“Trash?! You call this trash?! Do you know how much chesed was performed through this door?”

This past December, Torah Umesorah’s annual Presidents Conference was dedicated in memory of Reb Yaakov Rajchenbach ztz”l, the legendary baal tzedakah whose vision and generosity played a key role in shaping today’s American Torah landscape. Reb Yaakov’s son, Reb Chaim, addressed the audience, sharing just a small glimpse into the depth and breadth of his father’s legacy. He recounted a story that occurred this past Erev Yom Kippur, just a few months after his father’s petirah.

His mother had been making some long overdue repairs to the house over the last few months, Reb Chaim said, and she realized that it was time to replace the front door, which had endured several decades of Chicago winters.

The only day the contractor had any availability was, of course, Erev Yom Kippur. On the designated day the repairmen came, removed the old door, replaced it with a new one, and went on their way.

Just a few hours before Kol Nidrei, as Reb Chaim approached his parents’ home, he spotted a dear friend and neighbor, Reb Yitzy Weiss, in the alley behind the house. He stared as his friend, together with some helpers, schlepped the glass arch that used to adorn the top of the old door onto his pickup truck.

Bewildered, Reb Chaim approached.

“Why,” he asked, “are you rummaging through our trash?”

His friend looked at him and answered emphatically. “Trash?! You call this trash?! Do you know how much chesed was performed through this door? Do you know how many talmidei chachamim, orchim, and nitzrachim walked beneath this arch? This arch isn’t trash, this arch is heilig!”

Yitzy then told Reb Chaim that he was building a new beis medrash for his camp, Camp Matziv Midwest, and that the glass arch would be prominently displayed above the new aron kodesh.

Now, as summer approaches, Yitzy has stayed true to his word. The camp’s beis medrash is graced by a beautiful new aron kodesh. And the light spilling down on it, refracted through a sparkling glass arch, tells the story of the everlasting magnificence endowed to those who cherish, honor, and support

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 967)