Interview conducted by Yosef Shidler
In a touching account shared with COLlive.com, Yechiel Simcha Kernish, a young bochur from Issaquah, WA who is learning in Chovevei Torah Yeshiva this year, described a profound experience while doing Mivtzoim in Manhattan’s Washington Square Park.
Kernish, originally planning to visit Brighton Beach last Friday before Shabbos Lech Lecha, made a last-minute decision to change locations.
“We weren’t able to leave until nearly 1:30 pm,” Kernish explained. “So I said to Menachem Engel, the bochur I was scheduled to go with, that it’s not really worth our time to spend two and a half hours traveling for maybe an hour at Brighton Beach. So, we went to Manhattan instead.”
The park, famous for its chess hustling scene, presented Kernish with an unexpected opportunity. He recalled from a previous visit that many of the chess players were Jewish.
“It’s very easy to get them to agree to don Tefillin, because they’re just sitting there,” he said. “Usually, they want to put on Tefillin, and they’re fun, outgoing guys.”
Kernish went over to a man playing chess that was wearing a sweatshirt that said “Am Yisroel Chai”, and asked him if he wanted to put on Tefillin, and he said yes. Afterward, the man pointed toward another chess player and said to Kernish, “I think he is also Jewish, ask him.”
This led to an emotional encounter with an older chess player, who initially deflected Kernish’s offer to put on Tefillin with a challenge to a game of chess.
“I asked him if he was Jewish, and he didn’t answer, he just motioned that we should play a game of Chess. I told him, ‘OK, but if I win, you have to put on Tefillin,'” Kernish shared, acknowledging that while he’s an intermediate chess player, he’s no master.
The chess game unfolded, with Kernish emerging as the winner. But the real turning point came when he inquired about the older man’s Jewish identity, leading to an emotional revelation. The man, nearly 102 years old, began to cry, saying, “I used to be [Jewish], but I’m not anymore.”
Further conversation revealed a harrowing past connected to the Holocaust.
“The man said he’s been playing chess for about 80 years, and has a memory of his father teaching him when he was nine,” Kernish recounted. Despite the man’s assertion of being “not a Jew anymore,” Kernish reassured him, “If you were born a Jew, you’re always a Jew.”
After the chess game, honoring their agreement, the man donned Tefillin for the first time, becoming visibly emotional. “He could barely get out the words of the Shema,” Kernish said. “It was very special.”
Kernish reflected on the deeper significance of the encounter, stressing that even one mitzvah can awaken a Jewish soul, regardless of how many years have passed. “It’s deeply buried within every single Yid, and all it takes is just that opportunity to spark, and everything comes back alive,” he said.
The young bochur’s story is a poignant reminder of the enduring spirit of Judaism and the profound impact of personal connections and acts of faith. His experience underscores the timeless and transformative power of Jewish identity and heritage, even in the most unexpected places.
Wow! Thats a really amazing story!!!
very precious to spend time with holocaust survivors too and to bring them back to the Torah!
I truly believe that the Rebbe was playing..
You HAD to win the game.
The Rebbe made sure the man will have a bar mitzvah. Even at 102.
and it’s Hashem who is always playing the “chess game of earth”
and it’s Hashem who will always win and be in control…
The most powerful Jewish movement in the world, demonstrates its greatness every day.
Beautiful
Maybe bring him some seforim as a bar mitzva present.
That’s so beautiful!
My teacher told us this story in school when we were learning about the bas-kol in parshas vayara very very inspiring story