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.