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What’s a Little Slab of Butter? By Meshulam Benavraham Daf Notes Meshulam Benavraham is the pen name of an individual who recently
entered the world of the
“Am I really doing something for the Ribbono Shel Olam by bringing M & M’s into Jewish children’s pockets? Am I furthering the cause of Yiddishkeit by causing Oreo’s to appear at every Kiddush? ....” I must confess that such thoughts had intruded into my smugness. Up until one Shabbos Sholosh Seudos when I heard something that changed my attitude towards my Kashruth work altogether. I had been invited to
attend the last Shabbos of a two week retreat for ‘Baalei
Teshuvos’ in the Catskill Mountains.
The retreat, organized by Rabbi Zvi Teitelbaum of Silver Springs,
MD brought together about thirty men.
Some were college students, others mature adults, they all accepted
Rabbi Teitelbaum’s offer to spend two weeks ‘living Jewish’ in order
to find out for themselves what the Jewish religion really is really
about. Being there on the
last Shabbos, actually the last full day of the two week retreat, was an
unbelievable experience. With
a ratio of three ‘Bnai Torah’
for every Baal Teshuva, the Ruach of Shabbos that pervaded every moment, was an event I shall
never forget. The Baalei Teshuva joined in the singing and dancing with a fervor, they
admitted afterwards, that they had never before experienced in their life.
It was as if their soul opened up, letting in the joys, the beauty
and the holiness of Yiddishkeit. It was an
unbelievable sight, an unforgettable experience to participate in. Late in the evening,
as the exhaustion and exhilaration came together, each of the Baalei Teshuvah was asked to say a few words about what they gained
from the two week experience. I
would like to present here what one young man said .... “... I grew up in a
family where they had two sets of dishes.
One for Kosher and one for whenever my ma was too tired to cook and
we sent out for Chinese.” “To me, the entire
business of eating Kosher was a fraud.
Outside of home I never gave the subject of Kosher as much as a
second thought. When I got to
College and I was brought uncomfortably close to defining who I was, it
bothered me a) that I was Jewish, and b) that since I was Bar
Mitzvah’d I never did anything Jewish.
So I began to get a little interested in the subject.
Nothing serious, just a resolution that I would make it my business
to delve a little more into the subject.” “Obviously, with
such a weak drive very little happened.
Till one day I walked by a Deli and decided to order a sandwich.
When I paid for it and went to the table to sit down, the sandwich
looked normal, the lettuce and tomato enveloping the bacon, and the aroma
of the hot meat made me want to dig right into the plumpness of it.
As I was about to chew into the thing, something struck my eye.
There on the platter, next to the relish and the pickle, was a slab
of butter or margarine, I don’t remember which, and that butter was
marked with a big OU.” “Hey,” I said to
myself, “that’s funny. Here
I am again mixing Kosher with non-kosher.
Why do they have the OU here in this deli,” I asked myself.
I thought about it. Obviously
there was only one reason: to remind me that the sandwich was not Kosher!
I ought not to eat the sandwich.” “For a brief heady
moment - I debated my options. The
incongruous OU, out of nowhere, could only be a heavenly message from G-d
Himself telling me, yelling at me, warning me... DON’T EAT THE
SANDWICH.” “ I did think about
it seriously and then without a second thought I did what I thought at the
time was the right and sensible thing to do.
I ate the sandwich in six quick gulps.” “The taste of the
sandwich was soon washed away with a can of soda, but the slab with the OU
burrowed itself in my mind. I
couldn’t shake it out of my system.
It was as if it were mocking me, my weaknesses, my ignorance, my
laziness and above all, raising the whole uncomfortable subject of the
hypocrisy of who I was supposed to be and who I really was.
Then and there, I made up my mind that I was going to find out
more. Then, out of nowhere,
you, Rabbi Teitelbaum came along. It
was like this whole thing was set up.
Like G-d was pulling all the strings....” Never underestimate the power of what you are doing for Hashem. A little slab with the OU can bring a ‘Hirhur Teshuva’ to someone as much as a Perek of ‘Mesilas Yesharim’ can to you.
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