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The Short Vort
Good Morning!
Today is Wednesday the 19th of Nissan 5782 and April 13, 2022
The Stamp of Approval
Under normal traffic conditions, it takes me about 2.46 minutes to walk the 650 feet at a speed of 3 mph from my house to the Shul.
If there is heavy pedestrian gridlock, the time could increase to up to 3 minutes.
As you may have guessed, I am not one of your heavy commuters.
Unless I am teaching somewhere, most days, thankfully, my car and I remain separate and apart, and we both enjoy this mutually beneficial relationship.
When I hear stories of other men who finish the daf twice on their daily commute from Lakewood to Passaic, I cringe and thank Hashem that I am not blessed with such a “privilege.”
Therefore, it certainly surprised many, most notably myself, when I found myself sitting masked on United Airlines flight 395 bound for Chicago.
The flight would land in the Windy City at 1:16 PM, and by 5:30 PM, I would be back on UA 1510, heading home to Newark.
There was one and only purpose for my excursion.
During my four hours in Chicago, I performed the Mitzvah of Nichum Aveilim to my good friend R’ Yossi Twersky.
R’ Yossi lost his mother, Rebbetzin Toby (Halberstam) Twersky, a pillar of the Chicago community for over fifty years.
Why did I go?
Do I usually fly over 750 miles to be Menachem Avel?
I am not one to fly at the drop of the hat to do Nichum Aveilim.
For full disclosure, I tremble and quiver and agonize for two weeks before I have to go to a Chasunah in Lakewood!
As I contemplate the seventy-plus miles from Passaic to Lakewood, I am filled with anxiety and wonder why people have to make weddings 75 miles away from where they live.
If so, you are correct in asking what moved me to travel sixteen hundred miles in one day?
Did I go for an anticipated contribution? Certainly not.
Did I go because R’ Yossi is one of the shakers and movers of the Shul and is heavily involved in the lay leadership? Nada.
R’ Yossi most often does not even daven in the Shul and has no connection or involvement in the running of the Shul.
Are we old friends from Yeshiva? Perhaps former roommates? No and no.
I only met R’ Yossi when I moved to Passaic three decades ago.
After assuming the Rabbanus in my Shul, our paths do not cross daily or even weekly.
What explanation can I offer for my enigmatic behavior on a Tuesday in December?
Of course, R’ Yossi Twersky is a dear friend.
A friend whose friendship precedes my ascension to the Rabbanus in my Shul.
His wife was the Shadchanta for my son Shaya.
This occurred when the Twersky family took in the Eisenman family, who had no heat or electricity due to Super-Storm Sandy.
These and other shared memories of friendship and chavershaft are part and parcel of the Twersky-Eisenman friendship over the last thirty-plus years.
Nevertheless, there was one event that stands apart in its meaningfulness and its kindness.
Back in 1997, when I assumed the position of Rav, many were cautiously keeping their distance from the Shul.
After all, it was a former mixed-seating microphone using Shul, and many were hesitant to be a part of what was a dubious endeavor in their eyes.
Notwithstanding that every move and decision was decided with the consultation and approval of Rav Dovid Feinstein Zt”L and another great Rosh Yeshiva, people were hesitant.
And even though Rav Dovid had given me explicit permission to use and publicize his name concerning his support of our Shul, cynics continued to be cynical.
I cautiously observed the hesitation of some in the community.
Would the Shul “make it” and join the Pantheon of permitted Shuls?
Or would the detractors succeed in relegating the Shul to a place of dubious distinction?
A place to observe from without, yet, never to enter within.
All these doubts disappeared and dissipated a few days before Pesach in 1998.
Men were coming to sell their Chometz, and many were looking to see who would enter the Shul to sell Chometz by me.
I looked up, and R’ Yossi Twersky, accompanied by his son, Mordechai Shlomo, entered my office.
They sat down, and R’ Yossi handed me his form for Mechiras Chometz with a reverent expression.
In the grand and holy tradition of the great Chassidic masters, R’ Yossi’s handing me his form took on the hallowed and sublime minhag of a rebbe receiving his first Kvittel from a bonified and revered Tzaddik.
As R’ Yossi accepted me as his agent to sell his Chometz, he did much more than appoint me as his Shaliach.
As a descendant of the Divrei Chaim and the Chernoyler dynasty, his presence in my office and handing me his “Kvittel” validated me as an accepted and respected Rav of Passaic.
From the day I received R’ Yossi’s Kvittel, the Shul’s exponential expansion and its enviable position as the main Makon Tefillah of the community were assured.
The Shul began to grow, and thankfully we now have forty minyanim a day.
And to think it all began with a “Kvittel” for Mechiras Chometz.
Now you know why I flew to Chicago.
There are no limitations and no inhibitions concerning Hakoras HaTov.
"If Not Now Then When When"- Hillel
Ron Yitzchok Eisenman
Rabbi
Congregation Ahavas Israel
Passaic, NJ
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