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The Short Vort- -“Uncle Jerry and Aunt Rose” (6/25/10)
The Short (Shabbos) Vort
Good Morning!
Today is Shabbos the 14th of Tammuz 5770 and June 25-26, 2010
Part One
Uncle Jerry and Aunt Rose
When I was a little boy I was privileged to be blessed with my Uncle Jerry and Aunt Rose.
To Uncle Jerry and Aunt Rose is where we went for Thanksgiving Dinner, (oh, I forgot, allow me to be politically/religiously correct); that is where we went for the family’s annual Seudah Hodaya where we publicly thanked Hashem for His kindness.
(Whew, that was close; I was that close to being publicly rebuked; tarred, feathered and endangering my children’s shidduchim chances!
Thank you Hashem for allowing me to think fast and not allow anyone Chas V’Shalom to even think I celebrated Thanksgiving.
In fact, after proper recall and a proper sanitizing of my mind- I ‘remembered’ that my uncle’s name was not Jerry at all.
It was Yankel and of course we referred to him as ‘Der Feter Yankel’.
Oh yes, and while I am remembering things properly, I now ‘recall’ that his wife was not Aunt Rose, her name was Tante Raizel.
How silly of me not to recall accurately.
It was Feter Yankel and Tante Raizel and we only spoke Yiddish and we thought the Yankees were a fancy brand of tissues.
By the way, while I have your attention, anyone out there interested in buying the Brooklyn Bridge?
I am running a sale today and if you agree to buy the Bridge, I’ll throw in the Bronx for no charge. Nu, any takers?)
Why I am telling you about Uncle Jerry? Was he a Talmid Chochom? Not in the least.
Was he a great Tzaddik? You gotta be kidding. If he ever gave a dime to charity in his life, that would have been by mistake.
If so, why am I telling you about Uncle Jerry?
Because there was something I learned from him and that is important.
I learned from Uncle Jerry the importance of preparing for the future.
Allow me to continue.
Every once in while, Uncle Jerry- who lived in Brooklyn- (didn’t everyone back then?)- would say to Aunt Rose: “Rose, get your coat- we have to go check out our property to make sure all is still in order.”
What property was Uncle Jerry referring to? And what exactly had ‘to be in order’?
Uncle Jerry had purchased two burial plots for him and Aunt Rose in the Old Montefiore Cemetery in Queens. About once a month on a Sunday afternoon, Uncle Jerry would schlep Aunt Rose to Queens to make certain that their plots were ‘in order’ and that their final resting place was quiet and serene.
I once asked Uncle Jerry was he goes to check out the plots. After all once you’re gone who cares what the place looks like?
Uncle Jerry would look at me incredulously and say,
“What are you talking about? I am going to have to sleep in that plot forever. I want to make sure I have a good place there. After all, that’s it; my final resting place forever and ever. I want to make sure I will be comfortable; that I have a good view of the area and that it’s a quiet place”.
Although Uncle Jerry was not correct in his assessment of what death represents; after all, the body is not the major focus at that time. However, he was correct in teaching me that we all have to be concerned with where we will end when the curtain of our life closes for the very last time.
Part Two-
The Chofetz Chaim and Mr. Brodsky
Bilam says: “May my soul die the death of the upright and let my end be like his." (Perek 23; passuk: 10)
The commentators inform us that when Bilam said, “and let my end be like his”,
he was asking to gain a portion in the World to Come- Olam HaBah.
The Mishna in Sanhedrin (90a) teaches us that “All of the Jewish people (kol Yisroel) have a portion in the world to come”.
One day, a young man who was unfortunately becoming less observant, asked the Chofetz Chaim,
“Rebbe, if the Mishna says that all Jews have a guaranteed portion in the world to come, then what is the big deal if I don’t learn Torah so much any more? What is so bad if I sometimes do not make a brocha on my food? After all, I still have a portion in the world to come, don’t I?
The Chofetz Chaim looked at the young man before him and told him the following:
“My son, do you know who is the richest man in Russia? The young man answered, “Of course I know. Everyone knows it is the Jew named Brodsky who lives in Kiev. Besides being a sugar magnate, he own real estate, factories and forests all over Russia.”
“You are correct”, said the Chofetz Chaim. “However, allow me to tell you something about Mr. Brodsky which you do not know.
Besides all of the hundreds and hundreds of workers who receive a monthly check from Brodsky, there are many, many poor people who are on his payroll. Indeed, only I and a few other rabbonim are privy to the amount of Tzedokah the man distributes every single month.
However, do you think that everyone receives the same amount? Not at all; first the expert artisans who are highly trained and are specialized workers receive the largest salaries. Next on line are the unskilled workers; schleppers and porters. Finally, after the workers receive their paychecks, Mr. Brodsky’s relatives line up. However, even when they arrive to pick up their checks, there is a ‘pecking order’
His closest relatives go first and only after all of the relatives have received their share, only then, after waiting for hours and hours, does the poor schnorrer approach the cashier and he also receives a few coins.
No one is turned away.
However, not everyone gets the same amount and not everyone receives at the same time.
The skilled artisans who are very valuable to Mr. Brodsky are paid first and they are paid the most.
Afterward the unskilled workers are paid after waiting longer and their pay is of course less than the skilled laborers.
This is the system.
The more valuable you are in Mr. Brodsky’s eyes, the better position you receive on the payroll.
Those who are the most valuable have the least wait and the most money.
Those who are the schleppers and the schnorrers wait the longest and get the least amount of money.
So you see, although everyone has a portion in the largesse of Mr. Brodsky, it ‘pays’ to be more skilled and more valuable in his eyes than less.
So too, my son, is it with all of the Jewish people and our share in the world to come.
Yes, it is true that the Mishna informs us ‘That all Jews have a portion in the World to Come”; however what that portion is and how long we will have to wait upstairs (or maybe downstairs) to receive that portion is dependent on who you are and how you valuable you are in the eyes of Hashem”.
Part Three
Uncle Jerry was Correct
At the end of the day, good ole Uncle Jerry was correct.
We all have to be concerned what our final resting place will look like.
What type of view will we have and how comfortable and quiet will be the rest.
He was also correct that the time to ‘arrange’ the spot is today, for once you are there, you are stuck there forever.
No amount of money can change that.
Friends, we all have a portion in The World to Come, however, what that portion is and where it is, is dependent on what we do in the here and now.
Remember the old Yankee Stadium? You may have had ticket; however, once you were inside and you found out that your seat was behind a pole, you were stuck there- at that point it was too late to change your seat as all of the good seats were filled!
The time to reserve a good seat is today.
Do not wait till tomorrow; the good seats are going fast.