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A Favor Repaid 12 Years Later!

Thursday, October 28, 2021 - 11:33 AM

In January 2010 I took a phone call from *Leah, an Israeli woman living on the Upper East Side, asking if we could help with her son’s bar mitzvah. This is a pretty standard call and typical of what we do at Chabad – we help people! So of course we arranged the event. Rabbi Leibel Kesselman, who today is a Chabad rabbi in Greenville, was helping out at our Chabad house back then, and he agreed to tutor the child and prepare him for his bar mitzvah.

And so, on Shabbat Parshat Beshalach, we arranged a beautiful celebration at the Marriott hotel (where our shul was located at the time), and the child performed beautifully in front of family and friends. Shortly afterwards, Leah emailed me, “Thank you so much for your help with the bar mitzvah. We appreciate it tremendously. We didn’t imagine how we would enjoy it and thank you for making us feel so welcome and part of the community.”

The family moved back to Israel not long after the bar mitzvah and I lost touch with them.

Fast forward to this week. It’s the International Conference of Chabad Emissaries here in NYC, where Chabad rabbis from all over the world come together to enjoy, refresh, and learn from one another.

I went to the Ohel, the Rebbe’s resting place, this week, as I frequently do, but because of the convention it was packed even at 6am!

And as I finished up the shacharit prayer, somebody came over to me and he said, “Vigler! I’ve been looking for you! I knew I would meet you at the kinus; I have a story to share with you.”

Nu, I love stories!

He introduced himself as Rabbi Meir Abayov and began: “I’m a shliach in Ramat Hasharon. It’s a small town in Israel with a strong anti-religious sentiment. Two years ago, right before covid, I took a group from my community to New York. We visited the Ohel and I asked the Rebbe for a bracha (blessing) that we should have success in establishing a new preschool and after school activities. We needed special permits and I was quite worried.”

That week Rabbi Shneor Ashkenazy came to speak at an event in our Chabad center on the Upper East Side. Rabbi Abayov heard about it and asked if he could join with the group he had brought to NY. Of course I agreed, and it was a wonderful evening.

“When I was back at home, the next week,” he continued, “I heard there was a new woman in charge of approving the permits I needed for my preschool. With a prayer on my lips, I went to meet her, not knowing what to expect, but assuming she would likely be anti-religious and refuse to help.

“When I got to her office and stated my request, she said, ‘You look like a chabadnik! Are you Chabad?’

“When I confirmed that I was, indeed, she said, ‘I love Chabad! Do you know Rabbi Vigler from Manhattan?’

“I told her I had in fact been with you just the week before, and showed her a picture on my phone that our group had taken that evening in your Chabad center.

“I love Rabbi Vigler!’ she said excitedly. “He helped me bar mitzvah my son in his shul!’ ”

It was, of course, Leah!

She agreed to help Rabbi Abayov, went out of her way to fast-track his permits, and promised to help him with whatever else comes up, all because she remembers her experience with Chabad 12 years ago so fondly!

I was so inspired by this story. Living on the Upper East Side, much of our community is transitory. Literally thousands of people walk through our doors, but many only live here for a few years before moving on. Unfortunately, we often lose touch, but this story reminded me that we can never know how much we may have affected someone in our brief time together, or how far-reaching that effect may become. Here, 12 years after the fact, Leah was able to return the favor to a Chabad Rabbi across the globe!

As Chabad rabbis, we will sit together this weekend and farbreng, inspiring each other, refueling and recharging so we can continue to help and inspire others. There can be no greater gift to the Rebbe than seeing his children, the shluchim, getting along and helping one another.

L’chaim!

*Name changed to protect privacy.

How to Approach Our Annual Gala?

Thursday, October 21, 2021 - 10:54 AM

Our Belev Echad gala dinner is an annual highlight. It’s the place to be—fun, entertaining, and most importantly, the opportunity to raise money for a good cause. But that was all BCE: Before Covid Era. In 2020, like everyone else, we went virtual. And as fortunate as we are to have the technology to do so, virtual cannot compete with an in-person experience where people can meet, socialize, eat and drink together, and feel the energy in the room. There is no comparison.

Anyone running a non-profit shares the same dilemma. What do we do for 2021? Can we schedule our annual events or not? And it’s not something we can decide on a whim. These events take months of preparation, a large amount of money, and a tremendous amount of work to ensure that everything runs smoothly.

