttered on behalf of me and my family will, from that day through eternity, be delivered by you directly to the Almighty.
This was the eulogy a boy read at his mother’s funeral.
My friends, if you are fortunate enough to have a living parent, why don’t you write them such a letter? Believe me when I tell you: every parent’s dream is to get such a letter … to be told that they are loved and appreciated. And if your parents are gone, now is the time … you can speak these words to them. Remember the words: “You’re not perfect. God does not create perfect people. Yes, I still disagree with some of your advice and opinions—that is a child’s prerogative. But as the song says: with all your faults, I love you still. I wouldn’t trade those faults for anything.”
Write those words, say those words, live those words … and hopefully someday your dream will come true and those words will be said of you.
And if you are fortunate enough to be living in a home where you are not living alone, tonight – and every night – say to your loved ones the words some of our mothers said to all of us before we went to sleep. Remember?
Good Night
Sleep well
I love you
And add: pleasant dreams!
Categories
Pesach 5777
Rabbi YY Jacobson
- April 5, 2017
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- 9 Nisan 5777
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- 29 views
When the German Foreign Minister Arrived for Yizkor
The Channel Tunnel & the Link of Generations
Rabbi YY Jacobson
- April 5, 2017
The Dream
A woman woke up one morning and told her husband, “I just dreamed that you gave me a pearl necklace for Valentine’s Day. What do you think it means?”
Her husband replied, “You’ll know tonight!”
His wife was ecstatic. Her heart melted in romance as she anticipated her husband’s gift.
That evening the man came home with a small package and gave it to his wife.
Excited and delighted, she opened it and found inside a book entitled: “The Meaning of Dreams.”
The Channel Tunnel
The Channel Tunnel is one of the biggest engineering projects ever undertaken in the world. Taking more than five years to complete, with more than 13,000 workers from England and France collaborating to realize the vision, the tunnel has been named one of the seven wonders of the modern world.
It is the longest undersea railway tunnel in the world, beneath the English Channel, linking Britain to Europe.
For millennia, England was an island country, with natural protection. The Romans, Napoleon and Hitler all attempted unsuccessfully to defeat Britain by mastering the English Channel. Hitler planned to build a tunnel, but it never worked.
Finally, in 1988, the work began—it is an incredible modern feat.
The Channel Tunnel is a 31-mile rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent, in the United Kingdom, with Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais, near Calais in northern France, beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. At its lowest point, it is 250 ft deep below the sea bed, and 380 ft below sea level.at 23.5 miles, the tunnel has the longest undersea portion of any tunnel in the world. The speed limit for trains in the tunnel is 99 mph.
The conditions underwater were treacherous. Simply building the machines to travel under the water, cut through rock and earth, was incredibly complicated.
Ideas for a cross-Channel fixed link appeared as early as 1802, but British political and press pressure over the compromising of national security stalled attempts to construct a tunnel.
The eventual successful project, organized by Eurotunnel, began construction in 1988 and opened in 1994.
It was at the time the most expensive construction project ever proposed and most ambitious technological project ever attempted. It took 13,000 workers, some did not survive. The cost came in at $21 billion.
An anecdote:
In the 1860’s, when the British and French began thinking again of the idea about building a tunnel under the English Channel to connect their two countries, the engineering companies estimated that it would cost over $20 million (U.S.) to complete– not a small piece of change 150 years ago
So the story goes that a little old Jewish man heard about their plans. He approached the Commissioner of Transportation and said he would do the job for 1 million.
“How’s that possible?” he asked.
“Listen, my son will start digging from one end, I’ll start digging from the other end and we’ll meet in the middle.”
“What happens if you miss?”
“So,” he shrugged, “You’ll have two tunnels.”
If you are wondering, he didn’t get the job!
Miracle of the Eye
But today I want to tell you about another such project, this one does not take six year, or cost 21 billion, or involve 13,000 workers.
In a recent study of embryonic science, it was discovered that when the eye begins to form in an unborn fetus, protruding from the back of the eyeball is the optic nerve containing approximately 1,000,000 individual nerve fibers.
“Coincidentally,” the brain also starts developing the other end of the optic nerve, also with approx. 1,000,000 nerve fibers.
