My nine year old son is enjoying a Lubavitch sleep away camp in the Catskill Mountains – a resort area in a very country setting. No doubt besides sports, refreshments, games, trips and daily Torah study, he’s also taught about the great spiritual accomplishment and deeds of the Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson o.b.m., the movement’s latest Grand Rabbi. Though he passed away some twenty years ago, his spiritual influence on Jewish life all over is very much alive and well.
On visiting day, the other week, I took him off campgrounds. We picked up his sister, my eleven year old daughter, from her sleep away camp down a winding country road. Then we enjoyed a family outing in a small town which sports a row of kosher restaurants and general Jewish shopping. After I dined them on lavish ice cream sundaes, I took them to a Judaica bookstore and allowed each child to select a book.
My daughter didn’t particularly love the selection, largely because she’s a fast reader and didn’t want to end up with anything whose reading pleasure wouldn’t linger. However, despite her concerns, she settled on a book pretty easily.
My son’s selection effort was more dramatic. He insisted that he wanted a book about the Rabbi Schneerson. The only problem was that all such books in stock were well above his reading level. So he came up with a secondary option, a comic book. He picked one up from a selection styled after graphic novel, but, designed to convey timeless Torah lessons or poignant moments in Jewish history. We brought his book to the counter. Right before I purchased it I noticed its subtitle, “How the Lubavitcher Rebbe Saved the Jews of Soviet Union from Destruction”.
A smile lit up my face. I turned to my son and exclaimed, “What an unexpected miracle! You wanted a book about the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Look how the Creator cherished your desire. He brought you to the kind of book you sought, one tailor made just for you.”
The Talmud teaches,” Those who seek holiness are aided from Above.”
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