Rabbi Yehoshua Alt
Coming Soon Bez”H
The book Extraordinary Insights
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לעילוי נשמת שמואל אביגדור בן יצחק מאיר
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Rabbi Alt merited to learn under the tutelage of R’ Mordechai Friedlander ztz”l for close to five years. He received Semicha from R’ Zalman Nechemia Goldberg ztz”l. Rabbi Alt has written on numerous topics for various websites and publications and is the author of the books, Fascinating Insights and Incredible Insights. His writings inspire people across the spectrum of Jewish observance to live with the vibrancy and beauty of Torah. He lives with his wife and family in a suburb of Yerushalayim where he studies, writes, and teaches. The author is passionate about teaching Jews of all levels of observance.
Listen to the short Fascinating Insights podcast at https://jewishpodcasts.fm/
Incredible Inspiration
One can be living his routine life and yet others could be so inspired by observing him to the extent that it changes their lives. The following are some stories that illustrate this.
In 1997, a man named Lenny called the rabbi of a Shul in Dallas, Texas expressing to him that he wanted to make a donation to his shul. When Lenny was asked why he wanted to donate money to a shul that he had no affiliation with, he explained that he just returned from a tour in Israel. He said in Jerusalem, “I was amazed by the intensity of a man dressed in a long black frock with ringlets of hair by his ears (a chasid) whom I saw praying at the Western Wall—the Kosel.[1] I was so moved by the depth of fervor (hislahavus) he displayed that I wanted to do something for him. Feeling uncomfortable to approach him, I decided when I return to Dallas, I’ll find a temple where this man would be likely to pray at and make a contribution in his merit. When I arrived home I went to the kosher bakery where the owner told me that a chasid like that would pray in this type of shul. As a result, I want to donate to your shul.” As his connection with the rabbi grew he gave more money and raised even more from his friends. When Lenny passed away his mother gave tens of thousands of dollars in his memory.
In July 1938, delegates from thirty-two countries met at the French resort of Evian to deal with the Jewish refugee problem. With the exception of the tiny Dominican Republic, no country was willing to accept more refugees. The countries that refused included the United States, Britain, France and Australia who offered excuses for not letting in refugees. Why did the Dominican Republic allow entry to Jews whereas the other countries refused? Rafael Trujillo who was the dictator of the Dominican Republic at that time had a daughter that went to school in France. When the events in Europe were turning against the Jews, this girl would tell her father that there was only one girl that cared and was kind to her, and she was a Jew. We don’t know the identity of this Jewish girl but it was because of her that thousands of Jew were saved!
During a summer day in the Catskill mountains in New York, a religious Jew named Naftali slightly hit a parked car while he drove into a parking lot of a supermarket. Since he didn’t know who the car belonged to, he wrote a note which he placed on the windshield of the victim’s car. This note, which he wrote his phone number on, stated that he mistakenly hit the car and will pay for the damage caused. An hour later he received a call from Simon who was the owner of the car that was hit. At first Simon was very suspicious of Naftali since most people would flee the scene because no one would notice. However, a few minutes into the conversation, he was convinced by Naftali’s honesty and they agreed to meet. It turns out that Simon was a secular Jew that was born and bred in the Catskills. He was so astounded by Naftali’s response to hitting his car that it forged a relationship between the two of them which eventually led to Simon becoming an observant Jew!
[1] Incidentally, the Minchas Elazar (Masaos Yerushalayim, מאמר יום ב) said he has a tradition from his Rabbaeim that the Ohr Hachaim gave a note to someone to put between the stones of the Kosel.
