“You Choose To Come”

a UAlbany alumnus of 1992 was back for a visit with his two sons. He shared the following at Shabbos Lunch.

I work in Manhattan and about two years ago I had some time before an appointment in Midtown, so I stopped in to the Midtown Chabad on Fifth Ave (near 42nd?) to see what was going on there. During the few minutes I was inside, I saw a video clip of the Rebbe sharing a story and life-message with English subtitles. That story and message remains with me to this day, it is something I think of often.

Here’s the story the Rebbe told: Once a non-Jewish wagon driver was passing by the synagogue of the Baal Shem Tov and his heavy wagon got stuck in deep, thick mud. He poked his head into the synagogue and asked for help. The students said that they could not help him, his wagon was too heavy and the mud was too thick. The peasant responded in Ukrainian: “You can, but you don’t want to.” And as the Rebbe added, “When you are not interested, it seems impossible.”

This message stuck with me, and I say it today as a tribute to you all here at Shabbos House. You made the choice to be here. Many might rather stay in bed, sleep in or have other reasons not to be here. There are other parties to go to and things to do. But you guys don’t say you can’t come. You choose to come. And because each of you come, that helps create the campus community and build up Shabbos House and that’s how you have what you have here. It’s not impossible. You just have to want to do it, you have to be interested, and it takes all of you to do it together.

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Here’s the video clip of story (it starts at 06:15) as told by the Rebbe to children in Camp Gan Israel in 1917, which our alumni Class of 1992 friend saw at Midtown Chabad. Start at 06:15 for the story of the Wagon Driver’s Lesson.