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| Eytan Kobre (Mishpacha) |
I have always had a problem with this comment. Not that it isn’t true. But that it is overused often to make the point that a Goy would never do what a Jew would do to help people in need.
Mishpacha Magazine columnist Eytan Kobre recently featured a story like that. It was in the context of a different message (having to do with Teshuva). But the story bears repeating in this context albeit with some changes I made for reasons for which will become apparent:
…the other day when a young non Jewish college student I know had loaded a large pile of chairs from the previous week’s event into his SUV to return them to the place he borrowed them. Although this prevented the rear trunk door from fully closing, he decided to drive slowly toward his destination, hoping to make it there without incident.
It was not to be. As he proceeded up Chestnut Hill Avenue, a busy Boston street, the door flew open and out came chairs — 15 of them clattering into the middle of the bustling thoroughfare. He quickly put the car in park and jumped out to round up the chairs strewn all about.
But as he did so, he realized someone else had pulled his car to the side of the road and had run over to lend a hand. It was a prominent Rosh Yeshiva who got out of his car to help him reload his SVU so that he could be on his way.
It was just a simple kindness on a Boston street, but there’s something impressive about it. The value of a good deed, after all, has to be assessed in its context. This one was performed by a widely respected Rosh Yeshiva – who was widely respected.
Mi K’Amcha Yisroel! Right? The implication being that a Goy would never stop to help a Jew if the situation was reversed. Only a Jew would ever do such a thing.
Wrong. That story did not quite happen the way I told it. Here is the real story:
...the other day when a young fellow I know who’s involved in kiruv on a major Boston, Massachusetts campus shared with me a recent experience of his. His outreach group has Shabbos meals that sometimes draws hundreds of students, which necessitates borrowing chairs from a local gemach.
He had loaded a large pile of chairs from the previous week’s event into his SUV to return them to the gemach, and although this prevented the rear trunk door from fully closing, he decided to drive slowly toward his destination, hoping to make it there without incident.
It was not to be. As he proceeded up Chestnut Hill Avenue, a busy Boston street, the door flew open and out came chairs — 15 of them clattering into the middle of the bustling thoroughfare. He quickly put the car in park and jumped out to round up the chairs strewn all about.
But as he did so, he realized someone else had pulled his car to the side of the road and had run over to lend a hand — two very large hands, actually, belonging to a young black fellow who looked to be about six-foot-four and about 220 pounds.
This kiruv rabbi knows his sports and was surprised to recognize his helper as a pro basketball player, a point guard for the hometown Boston Celtics. And not just any player, either, but a standout one, recently named the National Basketball Association’s Defensive Player of the Year. It probably shouldn’t surprise that he’s also a two-time winner of the NBA’s Hustle Award, an energetic team player who’s known for diving for loose balls and defending against opposing players taller than him.
It was just a simple kindness on a Boston street, but there’s something impressive about it. The value of a good deed, after all, has to be assessed in its context. This one was performed by a 28-year-old star who was instrumental in his team making (albeit losing) this year’s NBA championships.
This basketball star didn’t have to do this. But he did out of a sense of Chesed despite his popularity and great wealth.
First credit must be given to Eytan Kobre for telling a story about a non Jew helping a Jew. You don't often see stories like that in magazines like Mishpacha. How often we ignore stories when a non Jew goes out of his way to do a kindness for a Jew. We need to be cognizant of the very simple fact that we have no monopoly on Chesed. Yes we are a kind and giving people. But so too are a lot of non Jews. Kindness that is not limited to sports stars. The American people will rise to the occasion to help people in distress. It will not matter to them if the people they help are Kipa wearing Orthodox Jews.
I have been told numerous stories like this by friends who that were in distress and were helped out by total non Jewish strangers who went out of their way to do so, They saw a fellow human being in trouble and acted immediately. Staying with them until the problem was solved. It never mattered that they were helping a Kipa wearing Jew that was helped.
Mi K’Amcha Yisroel should not be so quickly bandied about. Yes we are are a great people with a hallmark of kindness inherited from our forefather Avrohom . But we are not the sole possessors of kindness in the world. Not by a long shot.
