Automatic Update
Speaking of people who could help the alumni basketball team out, Aaron Lefton (Class of 93)was added to the monthly givers this week, raising the total to 31 on our way to our goal of 60 by the time we are making Kiddush in the Sukkah. 40 is a mystical number and might be more reasonable by Sukkos, but lets give it a shot. Less than a minyan away. Isn't it great to see Wisconsin Institute for Torah Study on your credit/banking statement?
Join now with a click of the button at $25 a month-
Email me at alumni@witsyeshiva.com for more info.
|
Dvar Torah by Rabbi Baruch Lederman (WITS 1981)
"And you will return unto Hashem your G-d..." (Deut. 30:2) Rosh
Hashanah approaching makes us think of returning to G-d. Sometimes this
can happen in the most unusual and unexpected ways, as the following amazing story points out:
Michael was held up at knife point in a New England Public High
School. His parents wasted no time enrolling him in the local catholic
high school. One day he was assigned a book report on a great
historical personality. After looking through the library he came
across the name Maimonides, the great Jewish leader and thinker. The
next week, Father McKenzie called him into his office, "Michael
you're the first student I've ever had who did a book report on a Jew.
Why did you select Maimonides?"
"Because I'm a Jew," the boy answered quietly.
"You're Jewish?" sputtered the astonished priest, "Then what are
you doing in a catholic school?" Michael explained that it was not for
religious reasons that his parents enrolled him. Father McKenzie
lapsed into a long silence. Finally he wrote something on a piece of
paper, handed it to the lad and said, "Michael, let me give you some
advice. If you ever decide to learn about your religion, visit Jerusalem and look up this address."
That conversation awakened Michael to the realization that his
Judaism, though he knew nest to nothing about it, was extremely
important to his life. At his high school graduation, he asked his
parents for a graduation gift for which they were not prepared - a trip
to Israel. Upon arriving in Israel, Michael withdrew a scrap of paper
from his pocket. He located the Yeshivah, whose name and address
were written on that paper - the paper Father McKenzie gave him years
ago. He had never been in a Yeshivah before. He
was about to enter a new wonderful world.
Four years later Michael visited Father McKenzie, not as a
catholic school student, but as a Yeshivah bachur (Rabbinical Seminary
student). He thanked the priest and asked how it was that he came to
give him that address. Father McKenzie explained, "When I was studying
for the priesthood, I traveled to Jerusalem to study the sites and
shrines of my people.
I was curious to see the Wailing Wall which you Jews hold so dear.
While there, a Rabbi approached me and offered to show me a Jewish
school for young men with little
or no Jewish education. I was taken
aback by the warm reception I received at the Yeshivah. The people were
so warm and friendly, so eager to help me. I stayed at the Yeshivah for
three months of delightful study before returning to the States. I've
always felt guilty about taking free tuition, room and board and never
giving anything in return. Worse, I fooled every one of them into
thinking that he was helping a Jewish kid find his roots. When I
learned that you were Jewish and had some interest in your Judaism, I
felt that this was an opportunity to pay back my debt."
[The
foregoing true story was brought to my attention by my daughter Rivka.
It is documented in the Artscroll publication "Shabbos Stories" by
Rabbi Shimon Finkelman.]
Thank you to Rabbi Lederman for agreeing to reprint this from his weekly Shulweek bulletin.
|
