Who inspires me?
In June 1986, a man by the name of Shlomo Telushkin suffered a serious stroke, after several days in a coma, he awoke.
Shlomo Telushkin, served as the accountant for the office of the Lubavitcher Rebbe in Brooklyn, NY.
In the days following his stroke his family received calls twice daily from the Rebbe’s office asking about their father’s condition.
A few days later, his son Joseph received a call from Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, the Rebbe’s aid. He told him that an accounting issue had come up, and the Rebbe had said, “Ask Shlomo.”
Joseph continues the story “But you know how sick and disoriented my father is?”
“We reminded the Rebbe of that,” Krinsky answered, “He, of course, remembered, but he insisted that we ask your father.”
“I immediately went back to my father’s room, and posed the question to him. He looked at me, puzzled, and said the answer was obvious, and told it to me.
“At that moment, I experienced a profound sense of the Rebbe’s deep humanity. He made a calculation and asked my father a question that heknew my father would be able to answer. Sitting there in his Brooklyn office dealing with the issues confronting American and world Jewry, he had the moral imagination to feel the pain of one individual, my father, lying in a hospital bed, partially paralyzed, wondering if he would ever again be productive.
“And so the Rebbe asked him a question, and by doing so reminded my father that he was still needed, and could still be of service. This episode moved me when it happened 20 years ago, and moves me even more profoundly as I write about it now.
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This story is just one of many which inspire Esty and my self – and the Rebbe’s students the world over – to be there for every Jew, materially or spiritually, when ever called upon.
Shlomo’s son Joseph Teluskin is one of Judaism’s most prolific authors today. For the past five years he studied the Rebbe, the Rebbe’s transformative leadership and global impact. The result is the New York Times bestselling book Rebbe: The Life and Teachings of Menachem M. Schneerson, the Most Influential Rabbi in Modern History.
Joseph Telushkin will be speaking at the JCC – Book-fair, here in Houston, this Sunday, November 9 at 7:30pm.
I strongly encourage you to join what promises to be a powerful, enlightening and life enriching talk by a brilliant speaker and author.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Yossi Zaklikofsky