He kept saying, “This is a Jewish custom from time immemorial, it cannot be changed”
A week before Shabbos Hagadol, I was deep in conversation with Reb Leib, a recognized talmid chacham and a baal chesed second to none. His day is filled, from morning to night, with Torah and chesed. Yet he somehow always finds time for me, and I cherish our friendship.
As we were discussing the halachos of Erev Pesach that falls on Shabbos, Reb Leib unexpectedly waxed nostalgic. “Shabbos Hagadol was my bar mitzvah parshah over fifty years ago.”
I tried to coax him the story of his bar mitzvah out of him, sure that he would recall the deep pshetl he said that day. It turned out to be an even more amazing story than I could have imagined. Here is what he told me.
MY bar mitzvah was an event that changed the course of my entire life.
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