Shliach’s Yom Kippur Sacrifice

By Mendy Pellin

Here’s a little (more serious) Yom Kippur moment that I just remembered from my bochur days…

I was a youth director for a huge Yom Kippur program at the Hyatt Westlake Plaza for Chabad of Agoura Hills, CA. It was a monster operation with over 2000 people attending services.

This wasn’t your store-front ma and pa operation. This was a ‘corporate’ Chabad Center with a very skilled CEO (that even uses his middle initial), Rabbi Moshe D. Bryski. The center has a large staff and a voice-mail that begins with “press 1 for a complete list of all staff and departments”.

As with all leading companies, they constantly strive to gain more ‘customers’. Leading up to the High Holidays there was a big “get out the pray” campaign that I helped with. After some time I felt like I was part of this big corporate machine.

As I saw the thousands of ‘customers’ rush in before Kol Nidrei, I felt like our ‘stock’ was totally going to rise based of these high (holiday) ratings.

One car that pulled up was occupied by a woman with her children. After exiting their vehicle, the family ran with their suitcases to the check-in area. A few minutes after the mothers attempt, she told me that all rooms were sold-out and started walking toward the exit. I was excited. We were at full capacity.

I went to report this great news to Rabbi Moshe Bryski who was sitting on stage moments before his highly anticipated sermon (3/4 of the crowd comes to hear him speak).

Instead of getting excited, he quickly instructed me to stop the woman from getting back into her car. He said that I should then move all personal belongings from his hotel room into a conference room and have the maid-service quickly refresh his room and give it to the woman.

That’s when it hit me. I got so caught up in the superficial part of the operation that I forgot the real mission. The Rabbi may run things like a CEO but this act of selflessness was his true essence. He’s not a hot-shot CEO excited that thousands of people crowded a ballroom to hear HIM speak. He’s just a messenger of the Rebbe who cared first about stopping the Jewish family from getting back into their car and spending Yom Kippur at home; Even if that meant sleeping on the floor, in a bathroom-less conference room, the night before giving his biggest and most anticipated sermons of the year. He was a Shliach.

That night I shared this story with all the Youth Shul counselors to help put their mission into perspective.

Many of the younger generation walk into already-established Chabad Centers without seeing all the early-day sacrifices the Rabbi’s and Rebbetzin’s made to get to where they are today. But if you look hard enough, you’ll notice the secret to Chabad’s success. Their essence is the Rebbe. It’s not about them. It’s about the mission.

May we all have a year filled with selfless acts of kindness to our fellow man without forgetting our true mission in this world!