Eager for sound-bytes for the evening news, the mainstream media scrambled to identify Rav Binyamin Eisenberger, the Kletzky family’s low-profile rabbi. They waited in front of his home and shul, but the rabbi simply didn’t appear. But of course, AP and UP were looking for a white beard and homburg hat; the youthful, unassuming figure didn’t fit their mental image of a rabbi. They should have known to look not at trappings, but at the face; he’s an obvious leader to anyone with Yiddishe oigen.
The Kletzky family tragedy impacted us on so many levels — and in the process the community learned some very beautiful truths about itself.
One lesson that emerged from the pain and heartbreak was the importance of having a rav of being connected to a kehillah. During those fraught days the face of Rav Binyomin Eisenberger became that of healing his voice one of chizuk and reassurance. The people of the community became the Kletzkys’ extended family a united force standing as one.
But as a member of the community explained “It wasn’t merely a reaction. The Kletzky family had attached themselves to the kehillah before the events of this summer and the nisayon simply brought that relationship to the fore.”
It’s a unique kehillah to be sure one that distinguished itself in nesi’ah b’ol carrying a shared burden. They joined in saying Tehillim through that long Monday night and never really stopped. The Rav’s clarity and insight were evident in his unforgettable hesped reminding us that there are no questions and no answers that the Ribono shel Olam gets His way. They remained in sharp focus through the many many shiurim he delivered after the tragedy helping his community — and Klal Yisrael — find the tools to move forward to grow to become ever more derhoiben (elevated). Those who follow the Rav’s shiurim and the recently initiated phone conferences for women have seen the parshiyos of Pinchas Matos Maasei Devarim — everything really become a springboard for chizuk for a heightened commitment to being mekabel Hashem’s will and even a call for simchah — the sublime joy of living with His ratzon.
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