A family’s private grief versus the public benefit of sharing a story. So how does one know when to break the veil of privacy and when to keep that sorrow buried deep in the recesses of the soul?

The life story of an individual great as he may have been isn’t always suitable for the wider community. Fascinating as an account may be in order to make it worthy of exposure it must be relevant to the readers.

The story of our son-in-law Rav Eliezer Geldzahler is significant for all kinds of Jews in all sorts of places. Reb Leizer was defined by his willingness to constantly revisit old assumptions and to reexamine conventional wisdom. Both as a parent and as an educator he was always seeking to make things more exciting and was never stuck in a rut.

Yisroel Besser’s full-length work has its roots in a yahrtzeit tribute that he wrote for Mishpacha in Kislev 2008. After we saw the impact the article had on Jews everywhere we decided that Reb Leizer’s message of varemkeit and enthusiasm for Yiddishkeit and life itself should be made known to the wider community.

My zeide the Kedushas Tzion of Bobov was an innovator in chinuch. After introducing a contemporary element to his chinuch system he was challenged by one of his peers who accused him of veering from tradition. The Zeide replied that if the enemy is fighting with clubs and sticks then it’s all right to respond in kind. But if the attack is with bombs and planes then using clubs is essentially conceding defeat.

Now is a hard time for parents and mechanchim. Reb Leizer’s methods are so relevant because they empower us to live with the question: what can we be doing better? The fresh attitude and perspective has never been more necessary than today.

No challenge intimidated him; if one door was locked he tried another. Positive energy attracts positive reactions and he created a sense of positivity which fueled him to accomplish great things.