Reb Aryeh’s son recalls: Once, as we were walking, a man came over to my father and asked, “How is your relative getting along in the mental hospital?” My father answered, “The Lord be praised,” and we continued on our way. “Father,” I asked, “what relative do we have in the mental hospital?” Then he told me that once he visited the hospital to recommend that someone be taken in for treatment, and since he was already there he went through the wards, visiting the patients. One man there caught his attention. The poor soul was full of welts and wounds, and, needless to say, my father became interested in him at once.
The other patients explained, “After all, we are all ill, you know, and there are moments when we get wild and even out of control. Then the orderlies restrain us by force, and at times they even hit us. Now, because we all have relatives and families who come and visit us, the orderlies are always a bit afraid to injure us, lest the families complain. That poor fellow over there is the only one here with no family, no relatives at all. SO the orderlies really treat him roughly. Whenever they lose their temper, he bears the brunt of it…”
Without a word, my father went over to the orderlies and told them that this patient was his relative. From that time on, he remained my father’s “relative,” and so every Rosh Chodesh he went to visit him and brought him little presents.
Suggested Discussion Questions:
1) What do we learn from the story about how we should view others who may need our help?
2) What motivated the Rabbi in the story to act the way he did?
3) Why are acts of kindness performed privately considered to be on a higher spiritual level than acts that are performed publicly?
4) How does the story relate to you today?
Time Period: Contemporary (The Yom Kippur War until the present-day)