There was a point mid-summer where it seemed like Covid had finally begun to retreat and we started planning a beautiful in-person mega gala like we used to. We booked a hall that could hold 1000 people, a celebrity speaker, and were about to start putting down money when the Delta variant hit and all certainty was again lost.

So we decided to wait until after the holidays were over to make a decision. We researched all kinds of creative ideas. We spoke to lots of people, all of whom had different opinions. We looked at what other organizations are doing, but there was no universal approach. Some have cancelled their galas, others are doing them virtually, some are doing scaled-down events, outdoor events, delayed till next spring…and so on there was no consensus.

So what do we do? Do we take the risk and schedule it in person? What if Covid numbers rise again? What if another variant emerges and people are afraid to attend? There are so many unknowns, and with so much money on the line it’s hard to commit. But there comes a point where we have to make a decision and go with it.

And it’s at times like these that we need to take a step back, breathe deeply, and realize that we do not have full control of our lives. We think we make the decisions, but ultimately it’s all G-d’s doing.

We all love to feel in control. We like to know exactly what we will be doing and when we will be doing it. We like to plan our flights, schedule our vacations, and know precisely what we’ll be doing hour by hour once we get there. We love to be in the driving seat of our lives. But the truth, it’s all an illusion. The only one in control is G-d.

And this gala is just another moment where we see that clearly and undeniably.

So what did we decide?

First, we turned to G-d, and prayed sincerely that He lead us to the correct decision. Then we turned to our board members for guidance, and together we came up with a plan: A full, in-person gala, with the option to attend virtually, with all the technology to make it as pleasurable an experience as possible.

Do we know what will happen on December 5th, the night of our big event? No. Will it be successful? Will people come? Will we raise the necessary funds to help our soldiers? We don’t know. But we will put forth our best effort, secure in the belief that G-d will come through and help us.

So, good luck to us! Here is the link to our beautiful gala website: www.belevechadgala.nyc. We hope to see you all there. L'chaim!

Six Hours of Panic

Thursday, October 7, 2021 - 1:37 PM

On Monday morning we celebrated a beautiful Bar Mitzvah at our shul. I took a selfie with the bar mitzvah boy and his family and posted it on my Instagram and Facebook stories. I thought it would inspire others to pray and put on tefillin.

But when I checked to see how many people had viewed the story, the number was unusually low—barely 100, when it should be closer to 1,000. “How strange,” I thought. “Let me refresh the page.” But no matter how many times I refreshed, the number didn’t move. And it was a great picture!

Then I Whatsapped a community member to check on the status of her mezuzot and I noticed the message wasn’t going through. Then it dawned on me that my phone had been atypically silent for the last few minutes. Where were all the hundreds of messages that usually come in non-stop? I assumed the issue was my wifi, so I went outside and kept hitting refresh.

When that didn’t help, it hit me that something must be wrong, which a quick Google instantly confirmed.

As everyone now knows, Whatsapp, Facebook and Instagram were down for a full business day, wreaking havoc on billions across the globe.

And I, like so many others, panicked. You see, I’m in the inspiration business, and social media is my primary tool. My job is to reach out and inspire people. To come to shul, to give charity, to get closer to G-d, to study Torah. And I communicate through Instagram, Facebook, and especially Whatsapp.

Whatsapp is my lifeline. Without it, I feel imprisoned. Constricted. Inhibited. I use it to communicate with my family in South Africa and Israel, to plan with my team, to collaborate with Chabad rabbis across the globe, and to reach out to individuals.

It felt like a snow day. Like Shabbat. Like the holidays all over again.

It was also a wakeup call.

Social media is here today but gone tomorrow, I realized. All those friends, followers, likes, and comments can disappear in the blink of an eye. And what did they really mean?

Does it really matter how many followers you have on Instagram? How many friends on Facebook? How many Whatsapp groups you’re in? For six hours, I, and billions of others, had time to contemplate that.

What we can ensure, I concluded, is that we have the one follower Who actually counts: G-d. It is He Who we need to impress. His comments we should be seeking. And no matter how many apps and sites go down, He remains equally available at all times. He won’t let us down.

So deeply have we come to rely on people being instantly available, that we may have neglected to communicate with the One Who is truly always there, at all times, in all conditions.

Let’s pause for a moment, think about that, and commit to talking to Him more. Unlike the internet, we can be assured He won’t let us down.

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Uriel Vigler