In terms of actual measurement, the distance between the two ends is less than 3 inches. But in cellular size, that’s the equivalent of millions of miles. Over a short period of time, the two ends find each other amidst the myriad of other nerves of the body, join each other seamlessly, accurately matching all 1,000,000 fibers. This is what allows our eyes to see.
The English Tunnel, finally completed in 1994 took six years to build, required some of the most sophisticated, heavy equipment and computerized monitoring, plus many robots, cost $21 billion and came in 80% over budget. Many workers lost their lives. It still has its occasional problems, but overall, it works fine.
There are 7 billion people in the world, with hundreds of billions of mammals, insects, fish and birds. We all, more or less, share the same physiology of the eye. In almost every instance throughout the world, throughout history, the eye-brain connection has worked flawlessly. No heavy equipment, no 21 billion, and no two tunnels.
A marvelous bit of engineering from the Supreme Engineer – G-d.
And this brings me to a third link I want to discuss today—represented by Passover and by Yizkor, which is all about linking “two tunnels,” the past and the future.
Children
We live in a world where we often forget the most vital and important things: Linking the past and the future.
Recently I read of a Rabbi in the West Coast telling of a member who passed away and meeting with the family to prepare his words of eulogy.
“Tell me about your father,” he asked. After a long silence one of his sons volunteered: “Dad loved golf.” Rabbi Feinstein responded that that was nice but “What else did he love, what were his passions? Golf, they all agreed … just golf. Just golf?
What did he dream of, what were his values, his causes? Well, he always wanted to live on a golf course.”
So, the Rabbi writes: “I prepared a eulogy all about golf. It’s not so hard to do: 18 is chai.”
But we can all do better than that. The first thing Moses told us as a people was “vihigadeta levincha,” tell the story to your children. Build a link between the past and the future. Never get too busy to forget your most vital duty and privilege: yizkor. Remember where you come from, and pass it on to the next generation.
Suitcases
I read a wonderful story:
A man is struggling through a bus station, carrying two huge suitcases, when someone walks up to him, and says: “Excuse me, sir, do you know the time? The man sighs, puts down the two cumbersome suitcases, digs into his pocket, and pulls out a watch. He speaks to the watch and says: “Time, please”. A voice comes out of the watch and says” “The time is five thirty two and a quarter, sir.”
“Wow! That’s some watch! Says the stranger. The man says: “Oh, that’s nothing. Let me show you what else this watch can do.”
He speaks to the watch and says: “Give me the time in Japan, please”. And in a fraction of a second, the watch gives him the time in Japan and the man then asks for the time in Berlin, in Italy, in the Belgium Congo, and again, in a fraction of a second, the watch gives him the time in those places.
“Now look at these wedding photos,” the man said, and within a millisecond, photographs of his wedding appeared in front of them.
“Now play Bach,” he said, and music filled the space as the wedding album scrolled down.
“This watch is a super-powerful, voice-activated, state of the art computer, which is in contact with all of the world’s satellites. And it is also a two-way radio that reaches halfway around the globe.”
“I want to buy it!” said the stranger.
“Oh no, it is not for sale yet. I am still working out the bugs,” said the man.
“I’ve got to have that watch!” said the stranger.
“I’ll give you fifty thousand dollars for it!”
“Oh no, I have already spent more than….” Said the man.
The stranger pulled out a big fat wallet. “Here is two hundred thousand dollars in cash. Count it if you want to.” The stranger thrust the money at the man. “Here, take it. I have to catch my bus!” he said.
“Alright,” said the man, and he took the timepiece and handed it to the stranger.
The stranger smiled and put the watch in his pocket, and started to walk away.
“Hey! Wait a minute!” said the man.
The stranger turned back warily. The man pointed to the two heavy suitcases that he had been struggling to carry through the bus station, and said:
“Don’t forget the batteries.”
Remember the Heavy Price
Sometimes we think we got ourselves the most expensive prize, but we do not realize they exact a heavy price from us. It comes with heavy batteries that we have to shlep with us wherever we go.
