The following is a letter from Yoseph Beck from Long Island.
Marilyn and I thank Hashem for granting us the years and health to celebrate the 70th anniversary of my Bar Mitzvah with our daughters Joan, Jackie and Michele, our son-in-law Steve and our grandchildren, Lyle who is snow bound in Albany, Avery, Zachary and Skylar who are here today and with our Chabad family and friends.
Gematria or numerology is a fascinating subject. This one is for today only.
My Hebrew name is Yoseph Beck. It has 7 letters. The first letter of my first name is a Yud; it is the tenth letter of the alphabet and has the numeric value of 10. 10 times 7 equals 70.
The older I get and the more I think about life I am convinced there is a heavenly plan. I do not always understand it nor can I always connect the dots but nevertheless I believe that a heavenly plan does exist.
This morning I read from a Sefer Torah of exceptional quality. It was written in memory of Mendy Bistritsky’s father Harav Yehudah Leib Bistritsky of blessed memory. Mendy presented the Sefer Torah to the Chabad of Hewlett just before Shavuoth.
Now to connect the dots.
In 1939 the Bistritsky family escaped from the Nazis, came to the United States and settled in Boro Park. They joined and davened at Shomrei Emunah where my parents and grandparents were members and also davened there.
I am certain that Mendy’s father was at Shomrei Emunah on Shabbos Parshas Yisro, my Bar Mitzvah sedra, seventy years ago in February 1945. And here I am today seventy years later reading from a Sefer Torah written in his memory. The dots connect.
In late 2011 or early 2012 Rabbi Tannenboim opened the Chabad Center in a storefront on Broadway near the Hewlett Woodmere Library. At lunchtime I would sometimes walk to the library and peak into the window to see if anyone was there. One day when the Rabbi was there I stopped in to introduce myself. Early 2012 a series of events totally unplanned and certainly not by choice happened to Marilyn and me. By then it was Shavouth 2012; we had no place to daven and to say Yizkor. We decided to try the Chabad. From the moment we walked in we felt welcome and at home and we immediately became part of the Chabad family. The rest is history.
Think of it and consider the variables – If the Rabbi had selected a different location, if my office was not near the library and if those events had not occurred then Marilyn and I would not be here today with our family, our Chabad family and our friends celebrating this 70th anniversary.
We are grateful and we thank Hashem.