| A Gift Passed Along |

Bound to Eternity

By Avraham Elbaz | April 6, 2020

But that wasn’t all: next Rav Yaakov Meir spoke of the heart — the Yiddishe heart!

Photographers usually focus on finding the right angle, the proper light source, the best composition for their photos. But when I accompanied a Breslover chassid and his bar mitzvah-aged son to the elderly mashpia Rav Yaakov Meir Schechter, all those considerations faded away. Instead of a photo op, a scene framed in color and shadow and pixels, I was privy to a shiur I carry with me still.

The meeting had an intense, serious air. The elderly tzaddik, I realized, was determined to make sure his young visitor understood what tefillin really are.

He didn’t suffice with a perfunctory brachah and some good wishes. Instead, Rav Yaakov Meir learned the halachos and relevant kavanos with this young man about to become an adult.

But that wasn’t all: next Rav Yaakov Meir spoke of the heart — the Yiddishe heart! — the passion and emotion and feelings of a Yid. And then he spoke of the power and potential of a Yiddishe mind.

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