Page 3 - The Jewish Voice - May '22
P. 3

The Jewish Voice, Page 3

                                                       From the rabbis




      You Can’t Always Wait for                         facing our fears instead of fleeing from them. Whenever   Kaiser to invest half a million and I would put together a
      the Perfect Time, Sometimes                       we’re faced with a crisis, we can choose either faith or fear.   group that would invest $2 million. But when the lawyers

                                                                                                           started drafting the contracts, the investors disappeared.
                                                           G-d deliberately created us in a world of uncertainty so
      You Must Dare to Jump                             that we, like Nachson, could choose our path forward. It’s   What worked at cocktail parties and hotels did not work
                                                        a cosmic set-up where G-d is watching our first move. If
                                                                                                           when they had to open their wallets. It was time to sign the
      Everything You Want Is on the Other Side of Fear  we choose fear, we are turning our backs on G-d; if faith,   contracts, but without the backing of the investor group I
                                                        we are smiling directly at Him. G-d is essentially testing   did not have the courage to do so.
      By Rabbi Dovid Vigler                             us. When we believe in Him, then He invests in us!      Then I remembered my late father. When he could not
         In  celebration  of  the                          Faith is taking the first step even when you can’t see   decide whether to emigrate with his family from Russia to
      recent Pesach holiday,                            the whole staircase. Fear and anxiety are expressions of   Israel, he went to the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe for advice.
      our  family  had  a  yacht                        lack of faith; jumping in unleashes the miracle. Nothing      I felt like I was facing a giant. The Rebbe was full of
      experience in Miami. While                        is guaranteed, but if you do nothing, that is exactly what   kindness and knowledge and we spoke in three languages:
      anchored out in the pristine                      you’ll get!                                        Russian, French, and Hebrew. Since the Rebbe was educated
      waters of the bay, the captain                       The miracles of our ancestors’ redemption reminds us   as an engineer, he knew more about cars than I did. If I
      allowed us to jump off the                        that sometimes your only available transportation is a leap   recollect correctly, the Rebbe related that “a car is made
      boat into the water. Though                       of faith. For G-d to bless our marriage and our business,   up of three thousand different industries.” A car assembly
      she  was  anxious  at  first,  I                  we need to let Him in first. When we jump in with faith,   plant is like a vocational school for various professions
      encouraged our daughter by                        we are opening the door for his free-flow of blessing.   and crafts: bodywork, painting, carpentry, upholstery,
      telling her that the hardest                         It’s a lot like learning to swim: You can either stand   etc. It was a critical opportunity for the immigrants to the
      part of the jump is getting into the air; after that, it all flows   outside and watch others or you can jump in and tread along   country who came straight from the concentration camps,
      seamlessly.                                       until you figure it out.                           without professional skills, to train thousands of people in
         It reminded me of the miracle of the splitting of the Red      Ephraim Ilin was an influential industrialist who made   vocational education. The Rebbe said: “The factory may
      Sea that we commemorate at the end of Passover, which   a significant contribution to the establishment of the State   serve as an infrastructure for the entire industry in Israel!”
      ended the Jew’s exodus from their Egyptian abusers. Though   of Israel. He maintained worldwide connections and thus      But where would I get the huge sum from? Then the
      G-d had already authorized the sea to split, it didn’t do so   took care of bringing immigrants to the young country, arms   Rebbe said words that calmed me down: “Throughout the
      until one man took the first leap. Nachshon ben Amindanav,   shipments, and commando ships.          years of your life you have faced many obstacles and G-d
      Prince of the Tribe of Yehuda, is forever known as the      After the establishment of the state, the need arose   has always been by your side. He will continue to stand by
      fearless Jew who leaped forward when no one else had the   for the production of vehicles for army and civilian use.   your side in the future as well.”
      courage to do so.                                 The Detroit-based Ford Motor Company announced its      I felt as if a stone had been rolled off of my heart. I signed
         The Talmud (Sotah 2a) tells us that the splitting of the   intention to set up a car assembly plant in Israel, but the   the contracts and the company set off. During the first 10 years
      Red Sea holds the secret to marital harmony and financial   Arabs threatened to boycott the company and add its name   of its establishment, we were responsible for 28 percent of
      prosperity. Though the comparison seems strange at best,   to the Arab League’s blacklist. Ford withdrew and the Israeli   Israel’s total national domestic product! Our exports reached
      the Rebbe explains that the splitting of the Red Sea brings   government suffered a crisis. If a leading global company   as far as Argentina, Brazil, and Colombia. We traded with
      to our desires for meaningful relationships and successful   like Ford surrenders to the Arabs, who would be willing to   Turkey, France, and Sweden. The work was arduous, the
      enterprises.                                      invest in Israel? Ephraim Ilin enlisted for the mission. This   expenses were enormous, but that is what built the industry
         No one ever got married when they were 100 percent   is the story, in his words:                  in Israel.
      ready. No one started a business without a shred of doubt.      I received a recommendation to meet a man named      May we too be inspired to let our faith be bigger than our
      Both of these endeavors require the courage to overcome   Hickman Price, from the export company Kaiser-Frazer. His   fears. May we be the modern-day Nachson. Spread your wings
      our inhibitions. It’s much easier to maintain the status quo   company set up a successful car factory in the Netherlands   because otherwise you’ll have no idea how far you can fly!
      and simply do nothing.                            and were interested in expanding. I had to convince them to      Rabbi Dovid Vigler is spiritual leader at Chabad of Palm
         Like the Red Sea that only split after we made the first   set it up in Israel. The project required an investment of $2.5   Beach Gardens and host of the Jewish Schmooze Radio
      leap, our success depends on our ability to trust in G-d by   million, an amount as equal to $250 million today. I asked   Show. Email him at rabbi@jewishgardens.com.
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