A frum businessman, Reb Leizer (name changed), was once approached by his excited non-Jewish partner, who had a story to share.
“I recently noticed another Orthodox Jew in a public place,” the partner told Reb Leizer. “There were some sights passing by that I knew you would consider inappropriate. From my experience with you, I knew that an Orthodox Jew would try to avoid looking at such things, so I watched to see how he would react. Sure enough, whenever something inappropriate passed by, the man placed a book in front of his face until it was gone!”
This story is a credit to that anonymous Jew whom the non-Jew observed but it’s also a credit to Reb Leizer himself. Clearly, he had given his partner the impression that Jews live with a different sense of reality, where behavior is guided not only by what is visible, but by a higher spiritual standard.
Reprinted from June 12, 2025 email of Rabbi Shraga Freedman.
