Some 35 years or so ago, I found myself reading the weekly L’Chaim, and as it stated, how it got into my hands remains a mystery to me, and when I think back all I remember is that it somehow found me, it just appeared. I guess I was just ready to receive it. What I do remember is how I was taken by it. It was at that time in my life that I was observing the eleven months after my father’s passing, and I was going daily to synagogue to say Kaddish. Nevertheless, I was still a distance from being a Sabbath observer, even though I kept a kosher apartment.
Before this time, when the L’chaim came into my life, after being at synagogue on Shabbat morning, I would return home and instead of reading law (believe me it was a time-consuming endeavor) I would read the weekly Torah portion. I would have an Artscroll Chumash with a varied compendium summary of commentaries. While intellectually interesting and thought provoking, it only took me so far.
What I found lacking was a deeper connection. When I received L’Chaim and started to read it, I found that it was opening for me a new vista and taking me beyond what I was previously experiencing. It was starting to nourish my neshama-soul. It became part and parcel of my weekly connection to the Torah portion and to Shabbos itself. The excerpt of the Rebbe on the weekly Torah portion and the personal story in the Slice of Life, the Talmudic and/or Midrashic story or the miraculous narrative of the Baal Shem Tov or other Chassidic rebbes made the Torah portion come alive as never before. The section “Writes” created a personal bond and made it more than just words and ideas, and breathed life into it.
When I started to think about what the word L’chaim meant, I thought of the Hebrew letter and connected it to the necklace boys and girls would wear around their necks after receiving it as a bar or bat mitzvah present. Then I thought how sad it is, if that is the only association we have when we think of l’chaim. But that was not the L’chaim that just happened to me. I was beginning to realize it was so much more. It was a word now associated with Torah and life.
I began to look forward to receiving each weekly edition, and when I would read and study the weekly portion, it was so much more meaningful and alive. As I received each weekly L’chaim I would keep them in folders for each Torah portion and as time went on the folders expanded and I could re-read each and realize that the Torah and the insights from each portion are just limitless. As they accumulated, since we have an Eruv, I would take with me to synagogue on Shabbat the L’chaim for that week and share it with those who sat next to me, and before I realized it, people in the Shul would come around and ask to look.
I began to appreciate more and more the depth and breadth of all the contents of L’chaim. And as can be seen from the picture above, now after many years travelling from 1988 I have a trove collection. At our Shabbos table, when my wife and I are just by ourselves, or when we have company, I would ask would the company prefer something from the portion of the week or a story, they often choose the story; which reminds me of what I once read when the third Lubavitcher Rebbe also got the same response. And where would I have the know-how to even know that these stories exist were it not for L’chaim and reading these stories which really go to the heart and soul.
Up until three years ago when I retired from the active practice of law, I carried with me daily in my suit pocket a host of L’chaims which I would read when there was a down time and I was waiting for my case or matter to be called. Other counsel would see me reading a L’chaim and their curiosity would get the best of them and they would ask for me to share with them an insight of what I was reading. And even when not in court, I often took a pause in my work, and took out a L’chaim which would give me an added motivation and application to whatever else I was doing.
I am sure it was one of the many sparks that the Rebbe set in motion that reached me those 35 years ago when it so happened that the L’chaim would come into my way. A seed was planted and what nourished from that planting has grown from there and continues. When the time comes when I am escorted to the heavenly tribunal and I am asked whether I set aside time for Torah study, hoped for the Messianic salvation, and appreciated the Torah wisdom, I can point out to what started me on the path and what helped me gain the focus.
By William Z. Shulman
