He taught me a way of life and how to view struggles and challenges, and that even in the face of obvious and overwhelming hardship, there’s always a positive to be found
I’m sitting down to write this less than 24 hours after the petirah of my great-grandfather, Rav Chaim Dov Keller ztz”l.
The first wave of tears has passed, and the second wave has yet to come. The magnitude of the loss still hasn’t fully set in, and yet I feel the urgent need to sit and write. Not about who he was, the greatness he attained, what he stood for, or what kind of legacy he passed down to us; I wish to write down the warm memories I have of Elter Zaidy, the beautiful moments I was privileged to share with him, and the impact and impression he made on me. These recollections have inspired me for years, continue to fuel me, and will hopefully inspire others as well.
My earliest impression of Elter Zaidy stems from a story I heard from my grandfather dozens of times as a child. When he and Elter Zaidy came to Eretz Yisrael for my bris they flew together, as my grandmother had flown in earlier to help my mother. On the way back, my grandmother joined them and my grandparents went to the airport together, with Elter Zaidy scheduled to meet them there. For whatever reason, Elter Zaidy was delayed, and my grandparents ended up traveling back without him, rescheduling him on a flight for the following day. When my grandfather picked him up from the airport in Chicago, Elter Zaidy came running up to him. “Reb Mordechai, baruch Hashem you’re alive!” Confused, my grandfather asked him to elaborate, and Elter Zaidy replied, “I knew there must be a good reason that Hashem caused me to miss the flight yesterday. Who knows? Maybe the plane was destined to crash! I therefore prayed that all the other passengers on board, including my daughter and son-in-law, should be saved. Baruch Hashem my tefillos were answered and you were spared!”
There is much to be learned from this story, but my main takeaway has always been: There are those whose merits cause them to miss planes that are supposed to crash, and then there are those like my Zaidy, whose levels of emunah and bitachon, not to mention care and concern for others, cause them to daven nonstop on behalf of the people who got on the flight.
Create a free account to keep reading.