Many of us embrace whatever seems so fun and exciting and modern, but forget that there is a price to pay. I love possessions as much as anyone else, but if we have to give all our time and all our strength to accumulating them, and then we have less time and less strength for our children, our mates or for ourselves … we have to ask ourselves: couldn’t we live with a little less … make 5% less to have 5% more time to enjoy life? Think about that man on the bus with his wonderful watch, but who has to carry those heavy bags of batteries with him whatever he does or else the watch doesn’t work.
“Yoo Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg” is a beautiful documentary about Molly Goldberg … she was the star of a radio show and then a television show – in the early ‘50’s. She was one of the first distinctly Jewish personalities on the TV screen. And in the documentary there is a cut from one of the shows where her husband, Jake, says to her, “Molly, I dreamed that someday we will eat off of gold dishes.” And she turns to him and says, “Why? Do you think the food will taste any better?”
Warren Buffet, the Oracle of Omaha, knows a thing or two about money and success. And yet, in a recent biography he is quoted as having told a group of business school students, “Basically, when you get to my age you’ll really measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you, actually do love you. I know people who have a lot of money and they get testimonial dinners and they get hospital wings named after them … but the truth is that nobody in the world loves them.”
The Funeral
Rabbi Harold Kushner tells when he was a pulpit rabbi just starting out, a woman came to see him after the Late Friday Night services. She told him that she had just gotten a call a few hours earlier telling her that her father had died. And this was her question:
“I have had nothing to do with my father for many years now. He mistreated my mother and me when I was young. He left the family when I was young, and he never sent us the money for alimony and childcare that he was supposed to. He married another woman, even though my mother had worked for years in order to send him to Law School, and he had very little to do with us from the time he left. What should I do? I can’t think of a single reason why I should go to his funeral. Can you?”
What would you have said if that woman had asked you that question?
This is what the rabbi told her: “I can’t tell you what to do. You have to make the decision for yourself. But let me try to give you one or two possible reasons why maybe you ought to go to the funeral. The first one is: you won’t be mourning the man who died. You will be crying for the father you always wanted and never had. You will be mourning for the relationship you yearned for and never had, and which it is now too late to ever have. And if your mother chooses to go and mourn, she will be mourning for the marriage she gave her heart to, and never got to enjoy. She will be saying Kaddish for the happy life that she was entitled to but never got.
“And as for whether you should go to the funeral or not, if you go and then later feel that it was a mistake to go, nu. You will feel bad for two or three days, and then you’ll get over it. But if you don’t go, and then later decide that you should have gone, you will feel bad for the rest of your life. You do the math.”
I know that some of us are estranged from our parents. It’s not for me to judge who is right or wrong. All I can tell you is that for your sake, and for theirs if they are still alive, I hope you reach out to them. So reach out. And if they don’t appreciate it … IT IS THEIR PROBLEM, not yours! At least you will know that you did the right thing. And if they are not alive, now in these moments before Yizkor, you can reach out and speak to them once again.
The Answering Machine
I recently read this piece entitled “A Grandparents Answering Machine.”
This is how it works.
Good morning . . . At present we are not at home but, please leave your message after you hear the beep. Beeeeeppp...
1. If you are one of our children, dial 1 and then select the option from 1 to 5 in order of "arrival" so we know who it is.
2. If you need us to stay with the children, press 2.
3. If you want to borrow the car, press 3.
4. If you want us to wash your clothes and do the ironing, press 4.
5. If you want the grandchildren to sleep here tonight, press 5.
6. If you want us to pick up the kids at school, press 6.
7. If you want us to prepare a meal for Sunday or to have it delivered to your home, press 7.
8. If you want to come to eat here, press 8.
9. If you need money, dial 9.
If you are going to invite us to dinner, or taking us to the theater, start talking … we are listening!
Don’t Neglect Your Roots
That is why we are named Yisroel. Benei Yisroel. Why not children of Abraham, the first Jew? Or even children of Jacob, the original name of the man later names Yisroel?
Yisroel is an acronym for:
ישראל: יצחק, יעקב, שרה, רבקה, רחל, אברהם, לאה.
The essence of Jewish identity is remember our past, our foundation, our parents, grandparents, and ancestors all the way back to our patriarchs and matriarchs.
