GALA DINNER 80+9
SPEECH BY DR GOLDBERG -
TORAH EXEMPLAR AWARD RECIPIENT
I met Rabbi Hecht in the Spring of 2013, after living in Kew Gardens for 2 years - without any shul to call my home. We met and discussed our upcoming marriage and the spirituality involved in the auspicious event. This was our introduction to Anshe Sholom Chabad.
Just about one year later in July 2014, as is customary on the 3rd of Tammuz (the Yahrzeit of the Lubavitcher Rebbe OBM), Adina visited the Rebbe’s Ohel with the Rabbi and members of our congregation. As visitors wrote notes to be read graveside - making requests and wishes known of Hashem - the Rabbi said that one shouldn’t merely make requests, but, as one does before a boss when asking for a raise, state your case. State why you are deserving of such blessings, but also make a resolution and do something to grow as a Jew and to better the world.
On the slip of paper, Adina noted our then long-standing desire to grow our family. Prior to this, we discussed taking on the mitzvah of maaser - separating a tithe, giving one-tenth of one’s income to tzedakah. However, on that day Adina put our resolution in writing.
July waned, and August came. Finally, in mid-August we sat down and discussed our finances. As it is said in Pirkei Avot by Rabban Gamliel, “Do not tithe by guesswork.” We made a separate account just for our maaser. We became diligent and transferred 10% into this tzedakah account from our weekly paychecks, immediately after receiving them. Less than one month later, we learned that we were expecting our first child. It became ever clearer to us that Torah, mitzvot, and Judaism aren’t only about what we say, but more importantly, what we do.
How appropriate of a time to talk about tithing just before the High Holidays, and even moreso at a fundraising event for Anshe Sholom Chabad outreach.
No institution can be expected to survive on well-wishes alone. In fact, in Biblical times, kohanim, the priests, were left landless when Israel was divided, but they were appointed as the nation’s teachers and clergy in return for the annual tithes that they received from the rest of the Jewish nation.
Before Yom Kippur, it is customary to ask for and receive "lekach" (honey cake). The act of asking instills in us the recognition that all the sustenance we receive throughout the year, including that which we supposedly "earn" by our own endeavors, is in truth a gift from Above.
We know that a person’s income is decreed every year during this period of time — during the Ten Days of Repentance between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur. HaShem decides how each person will earn his livelihood, and how much. The way a person earns his living is only the means by which he receives that which HaShem has decided to entrust him with to distribute to a worthy cause.
We’d like to acknowledge and thank all of Anshe Sholom Chabad’s supporters who are giving of their time, energy, and money - as well as all of you who are here tonight, showing your support. You are all HaShem’s messengers, enabling the G-dly work that our institution accomplishes, and that will, G-d willing, merit us to see the rebuilding of the Beit Hamikdash, our third and final Temple in Jerusalem, speedily in our days.
Have a happy, sweet New Year.
