A non-Jewish woman who lived behind Oholei Torah heard the sounds of the boys of Oholei Torah and found their papers in her backyard. Read this incredible story of how this saved her son’s life and led her to only sell her house to “a follower of Rabbi Schneerson.”
By Mrs. Rochel Lustig – Chabad.org
Many years ago, my husband, Rabbi Hershel Funnythe long-time elementary school principal of the Oholei Torah educational institute, received a call from a young man who had been at the Ohel earlier that day. The young man had started a conversation with another visitor – a non-Jewish woman in evening dress – who told him what had brought her there.
She told him that she lives in Crown Heights, on Lincoln Place, in the block directly behind the Oholei Torah school building on Eastern Parkway. “Their singing is so pure, inspiring and beautiful. It’s music to my ears,” she said enthusiastically, explaining that she could hear the children’s morning prayers from her house.
Shortly before this encounter at the Ohel, she had been through a devastating family crisis and had driven around the corner to Eastern Parkway to ask one of the students at Oholei Torah where they pray when they have a serious problem. The boy answered frankly that they go to the Rebbe’s Ohel and gave her the information she needed. “That’s why I’m here,” she concluded her story.
The young man told my husband about this conversation so that he would know and appreciate that the children pray so beautifully that they even inspire a non-Jewish neighbor.
I am a ninth-grade teacher at Beth Rivkah Girls High School in Crown Heights, and every year when I teach the chapters in the Book of Kings describing the building of the First Holy Temple, we read about King Solomon pleading with G-d to answer all the prayers offered in the Temple, especially those of the Gentiles.
“And also to the Gentile who is not of your people Israel but will come from a far country… and he will come and pray to this house. You will hear it in heaven… and do according to all that the Gentile asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as your people Israel do, and that they may know that your name is over this house that I have built.
Generally, I try to incorporate ideas or stories from the Rebbe into my teaching, and when we come to this section, I tell my students the story of the woman from Lincoln Place to illustrate how even non-Jews come to the Ohel to pray. I always conclude, because of King Solomon’s prayer, that whatever this woman asked for at the Ohel that day was surely fulfilled.
Once, when I was telling the story, one of my students told me that she lives on that block of Lincoln Place and confirmed that on the days she was not at school, she could hear the boys from Oholei praying Torah.
“Who knows?” I said jokingly. “Maybe you live in that woman’s house…”
The next day, my student came into the class and said: “Mrs. Lustig, you won’t believe this. We actually live in this woman’s house!”
Later that evening, I spoke with her mother, who gave me the details. About 15 years ago, she was looking to buy a home and was looking at a house on Lincoln Place that was for sale. She was surprised to see many magnets on the refrigerator holding a stack of Oholei Torah worksheets and even a magnet with a photo of the Rebbe. The homeowner explained that these papers had flown out of the open school windows into her backyard, and in gratitude for her holiness, she had hung them on her refrigerator.
“And why do you have a magnet with a photo of the Rebbe?” the woman asked.
“Ah, Rabbi Schneerson! Recently my son was in a terrible motorcycle accident and was barely clinging to life. I asked one of the students I met on Eastern Parkway where they pray when they are in big trouble and he advised me to pray at Rabbi Schneerson’s grave. I did, and my son recovered miraculously!”
“I love this photo,” she concluded. “And out of appreciation, I would only sell my house to a follower of Rabbi Schneerson.”
Hearing this story was an emotional experience for me. After 10 years of telling this story in my classes and confidently predicting the outcome based on the verse in the book of Kings, I finally received my confirmation.
