The Letter - Monthly Gedolim Story
For this months' "Gadol Story, I was hoping for a burst of help from above as I wondered, which story to share. I picked up Rabbi Yechiel Spero's book "Now That's A Story" hoping to find something unique and wonderful there. A story I would connect to and feel comfortable sharing.
Within five minutes, or, dare I say, seconds, I found the story that ticked all the boxes and alleviated all the worries of not finding a good story, off my shoulders. The story, which features the famed Tzaddik, Rav Moshe Sternbuch, albeit this story takes place during his earlier life and is more focused on the actions of his esteemed mother, Mrs. Devorah Sternbuch is one of commitment, understanding and the pure, beautiful, loving touch of A Yiddishe Mameh.
I hope you enjoy this story and connect to the message in your own way.
All the best, my friends,
Yitzy Schweitzer
Within five minutes, or, dare I say, seconds, I found the story that ticked all the boxes and alleviated all the worries of not finding a good story, off my shoulders. The story, which features the famed Tzaddik, Rav Moshe Sternbuch, albeit this story takes place during his earlier life and is more focused on the actions of his esteemed mother, Mrs. Devorah Sternbuch is one of commitment, understanding and the pure, beautiful, loving touch of A Yiddishe Mameh.
I hope you enjoy this story and connect to the message in your own way.
All the best, my friends,
Yitzy Schweitzer
The Letter - Monthly Gedolim Story
Little Moshe was a brilliant boy, with a sharp, laser-focused mind, excelling in all his studies. His Rebbeim and teachers tried their utmost to challenge him, knowing that he far surpassed the other boys in his class.
Growing up in England, Moshe did not always have it easy, and smooth sailing. He lost his father, Rav Asher, at a young age and worked hard in his studies to bring Yiddishe Nachas to his mother. He knew how much she cared, how badly she wanted him to succeed, how she would always hire the best melamdim so that her son Moshe could maximize his awesome and vast potential.
It showed. You can believe that, if I may subtly interject.
Moshe was simply always top of his class, both in Limudei Kodesh and Limudei Chol.
One day, the school announced a mathematics competition would take place, with the participation of students from all around the are. Moshe, feeling up to the challenge, entered the contest.
Although in his early teens at the time, Moshe's brilliance and prowess in mathematics, blew the competition away. Question after question, problem after problem, equation after equation, Moshe provided the answers in rapid-fire motion and succession.
As the rounds went by, with it came the elimination of more students and the increase in the question difficulties. but Moshe managed to answer all of them almost as soon as they left the questioner's mouth. It was breathtaking. Everyone was amazed at this young lads genius.
By the time the competition was over, Moshe was crowned the undisputed mathematics champion of the entire region and was the talk of the town.
But it was went beyond the town. The entire country was abuzz about the young mans talent, his brilliance and sharpness.
It did not take long for letters to start coming around. Many of the English secondary schools fawned over the young mans utter genius. Hoping to be "the one to get him into their school", or, if I may interject again, "the one who got him", each school offered Moshe a full scholarship. Landing such a big fish would lead to the school having prominence and also attract other bright children to it.
None of them caught the attention of Moshe's mother. She was simply not interested in their offers.
Then, one day, the doorbell rang. Standing outside was an official courier holding a letter.
This letter stood out.
The courier had the letter, encased in gold envelope and embossed with a gold stamp to Moshe's mother who wondered about its contents.
She opened it and began to read,
Dear Moshe,
On behalf of our entire country, I wish to congratulate you on your outstanding achievement. It is really quite an accomplishment. No doubt your brilliance will lead you to much success in your endeavors.
As such, it gives me great pride to offer you a full-fledged scholarship to the most prestigious university in the entire land, Oxford; I know you will be successful there.
It is my fervent hope, wish and prayer, that you continue to bring great pride to your country and hopefully one day, you will grow up to become prime minister of England.
Sir Winston Churchill
Yes, you read that correctly, the Winston Churchill, prime minister of Great Britain!
At that point, most mothers,would have called together the family, read the letter to all who were interested and then folded it up to put it away in safe place for posterity.
Not Moshe's mother. Oh, no.
