Subject: In Memory of Baruch Yitzchak ben Yirmiyahu (Barry Pessin)
From: Heath Berkin <heath.berkin@gmail.com>
Date: 12/27/2019, 3:22 AM
To: Heath Berkin <heath.berkin@gmail.com>
BCC: menachem@alonsystems.com

Another inspiring story I wanted to share about the spark of light which is in every Jewish soul waiting to be kindled.

Approximately 10 years ago, a young man, an MJE [Manhattan Jewish Experience - an Upper West Side kiruv center] participant by the name of Mark Arkovitz, approached me at the end  of the MJE Shabbat Beginners Service and asked: “Why does the Cantor each week carry the Torah from the Ark and leave the room with it? Where is he going with the Torah?” I answered, that since MJE does not have its own Torah and we borrow one from The Jewish Center (the synagogue downstairs), our Chazzan needs to return it each week to their Ark. Mark then asked why MJE does not have its own Torah. “Doesn’t it say somewhere that you’re supposed to write your own Torah?” he asked. “Yes” I acknowledged, “but a Torah can be very expensive, The Jewish Center has many and they are kind enough to lend us one of theirs.” “Well how much is a Torah?” asked Mark. I answered it could be like $20,000, maybe even $30,000 and then Mark asked: “Do you have to be a holy person to donate one?” I saw where the conversation was going and so I responded: “Mark, you’re a holy person.” And then this guy who I barely knew, who had been coming to MJE for just a few months, blurted out: “I’ll do it! I’d donate a Torah to MJE.” 

Fast forward one year later. A Torah had been written and we planned a special Hachnasat Sefer Torah, an event to welcome our new Torah. I asked Mark if he wanted to speak at the celebration and he declined, saying he was “just a doctor, not a public speaker.” However, right before my beloved mentor Rabbi Jacob J. Schacter, whom I had asked to be our guest speaker, rose to address the large audience, Mark asked if he could share a few words. “Of course,” I told him, “this is your day.” 

Mark got up and before a packed room, shared the following: “Thank you all for coming here today. Before the big rabbi speaks, I wanted to tell you why I decided to become Shabbat observant. Growing up, I really only attended synagogue on the High Holidays, and a friend dragged me to MJE’s Yom Kippur services. I liked the service and the crowd and so I started taking some classes and coming on Shabbat. I attended MJE’s Shabbat services for like six months, but I really wasn’t sure if I could ever become Shabbos observant. It’s one thing to come to services, to the kiddush… but to start actually observing Shabbat — that’s a big deal. But then I had this one patient.” 

At the time, Mark was a pediatric surgeon at Columbia Presbyterian, and he went on to describe one of his patients, a five-year-old girl who unfortunately had a very poor prognosis. “I was assigned to her with a team of specialists but there was very little we could do. Every night I’d walk by her room to look in on her. It was so sad. She was such a sweet little girl. I started to develop a relationship with the parents who were Chasidic. I had never known a Chasidic Jew before, and I felt so bad for them. One night, as I was finishing up my rounds, I passed by the little girl’s room and walked in to check on her. She was sleeping peacefully. I sat at the edge of her bed and I had my first real talk with God. I looked up at the ceiling and I said: “God, you know there’s nothing we can do to save this little girl’s life, but if You save her life, I’ll start keeping Shabbos.”

“Fast forward,” Mark continued, “she survived and now I’m Shomer Shabbos. Thank you all for coming to celebrate MJE’s new Torah." 

I’ll never forget that moment. Mark made aliyah, became a pediatric surgeon at Jerusalem’s Shaarei Tzedek Hospital, got married and now has four children who all attend Yeshiva. Before Mark’s friend dragged him to MJE on that fateful Yom Kippur day, Dr. Mark Arcovitz was unknown to the Jewish community. Today he is a learned, observant Jew raising his children in the ways of Torah and mitzvot. This is the opportunity we have and which we must take seriously — to inspire our Jewish brothers and sisters in the ways of Torah. There is no greater merit for our generation. May Hashem continue to bless our efforts.

Rabbi Mark Wildes 


Shabbat Shalom and Chanukah Sameach!


Heath