A Chassidic Tale

I have been receiving some stories and a lot of support for the website over the past few weeks. I really hope that you will all share your stories more and more as time goes on as they will make this a much more effective site for all of us.

The following is a great story from a Chassidic friend:

As a Biala Chassid he attended the recent yarzheit of the previous Biala Rebbe Zecher Tzaddik L'bracha. It was a cold and windy and crowded hill in the dark where they said Tehillim around the kever. Afterwards he boarded one of the buses back to the Biala shul. When he arrived he realized that his gartel (traditional belt worn during davening as well as in the presence of a Rebbe) must have slipped off at the kever . It would have been too embarrassing to attend the tisch without it and he did not know what to do.

He mentioned it to one of the Yerushalmi Chasidim who smiled and said that he couldn't attend the tisch like this and immediately removed his own gartle, found a sharp piece of metal at the bottom of the staircase they were in and cut his own gartel in two. Somehow the two half pieces fit them both just fine and they had a good laugh.

The Biala Chassid shared his feelings with me at this point mentioning,"suddenly that gartel became not just a tool for fulfilling halachah but also for fullfilling v'ahavta l'reachah kamocha(love your neighbor as yourself)." He soon thereafter bought them both new gartels although he continues to carry his half in his jacket pocket as a constant reminder to love his fellow Jew.

I really enjoyed this story not only for its twist but because he chose to take the experience and use it as a reminder.

One of the most important realizations we all need to come to is that being a Kiddush Hashem is not just about major acts that take a lot of work to build up to. It only takes consistent small acts to become a very bright light unto those around you. Here are some examples that I have personally witnessed in recent past:

• In the recent blizzard I was given a ride to work. When the driver saw a car stuck in the snow he immediately jumped out (motivating myself to follow) and physically pushed the car out of the pile of snow it was stuck in.
• A woman held a heavy door open for multiple people even though she was in a hurry. The extra few seconds didn't end up affecting her appointment.
• A man allowed someone with a few groceries to go ahead of him at the store since he was making a large purchase.
• Someone actually smiled and wished a sincere haztlacha when giving tzedakah to someone in need.

These achievements are attainable for all of us. All it takes is a bit of extra thought. It is very easy to pass by each of these opportunities; however, each involves not only inspiring others around them as a Kiddush Hashem but also potentially many other mitzvot as well.

Put a post it somewhere you look every morning ex: your siddur, tefillin etc. Start the day thinking how you can be thoughtful and do at least one small act to help another. Do it publicly, not for your sake, but for the purpose of inspiring others to do the same.

You should all be blessed with clarity and many mitzvah opportunities.

Omri