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