During World War II, the Bluzhever Rebbe and many Chassidim were in the Janowska Road Camp. This concentration camp was brutally run by German SS and Ukrainians loyal to them. The Rebbe and Jews were once ordered to hike across an open field. The Rebbe was conversing with a maskil, a secular Jew who was a staunch atheist, during this walk. The Jews came to a huge ditch, upon which they were ordered to leap across.

“Any Jew who does not make it across this ditch will be shot on the spot,” screamed the SS guard. The maskil turned to the Rebbe and said, “Well that’s it. There is no way to make it. We’re doomed.” The Rebbe responded, “Hold onto my hand and we’ll jump across the ditch together.” They closed their eyes and took a running leap across the ditch. When they opened their eyes, they had made it to the other side.

“It’s a miracle,” screamed the Maskil. “There must be a G-d. Rebbe, tell me, how did you do it?” The Rebbe responded, “I closed my eyes and held on to the zchus of my father and his father and their ancestors. But tell me,” said the Rebbe to the Maskil, “To whose merit did you hold on to?” The Maskil replied, “Rebbe, I was holding on to you!”

When we are mekarev someone, they are holding onto us, hoping that we can help them get across the deep chasm of secularism and across to a place of meaning, purpose and a relationship with Hashem. We need to hold onto them with a chut hameshulash, a three ply cord of Torah, Shabbos and Chesed, in order to get them across.

Torah: Hashem tells Klal Yisroel, ‘Halevy Klal Yisroel would forget about Me and keep the Torah, for the light in it would bring them back to good.’ A mekarev should strive to learn as much Torah with his/her student as possible and as deep as possible. While one needs to remove obstacles and explain issues of emuna, hashkafa, etc, this is not the primary learning which is mekarev a student. Rather, it is learning Torah with depth. Whether it is Gemara, Chumash, Agadetta, etc. Anything which a mekarev enjoys and can convey with a ‘geshmak’ is worth learning with a student. Many of the college students at Rutgers whom we learn with, have continued in Yeshiva and have become talmidei chachamim once they have tasted the mesikus and amkus hatorah.

Shabbos: Not only is Shabbos the ‘matana tova’ that we enjoy from Hashem, it is also the greatest opportunity to step back and connect with our loved ones and also to connect with ourselves, seeing if the path that we follow during the week is one worth pursuing. When we take our students at Rutgers University to Shabbatons, they can’t get over the warmth of the families and the beautiful and serene atmosphere.

Chesed: A mekarev must reach out to each Jew in such a way that the student realizes that the mekarev has the student’s best interests in mind. Furthermore, like in all chinuch, a talmid will respond to a Rebbe/Mekarev, if the student knows that his Rebbe will do anything for him. Our student’s must know that we love them and only then will they willing to grow.

I’d like to invite the entire Lakewood community to a BBQ parlor meeting at the home of R’ Eliezer Breiner, 25 Garfield St, this Wed night from 7 – 9:30 PM. Your support will help my Kiruv organization Rutgers Jewish Xperience, continue to work with hundreds of students each year and help many of them continue on to a life of Torah, Shabbos and Chesed.