Community News Service
July 28, 2010
Bochurim Joshua Soudakoff and Isser Lubecki traveled to connect with the Jewish deaf community of Rochester, NY.
The Merkos Shlichus Student Visitation Program is celebrating 65 years since it was initiated by the Rebbe at the behest of the Previous Rebbe. Directed by Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, the program has grown to dispatch nearly 500 young rabbis and rabbinical students across the globe each summer.
Isser Lubecki (left) and Joshua Soudakoff (right),
ready to reach out to Rochester’s deaf community.
Sometimes G-d just has a plan of His own.
Isser and I woke up today in Toronto, from where we were to take a bus to Rochester, where we would serve as RovingRabbis to the sizeable deaf community that resides there. (The largest program for deaf university students is at RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology): the National Technical Institute for the Deaf.)
We are especially geared to connect with the Jewish deaf community because we are deaf ourselves and communicate in American Sign Language (ASL).
Our bus to Rochester would be leaving from the “Toronto Coach Terminal,” according to our vaguely-worded ticket. But where exactly was this? After a brief debate, we decided to set out with our luggage in tow to the closest bus line that would take us downtown. The bus station had to be there somewhere, after all.
As soon as we left our hosts’ house, we saw a familiar sight. As Divine providence would have it, we happened upon our rosh yeshivah (yeshiva dean), who promptly offered to find a driver to take us downtown in his van (he was occupied with something else at the time).
Great. We’re half-way there now.
As he turned the corner, he suddenly saw the driver he had in mind.
The would-be driver was busy, too.
Half-way there? More like half-way back.
The clock was ticking. We had little more than an hour to catch our noon departure. And if we had to depend on Toronto’s faithful public transportation system, I doubt we would have made it in time. It requires a several-bus connection to get us there.
But as G-d would have it, a taxi cab was sitting in front of our van, having just dropped off its passengers (it’s not a common sight to see taxi cabs in this residential part of town).
Seizing the moment, we asked the cab driver how much it would cost to take us downtown.
“Just twenty,” grumbled the driver.
And that’s how we found ourselves at the bus terminal about twenty minutes later, with plenty of time to spare.
In just a small space of time (five minutes, actually!) we had two potential rides and one actual driver. It’s not often that something like that actually happens, and we’re grateful that we were able to start off on the right foot with ease.
The Rebbe spoke many times about the importance of a good beginning. For example, Chassidic teachings stress conducting oneself properly in the beginning of the year, thus setting the entire year off to a good start.
We sure feel that we are on to a good start as well and hope to keep you posted.
With permission from RovingRabbis.com. For more stories, photos and the latest news of Merkos Shlichus please visit RovingRabbis.com
Source: www.collive.com/show_news.rtx?id=10147&alias=signs-from-g-8209-d-in-asl
