Sunday, May 31, 2020

From The Real Shlomo by Rabbi Chaim Dalfin pages 2-3 All credit goes to the Circus Tent and Rabbi Chaim Dalfin

Shlomo knew and understood Yossel’s quote well. The last word of the verse, which Yossel didnot quote, is the word,
l’rashaim
, to the wicked.Shlomo’s face turned white and serious because Yossel, by quoting the verse, said to Shlomo“I do not want to shake your hand because you are wicked;” referring to Shlomo’s break fromhalachic issues with women.Shlomo’s asked Yossel what he needed to do for him so that he would extend his hand to him inshalom.Yossel quickly retorted that Shlomo needed to do
teshuva
, to regret his behavior, and to acceptupon himself to stop doing what he should not be doing.Shlomo thought again for a moment and asked Yossel that if he did
teshuva
, would he give hishand?Yossel said yes.Shlomo then asked how he should do
teshuva
.Yossel indicated that it should be done by saying and thinking right then, “I accept upon myselfto do
teshuva
.”Shlomo became serious once more and then loudly and clearly, in front of everyone in thestore, answered “I accept upon myself.”Yossel then gave Shlomo his hand.Shlomo took out a business card, wrote his private number on it, and told Yossel, that he wason his way to Toronto, and from there, to Israel. He asked him to call at a later date in order toget together and talk.Yossel agreed and left the store.That evening, Yossel returned to his office and noticed his answering machine was blinking. Heretrieved the message. It was from a person who was also at Weiss’s with Yossel and Shlomo,stating that Shlomo Carlebach had just died.Yossel was shocked beyond belief. The words “
Boruch Dayan ‘ha’Emet 
,”
3
 fell from his lips.He sat down thinking about his encounter with Shlomo earlier that afternoon, and realized thatwhat had happened was Divine Providence. He confessed that it is not his nature to make a
3
 This is the traditional Jewish prayer on hearing of a Jew’s death, “Blessed is G-d, the true Judge.”
 
scene and embarrass a person in public. He could have easily given his hand to Shlomo, or evenif he did not want to do that, he did not have to get into a dialogue with him. He could havesimply avoided him by not saying anything.Adapted from
The Real Shlomo
, by Rabbi Chaim Dalfin, published by JEP Press, October 2014

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