Thursday, June 21, 2012

The Ultimate Chain Reaction

by Rabbi Koval

“What was the highlight of your Israel trip?”

This is a question that I heard several times this week. After a 2-day whirlwind Bnei Mitzvah Israel trip, my answer to this question is that the Bnei Mitzvah itself, on top of Masada, was definitely the highlight. It was a meaningful, inspiring, and joyous ceremony and celebration.(Mazel Tov Andrew, Hana and Lily!)

But a close second was actually something that happened before I even left New York on the first leg of my trip.

First some background: several weeks ago Ruchi wrote a blog post entitled. “10 Things I've Learned in the 20 Years since Graduating High School.” The purpose of the post was to share a smattering of whimsical and thought-provoking lessons learned over the last 20 years, spanning Ruchi’s high school graduation to our oldest daughter Miriam’s high school graduation. 

A website in Israel picked up this post and reposted it as a way of inspiring and provoking its readership to think back on their lives since high school graduation and ask themselves: “Am I the same person that I was 20 years ago or have I become a better person since then?”  An old friend of mine whom I haven’t spoken to in over 10 years stumbled across a link to this post from Israel, recognized the name and the link to me, and sent me an email with his contact information, just to stay in touch.

It turns out he lives in Queens, New York, and being near the top of my cluttered inbox, it caught my attention a mere few days before traveling to Israel via Queens, New York (CLE-LGA-JFK-TLV).  Since I had to get from LaGuardia to JFK, both near Queens, New York, and I had a 5-hour layover, I wanted to some information regarding synagogue locations and schedules, and kosher food in the Queens area.  So, I gave my newly rediscovered friend a call. 

Instead of simply providing me with addresses and schedules, he insisted on picking me up from LaGuardia, chauffeuring me around Queens and then taking me back to JFK. While I was ordering my hamburger with jalapeno sauce and fries, I noticed him meeting and talking to someone in the back of the restaurant, excitedly pointing towards me and bringing his old friend over to introduce to me.  He said, "This is my friend Benjy. We haven’t seen each other since high school, and he tells me now that he is moving to Cleveland next week to begin a residency in Akron.  He doesn’t have any Cleveland connections and is so happy to meet someone that lives there.”  I could not get over what a small and well-directed world we live in, and of course I invited Benjy and his family to our home for Shabbos (he just moved here yesterday!).

That is the power of chessed (kindness). It produces a chain reaction. Ruchi sends out a blog post to inspire others, it makes its way to Israel, inspiring an old friend who sends me his contact info to stay in touch and later, helps me out in Queens; because of that, I help out a new friend in Cleveland.  Who knows where it'll go next...  all we have to do is start the process and the ripple effect takes over!