I met with Eddie, helped him put on tefillin, and answered his questions.
“I feel like I already know you,” Eddie shared, shyly. “I’ve been coming to your public menorah lightings for years. I never miss it! I’ve always been too shy to introduce myself, though.”
Eddie and I soon built a deep connection and friendship. When war broke out in Ukraine, everybody wanted to pitch in. Our community (and several others) held a Zoom conference with Rabbi Yechiel Shlomo Levitansky of Sumy, Ukraine, who was then trying to escape the war zone. He shared some very powerful stories and insights. He concluded with a heartfelt plea: “If anyone is wondering how they can help, there’s nothing better you can do than to take on a mitzvah. In its zechus, we will be protected.”
The next day, Eddie called. “Rabbi, I’m ready to buy my own pair of tefillin.”
Eddie uses his tefillin regularly, and continues to deepen his connection to Hashem.
Greg* was intrigued when he saw the Sukkah mobile driving by. He initially called for some general information, which quickly developed into a genuine interest. At first, he stopped by a couple of times a month for a Shabbos meal. That soon graduated to spending every Shabbos with us, camped out on the living room couch. I believe he learned a lot about halachah and Jewish life from watching our family interact with one another. Eventually, he became fully shomer Shabbos, and my parents sent him off to yeshiva. I remember marveling at Greg’s transformations each time he returned home. First, it was the sproutings of a beard, then a hat, jacket, and white shirt. He was a successful, middle-aged doctor, but had never gotten married. After becoming shomer Shabbos, he married a baalas teshuva from Canada, and together, they built a beautiful Jewish home. We were so excited to attend his wedding, piling into the van for the drive north. Greg was family. My parents escorted him to his chuppah.
For the first few years of their marriage, they lived in Portland, but, as is the bittersweet reality for so many shluchim, once their son grew old enough to require a more rigorous education than Maine could provide, we advised them to join a proper Jewish community. They soon settled into a community they loved, and live a wonderful Jewish life there.
