{"id":80362,"date":"2015-11-26T08:44:24","date_gmt":"2015-11-26T16:44:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=80362"},"modified":"2015-11-26T08:44:24","modified_gmt":"2015-11-26T16:44:24","slug":"visiting-the-rebbe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=80362","title":{"rendered":"Visiting The Rebbe"},"content":{"rendered":"

JTR<\/a>: Secular Jew Howard Jacobson wrote in 1993 about his experiences while waiting to see the famous Orthodox Lubavitcher rabbi, Menachem Schneerson, in New York City. For a decade, the rabbi gave out a dollar (symbolic charity) to each of those who came to wait in lines to see him. As Jacobson notes:
\nI am taken down \u2014 and I stress the preposition: down, down, down \u2014 and into theshul of the Lubavitcher headquarters, where the dollar-queue will form, and here I behold a sight which beats even Areyonga in the Central Australian Desert for uncouthness, for outlandishness, for other-worldliness beyond any imaginings of other worlds. The shul teems and shudders with men and boys in every attitude of Hebraic, and to my eyes pre-Hebraic, worship. . . . And here\u2019s the most startling thing of all \u2014 men and boys begging, begging in the synagogue, banging for your money, pulling at your sleeves for charity \u2014 tsodekeh, tsodekeh \u2014 offering to pray for you for money, to pray for your parents for money, selling you raffle tickets, shoving them into your pockets, into your breast pockets \u2014 a mitzva, a mitzva \u2014 except that that\u2019s not the most startling thing of all, because the most startling thing of all is that they\u2019re selling gold watches down here.
\nI try to hold on to my nerve. Jesus lost his sense of humor and proportion in the temple, and I am determined not to lose mine.
\n\u201cWe [Jews],\u201d Jacobson consoles himself, \u201cbelieve there\u2019s no distinction between the world\u2019s business and the business of the spirit.\u201d Leaving his momentary personal audience with the rabbi, \u201cno sooner do you beat back the first wave of beggars [in the synagogue],\u201d recounts Jacobson,
\n. . . than you find yourself waylaid by tradesmen wanting to sell you polythene sleeves to store your dollar in. For two dollars you can protect the one dollar. Or you can have it sealed and plasticated, turned into a place-mat with a date and a picture of the Rebbe [rabbi].<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JTR: Secular Jew Howard Jacobson wrote in 1993 about his experiences while waiting to see the famous Orthodox Lubavitcher rabbi, Menachem Schneerson, in New York City. For a decade, the rabbi gave out a dollar (symbolic charity) to each of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[165],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chabad"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t