A Walk That Spanned Generations

An excerpt from the forthcoming book Clear Vision: Living by the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s Guidance by Rabbi Asher Zeilingold, available at ClearVisionBook.com:

When the Rebbe suggested that I organize a march to the lake for Tashlich, I felt it would be too difficult. I told the Rebbe that Rabbi Moshe Feller lived nearby and that it should be in his jurisdiction.

The Rebbe asked how far the Fellers lived from us.

I responded, “Around two miles.”

The Rebbe asked, “Is that in the vicinity?”

I accepted the idea and got to work. First, I needed to explain to the board of my shul, Adath Israel, what it was all about, and then I recruited people to join the march. To me, it seemed like a wild plan, but to the Rebbe, it was a way to foster Jewish pride and a necessity.

That first year, as we were marching, we met Irving and Toby Rosenblum and their family. They joined us on the march and ultimately became part of our Adath Israel community.

After the bar mitzvah of Irving’s son, Michael, I wrote in the bulletin about how three generations led the services at Adath Israel. I sent that bulletin, along with many others, to the Rebbe.

Later, I received a note from the Rebbe suggesting that I photograph the three generations together and include the teaching from Baba Metzia 85a: “Anyone who is a Torah scholar, and whose son is a Torah scholar, and whose grandson is a Torah scholar, the Torah will never again cease from his descendants.”

I did as the Rebbe suggested and added the line: “Our synagogue bridges the ocean of time to bring together the generations in a common quest for eternal values.”

Over the years, the Rosenblum family continued to grow in their Judaism. Many of the great-grandchildren are today Torah scholars residing in Jerusalem and Lakewood, New Jersey.