She did not even hesitate for a moment - and she did what no other mother would have done. Though she committed the letter to memory, she dd not want to have it in the house. So she promptly walked over to the fireplace and after tearing the letter into many pieces, she threw it into the fire.
It would never be seen by another set of eyes.
She knew what she was doing.
Many years later, after her Moshe grew up to become Rav Moshe Sternbuch, the leader of the Badaatz and one of the Gedolei Hador, he shared this amazing story adding one important point:
Many times, he mother was asked, "Why didn't you save the letter? Why not hold onto it as a memento? Even if you did not want to hang it on the wall, you could have at least saved it in your attic. Why did you tear it up and throw it into the fire?"
To which she responded, "Do you think I could have raised my Moshe to become what he did with a letter like that in my house?"
Mrs. Devorah Sternbuch knew the secret to greatness.
Singular focus.
Growing up in England, Moshe did not always have it easy, and smooth sailing. He lost his father, Rav Asher, at a young age and worked hard in his studies to bring Yiddishe Nachas to his mother. He knew how much she cared, how badly she wanted him to succeed, how she would always hire the best melamdim so that her son Moshe could maximize his awesome and vast potential.
It showed. You can believe that, if I may subtly interject.
Moshe was simply always top of his class, both in Limudei Kodesh and Limudei Chol.
One day, the school announced a mathematics competition would take place, with the participation of students from all around the are. Moshe, feeling up to the challenge, entered the contest.
Although in his early teens at the time, Moshe's brilliance and prowess in mathematics, blew the competition away. Question after question, problem after problem, equation after equation, Moshe provided the answers in rapid-fire motion and succession.
As the rounds went by, with it came the elimination of more students and the increase in the question difficulties. but Moshe managed to answer all of them almost as soon as they left the questioner's mouth. It was breathtaking. Everyone was amazed at this young lads genius.
By the time the competition was over, Moshe was crowned the undisputed mathematics champion of the entire region and was the talk of the town.
But it was went beyond the town. The entire country was abuzz about the young mans talent, his brilliance and sharpness.
It did not take long for letters to start coming around. Many of the English secondary schools fawned over the young mans utter genius. Hoping to be "the one to get him into their school", or, if I may interject again, "the one who got him", each school offered Moshe a full scholarship. Landing such a big fish would lead to the school having prominence and also attract other bright children to it.
None of them caught the attention of Moshe's mother. She was simply not interested in their offers.
Then, one day, the doorbell rang. Standing outside was an official courier holding a letter.
This letter stood out.
The courier had the letter, encased in gold envelope and embossed with a gold stamp to Moshe's mother who wondered about its contents.
She opened it and began to read,
Dear Moshe,
On behalf of our entire country, I wish to congratulate you on your outstanding achievement. It is really quite an accomplishment. No doubt your brilliance will lead you to much success in your endeavors.
As such, it gives me great pride to offer you a full-fledged scholarship to the most prestigious university in the entire land, Oxford; I know you will be successful there.
It is my fervent hope, wish and prayer, that you continue to bring great pride to your country and hopefully one day, you will grow up to become prime minister of England.
Sir Winston Churchill
Yes, you read that correctly, the Winston Churchill, prime minister of Great Britain!
At that point, most mothers,would have called together the family, read the letter to all who were interested and then folded it up to put it away in safe place for posterity.
Not Moshe's mother. Oh, no.
She did not even hesitate for a moment - and she did what no other mother would have done. Though she committed the letter to memory, she dd not want to have it in the house. So she promptly walked over to the fireplace and after tearing the letter into many pieces, she threw it into the fire.
It would never be seen by another set of eyes.
She knew what she was doing.
Many years later, after her Moshe grew up to become Rav Moshe Sternbuch, the leader of the Badaatz and one of the Gedolei Hador, he shared this amazing story adding one important point:
Many times, he mother was asked, "Why didn't you save the letter? Why not hold onto it as a memento? Even if you did not want to hang it on the wall, you could have at least saved it in your attic. Why did you tear it up and throw it into the fire?"
To which she responded, "Do you think I could have raised my Moshe to become what he did with a letter like that in my house?"
Mrs. Devorah Sternbuch knew the secret to greatness.
Singular focus.
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