One year, on Erev Yom Kippur, Rav Moshe Feinstein, ZT”L, was taken with a wheelchair into an elevator. The man standing next to him, who was not wearing a kippah, wished the Rav a happy new year. The rave warmly returned the wish when the man leaned over and added, “And a healthy one.”
With the biggest smile and enthusiasm, Rav Feinstein wished him in return, “May you, too, have a healthy year. May you enjoy great success and have much nachas from your children.” Later, the man said, “The Rabbi could see that I am not an observant Jew. But it was clear to him that I was somebody.”
Rav Elya Svei, ZT”L, was once being driven back to his house in Philadelphia. As the car pulled up, he saw one of his non-Jewish neighbors playing basketball in the street, dressed quite minimally. At a sight that may have taken many religious Jews aback, the Rav remarked, “b’etzem (in essence) we need to see the tzelem Elokim (the G-dly image within each person).”
Reprinted from the Parshas Tazria 5784 email of R ’Mendel Berlin’s Torah Sweets.
