Please call a thief

Many years ago, when I was studying at the yeshiva, I was walking on a Friday before Shabbat and entered the Beit Midrash. There I came across an unusual scene: the Chief Rabbi of the yeshiva (the Rosh Yeshiva) was sweeping the floor. I immediately ran to him trying to take the broom from him, but he refused to give it to me. He looked at me and asked: “since when did you become a thief?”

​Can you imagine how I felt at that moment? I was stunned! The rabbi smiled at me a fatherly smile and explained very calmly that this mitzvah of sweeping the Beit Midrash before Shabbat was his and if I wanted, I could find my own mitzvot and added “this is my mitzvah, and I don’t share with anyone”.

​I thank everyone who offer donations to VOLEH (the non-governmental organization for new olim that I founded), but these are my mitzvot; for this reason, my organization does not accept any kind of donations. As a lawyer specializing in a variety of Israeli legal services, I usually do charge legal fees since this is my parnasa, but sometimes and for certain olim related services I decide not to and am happy to be able to help – and even happier to know that, like my Rosh Yeshiva of long ago, this mitzvah is mine alone and I won’t share it with anyone.

​Thanks to everyone who for so many years has been an inspiration to the organization and me. I Thank those who supported me by contributing a positive comment on my website or in social media.

https://szajnbrum.wixsite.com/callathief