Sears Roebuck, founded in 1893, came to symbolize the American way of life. By the mid-1950’s one in every five Americans shopped at Sears. As a symbol of its success they built the Sears Tower in Chicago, which when built this 1450 foot skyscraper was the tallest of its kind. The head of the company explained, “We are the largest company in the country and so it is fitting that we should have the largest headquarters in the country.”
But times changed and time moved on … and now the Sears Tower is the Willis Tower. That’s life!
It was Charles DeGaulle who said, “Cemeteries are filled with irreplaceable people.” We are all replaceable to everyone … everyone except our family! I’m a husband, a father, a grandfather, a brother… no one else will be able to fill those roles.
Your lawyer won’t say kaddish on your yarzheit. Your partner at the company won’t think of you on the day of your anniversary. Your stockbroker, if he comes to say Yizkor, won’t be saying it with you in mind. Only your family will!
The Yizkor Moment
The “Seridei Eish” Rabbi Yechiel Yakov Weinberg, (1884-1966) is recognized as one of the 20th century’s greatest posekim, masters of Jewish law, who presided during the most challenging times at the rise of Nazism between the two world wars and survived the horrors of the Holocaust.
He combined a vast knowledge of Jewish law, an in-depth capacity to decipher many obscure sources and the ability to blend his encyclopedic knowledge of the sciences into his response. He served as the fame Rosh Yeshiva of the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary in Berlin.
One of his foremost students is Rabbi Avraham Abba Weingort, who currently heads the publishing house that prints the Seridei Eish’s manuscripts, and resides in Jerusalem.
He related the following story to a crowd in the city of Modi’in where he was recently invited to speak
It happened at one of the central shule’s in Berlin, at the time when the community gathered for the Yom Kippur service.
Although many of those attending were influenced by the winds of change that were sweeping Germany and Europe, but on this sacred day, they all showed up to participate in the YK service and allow their souls to soak up the holiness of this day.
When the Torah reading was completed, everyone was preparing for the solemn Yizkor’ prayer for the souls of their departed loved ones.
Those whose parents were amongst the living, made their way to the courtyard of the shul, whilst the rest remained inside.
As they were waiting outside for the signal to re-enter the shul and commence the Musaf prayer, they were all taken by surprise to see a motorcade approaching their shul and parking alongside the front entrance. With two official escorts, the fancy car came to a halt, and a police officer came out to open the door of this car. To everyone’s shock and dismay, who emerged if none other than Walther Rathenau the German statesman who served as Foreign Minister during the Weimar Republic. He was an assimilated German Jew, who was assassinated in 1922.
Walther made his way into the large shule, ignoring all the stares and looks of the bystanders. He took a siddur and prepared to recite the Yizkor for his beloved parents.
Although, far from any trace of Jewish observance, Yizkor occupied a sacred spot in his heart.
At the conclusion of the Yizkor, he closed the siddur, turned around and made his way outside, into the car that was patiently waiting for him all along, and drove away.
A commotion erupted inside the Synagogue. ‘What a shanda, blatant desecration of this holy day’, some said. ‘How dare he walks in to our shule, with such disregard for the solemn day, comes in for 10 minutes and then leaves’!!
This is when R’ Yechiel Yakov Weinberg walked up to the Bima and requested to say a few words. The shule become silent.
‘How dare anyone can even contemplate spurning the sincere actions of Walther Rathenau, who came to recite the Yizkor prayer for the memory of his parents’?
‘Is there any greater Mitzvah than to show love and respect to our parents, alive or otherwise? Yes, he is sadly removed from any religious observance, but this does not give us the right to despise him. I am certain, said the Sredei Eish, that his action of displaying such love and respect to his parents, will strengthen his connection to his hollowed past and even to his future. I have no doubt that this action will influence his decedents in the future’.
The heartfelt words of the Sredei Eish left a strong impression on the congregants, and they continued with the Musaf prayer.
When Rabbi Avraham Abba Weingort, concluded this story, one of the participants of the crowd stood up, and with tears flowing from his eyes said, ‘How true were the words of your teacher and mentor the ‘Sredei Eish’.
You see, I am a great-grandson of Walther Rathenau, the ‘assimilated Jew’ who occupied his role as Foreign Minister for a short few years until he was sadly assassinated because of his Jewishness. My father already fully returned to his roots and I too continue to follow in his footsteps.
