B"H
Tammuz 23, 5771 * July 25, 2011
=======================
W E E K L Y S T O R Y
=======================
The Power of a Good Deed
Forty-Five Years Later
By Alan Magill
========================
It was incongruous. He lay in his bed wearing suit pants and a white shirt and tie. It looked like he had places to go and people to see. But he wasn't going anywhere. At least that's what he told the recreation therapist who came to his room, at the nursing home where he lived, to invite him to the Shabbat afternoon get-together, called Oneg Shabbat. I'll call him Shmuel.
Shmuel came to every Oneg Shabbat. He liked hearing the discussion about the Torah portion of the week, and he often had something to say if the topic triggered something in him. But today he was just staring up at the ceiling. The recreation therapist—whom I'll call Joel—really had to get back to the dining room on that floor, to be with the sixty residents who were waiting for him to do his program. But Joel wanted so much for Shmuel to come that he wasn't ready to leave him so soon.
"What's bothering you?" he asked.
When he didn't get an answer, he asked a minute later again. And then a minute later once more. Finally, Shmuel said a few words about how he didn't like how an aide spoke to him that morning. He didn't elaborate, but Joel could imagine that whatever the aide had said to him had cut him to the core of his being. That it was difficult enough for him to be in the nursing home . . . that so much had been taken away from him . . . that he didn't have the strength to fight off an affront to his dignity.
Meanwhile, Joel was now two minutes late for his program.
Despite the sixty people who were waiting for him in the dining room, he felt a deeper obligation to help the normally gracious and sociable Shmuel get back to himself.
So Joel started a conversation with him that had nothing to do with the Oneg Shabbat, and nothing to do with how the aide had spoken to him.
Grudgingly, Shmuel gave short answers to the questions that Joel was asking him. Somehow, the topic turned to the work that Shmuel had done, and he said that around forty-five years prior he used to go around to apartment buildings in New York City and collect the quarters that were in the washing machines. (Joel was now three minutes late for his program.)
Shmuel recounted a time that he came into the laundry room of one apartment building, and found three one-hundred-dollar bills wrapped in a rubber band on the floor. He wanted to do the right thing and return it to its owner, but he did have a job to do. Joel saw how Shmuel was becoming more energized in the telling of this story.
Shmuel said, "I went to a pay phone and called my boss and asked him what I should do. He told me I could wait around and see if anyone came for the money, but I would still have to finish my route no matter what time I left the building.
"I decided to stay."
Shmuel now had a smile on his face, and Joel was not even aware he was six minutes late for his program.
"About fifteen minutes later," said Shmuel, "a woman came into the laundry room looking everywhere. Then she started to cry her eyes out. She said, 'My husband's going to be so upset with me. I lost the rent money!'
Shmuel now had Joel's rapt attention, and he knew it. "I said to her, 'You can stop crying, lady. I found your money.'" Shmuel recounted how, when he handed her the money, she thanked him repeatedly.
"That was a big mitzvah you did," said Joel.
Beaming, as if the event he was describing was happening at that moment and not decades earlier, Shmuel said he was glad he did it.
Them Shmuel got off the bed and, with a voice of pure sense of purpose, said, "Let's go to Oneg Shabbat."
Following the quickly moving Shmuel down the hall, Joel was impressed with what had happened with that three hundred dollars found on the ground. If Shmuel would have spent it oh so long ago, whatever material gain he would have gotten from it would almost definitely not be helping him now. But the kind deed he had done was able to reach him forty-five years later, and breathe a renewed enthusiasm in him to enjoy his activities of daily living.
The power of a mitzvah is astounding.
Yes, Joel was ten minutes late for the Oneg Shabbat, but he apologized and then led a well-received and stimulating Torah discussion that included eliciting feedback from the residents. He was, no doubt, inspired by what he had heard and seen from Shmuel. Next week he would endeavor to start closer to the starting time, but for this week it was more important to go back in time to help one man figure out for himself that, no matter what one aide had said about him, the sparks of G-dliness in him are stronger.
- Alan Magill writes the weekly "Senior Forum" column in the "Jewish Press" and is a produced playwright and published writer in other venues.
Originally published in The Jewish Press.
- To view this article on the Web, or to post a comment, please click here: http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=1626F8D7AA39FF5A04C32C15FDAA40CE&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
This subscription is available and better viewed in a graphic (HTML) format. To update your preferences, please click here:
http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=EDFC70C66AC60D1DFCDE1FDBE097DA55&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Copyright © Chabad.org
For more Torah study and inspiring articles, please visit:
http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=970B74A5B2A08F2F06D22784085E140D&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
** Enjoyed this email? Please help us continue sharing the
study of Torah and Jewish traditions:
Dedicate or sponsor an email to mark your special occasion!
Please click here: http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=6C773E86C71D285B34DAC62D5651A28C&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2
Please click here to make a donation to Chabad.org:
http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=9AEE97C6BDBD2031F627A117FB1C58DC&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2
** Important Tip: In order to guarantee that your Chabad.org subscription
emails continue to be delivered to you, please make sure to add our
address, subscriptions@chabad.org, to your address book, or "whitelist"
it in any spam filters or spam programs you may have.
** Manage your complete subscription profile online: Subscribes,
unsubscribes, address changes, vacation holds, and more. Register here:
http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=1A49DA15A26750E3881F1CCE18A4F989&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2&emailpk=_223958_1826535@
** To subscribe to more Chabad.org email lists please click here:
http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=440CE34941D0A2E7217204DE654FB3D8&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2
** To be removed from this email list please click here:
http://www.chabad.org/unsub.asp?i=5AF4698367548130886D742D4B3DE37C454B673185BEAD66551AF3EB630360ED
If you would just like your email suspended and resumed at a later
date, please let us know here:
http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=C82BDACC6A05FDA13D45EF91D4B30954&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2&email=yurochkadrugach.yurochka@blogger.com
** You are subscribed to the "Weekly Story" email list as:
yurochkadrugach.yurochka@blogger.com. If your e-mail address is changing
please send us your new email address here:
http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=24C4E1BDC23A95B0C339D0D971909F00&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2&email=yurochkadrugach.yurochka@blogger.com
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Chabad.org
Chabad Lubavitch Media Center
770 Eastern Parkway * Brooklyn, NY * 11213
Web: http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=35EC6BF1BE6158B5E6FA3945CB059281&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2
Feedback: http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=99FCC510656A61DD884A3E796A639257&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий