Torah to Be Written in Merit of Special Young Shliach

Our beloved son, the Rebbe’s young Shaliach, Menachem Mendel, will celebrate his third birthday in just a few months BH.

We would have loved to share with you… that our tender son is already walking, smiling, and eating on his own. Yet, unfortunately, he continues to be dependent on constant medical surveillance and human environment support, for life’s most basic functions.

We would have loved to share with you… that our tender son has never experienced any suffering. Yet, the angel who is the opposite of life has already paid him numerous visits ever since he was born. Thankfully, each time, Menachem Mendel, fought him with superhuman strength and triumphed.

We would have loved to share with you… that our tender son is full of joy. Yet, this remains a mystery to us. You see, ever since he was born, his face has been often unresponsive, and a smile has not yet appeared on his pure lips.

We would have loved to share with you… that our tender son is running around our home, kicking balls, and jumping on trampolines. Yet, I can only see the movement of his body when he does physiotherapy exercises or when he experienced epileptic crises.

We would have loved to share with you… that our tender son laughs and cries, yells, and sings. Nevertheless, we can tell you he is fully present ; we can perfectly know when he is happy and when he is not. His tears can reflect sadness but also happiness. Even without saying a word, he knows how to communicate with his environment and let himself understood.
We would have loved to share with you… that our tender son already knows the alef beth and even is able to daven. But he gave us an unbelievable lesson about the essence and the power of Tefilla and he taught us to never give up. And we are sure that he is also davening in his own way.

And yet, in spite of all of the pain and suffering, the holy soul of our tender son shines through and through. And although the many functions of his fragile body may be very limited, the many functions of his unbreakable soul have proved to be unlimited and immeasurably impactful. We feel an immense merit that Hashem chose us as the parents who should take care of this holy Jewish boy and help him grow. But as a matter of fact, he is the one who help us growing…

“The Divine Presence is felt in Menachem Mendel’s room,” visitors of all backgrounds — Jews and non-Jews, men and women, young and old — have shared with us. One lady even mentioned that she felt the holiness of the land of Israel in his room.

Yes, sometimes we ask ourselves if we are not fooling ourselves by thinking he is able to react to his environment. So let us tell you the following story.

A few weeks ago, Menachem Mendel underwent an important neurological examination. For 14 hours, electrodes were glued to his small head to help detect brain activity. see his brain activity. At one point, the neurologist was waiting for Menachem Mendel to fall asleep, to see if there was a change of brain activity during his sleep. But Menachem Mendel was relentless. He sensed the “action” around him, and he would not fall asleep. So I asked the neurologist to allow his sisters, Chaya-Mushka and Chana-Malka to sing the bedtime Shema with him, as they do every night. Perhaps, I said, that will do the trick and put him to sleep. Lo and behold, shortly after they sang the Shema, Menachem Mendel fell asleep. His holy soul would not allow his body to close his eyes before saying the Shema… And the usually stoic neurologist was wowed.

And I won’t tell you about the many, many Mitzvahs people have taken upon themselves, in honor of Menachem Mendel. One of his physicians even shared with us that, for the majority of his life, he saw himself as an “atheist.” But after treating Menachem Mendel, he started to believe in Hashem.” Another member of our community who systematically refused to put on Tefilin, finally accepted to do it in honor of Menachem Mendel…And there are so many other examples…

But why would we share our innermost feelings with you? Why bother you with such a personal story?

In just a few months, our Jewish community of Mar Del Plata, Argentina, will receive their first-ever Torah scroll! And at the same time, the writing of this Torah will also be dedicated to the merit of our son, the Rebbe’s Shaliach, Menachem Mendel ben Patsonia Rachel, may Hashem grant him with this merit a full and speedy recovery.

If our Menachem Mendel’s story has touched you, we kindly ask you to consider joining our “Torah for Menachem Mendel” campaign and donate toward the writing of this first Torah for Mar Del Plata, in his honor. By endowing a letter, word, or sentence for yourself, your children, your family members, or friends, it is as if you have written your own Torah Scroll.

And above all, your participation will show how strong is our unity and our togetherness. We believe with complete faith that every action, every Mitzva and every good deed which are done for the merit of our beloved son can bring about, with the help of G-d, his full recovery and eventually the true and complete Redemption, speedily and in our days.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts,

Rabbi Zalman & Patsonia Rachel Lipinski
Co-Directors
Chabad of Mar Del Plata, Argentina

Donate now and be part of this special Torah