Friends, this is the power of Judaism to link “tunnels” and generations. We never forget our past, so that our future does not forget us.
Our greatest investment can be in the future. Give your children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, the gift of Yidishkeit, of Torah and of Mitzvos. The “tunnel” that has taken us on an incredible journey over thousands of years and hundreds of thousands of miles, throughout the entire world, under some of the most difficult conditions, must continue to inspire us to continue the journey, until we reach the destination speedily in our days.
The Letter
There is a Rabbi who recently shared an amazing experience.
He officiated at the funeral of an elderly woman. Her son got up to eulogize her. His eulogy consisted of reading a letter, and here are excerpts of what he had to say:
About 12 years ago I wrote my mother a letter. She made me promise that I would save it and read it as her eulogy. Mom, I keep my promises.
Mother, First and foremost, I LOVE YOU! I know that you know it, but I also know that I haven’t said it enough. Although some things may go without saying, others must be said, so I’ll say it again: I LOVE YOU.
Throughout the years you have always been there when I needed you. How you did it, I’ll never know. “Thank you” seems so inadequate but what else can I say?
Now before you get too big of a head, you’re not perfect. God does not create perfect people. I still disagree with some of your advice and opinions. That is a child’s prerogative. But, as the song says, “… with all your faults, I love you still!”
I wouldn’t trade those faults for anything.
I probably shouldn’t be talking about this but I will. Eventually God will call you to come to him for your just and eternal reward. When that day comes, there will be such a void created in my life that I couldn’t possibly begin to compare to anything that has happened to me. What makes it worse is that, on that most sorrowful day of my life, I won’t have your shoulder.
I do know, however, that you will be looking down on us from heaven and that all those prayers you uttered on behalf of me and my family will, from that day through eternity, be delivered by you directly to the Almighty.
This was the eulogy a boy read at his mother’s funeral.
My friends, if you are fortunate enough to have a living parent, why don’t you write them such a letter? Believe me when I tell you: every parent’s dream is to get such a letter … to be told that they are loved and appreciated. And if your parents are gone, now is the time … you can speak these words to them. Remember the words: “You’re not perfect. God does not create perfect people. Yes, I still disagree with some of your advice and opinions—that is a child’s prerogative. But as the song says: with all your faults, I love you still. I wouldn’t trade those faults for anything.”
Write those words, say those words, live those words … and hopefully someday your dream will come true and those words will be said of you.
And if you are fortunate enough to be living in a home where you are not living alone, tonight – and every night – say to your loved ones the words some of our mothers said to all of us before we went to sleep. Remember?
Good Night
Sleep well
I love you
And add: pleasant dreams!
- Comment
Class Summary:
The Channel Tunnel is one of the biggest engineering projects ever undertaken in the world. Taking more than five years to complete, with more than 13,000 workers from England and France collaborating to realize the vision, the tunnel has been named one of the seven wonders of the modern world.
It is the longest undersea rail way tunnel in the world, beneath the English Channel, linking Britain to Europe.
For millennia, England was an island country, with natural protection. The Romans, Napoleon and Hitler all attempted unsuccessfully to defeat Britain by mastering the English Channel. Hitler planned to build a tunnel, but it never worked.
Finally, in 1988, the work began—it is an incredible modern feat.
But we have our own challenging tunnel dig to link the past and the future—and that is the essence of Yizkor. It is the reason we are forever defined as “children of Israel,” not “children of Abraham.”
The story of the Jewish German Foregien Minister, later assassinated, who arrived to shul for Yizkor and the crowd was up in arms, yet Rabbi Yechiel Weinberg defended him. The results of that event were incredible. The story of son who read, at his mother’s funeral, a letter he wrote to her 12 years earlier. The story of the woman who did not want to show up at her father’s funeral, due to his abuse and the advice she got from her Rabbi. The story of a eulogy that has nothing else to it besides the theme of golf.
The science of how millions of fibers in the eye and the brain meet up; the anecdote of the two suitcases; what Warren Buffet said about real friends; what happens to Sears in Chicago—all these anecdotes and stories teach us about our privilege to invest in our link to our past and our link to our future.
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