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a Reader comments to זיי פאלען ווי די פליגען Remembering Shimshon's Chesed
Some memories:
Shimshon could push the envelope like no one else in Chabad when it came to social conventions, and no one minded cause of his great big heart.
Shimshon was known to scream when collecting for Chevra Simchas Shabbos v'Yom Tov, shoving his cardboard box into men's faces in 770 saying things like, 'I know you made alot of gelt in the stock market this year, you can give more than that!', or "Give! It's for the people!".
He could be a mischevious but harmless flirt, calling the women his 'girlfriends', but never, ever meaning it as anything but ahavas yisroel and no one took it in a bad way, but in a fun way.
He would sit in the evenings at his kitchen table answering phone call after call of pleas for all kinds of help. In a typical evening he would be finding a place to live for a battered woman, answering investment questions, offering shidduchium, marriage counseling, and telling off community members whom he felt had done the wrong thing, always with a gleam of humour and love in his eye, often times yelling, but never harshly, and never uttering a complaint that the burden was too great.
When I was single he once offered me a shidduch with someone from out-of-state, and I refused because I said I wouldn't move outside New York. 'What is wrong with the women today?," he commented, 'you go wherever your husband has a Parnossoh!" That was Shimshon, he never minced words, never held back his strong opinions, and he was totally and utterly selfless.
And who can forget the time he said to the Rebbe at the dollar line, (paraphrasing) 'Rebbe, you have to take care of your health, what would we all do if something should happen to you?" to which the Rebbe replied as he gestured towards Heaven with his finger, 'You have Hashem."
Shimshon's inimitable ways can never be duplicated and it was a privlege to have known him. I can picture him dancing with the Rebbe right now, with his cap, and his big smile. Oh, how he will be missed!
I understand that Shimshon, for all his love, never liked Rabbi Marlow. Can anybody explain to me why? Without getting into too much Loshen HoRah.
ReplyDeleteI spent many years with Shimshon and his brother-in-laws, Yisroel and Mendel Shemtov a"h.
ReplyDeleteShimshon was a character, he was fun, he was nuts, but he was real. No bluff, no put on, what you saw was what you got.
He will be missed.
Mendel was married to his sister, may she have a Refuah Sheleimah, thus Yisroel was not related to Shimshon.
ReplyDelete'Rebbe, you have to take care of your health, what would we all do if something should happen to you?" to which the Rebbe replied as he gestured towards Heaven with his finger, 'You have Hashem."
ReplyDeleteIt's true that Shimshon did not like Rabbi Marlow. The main reason for that was because he believed Rabbi Fischer was treated unfairly and unjustly by the Beis Din. Shimshon saw Rabbi Fischer as someone who helped many Yidden in Crown Heights to get affordable housing and as someone who like no other property developer, was responsible for expanding the community borders and keeping it Jewish. Shimshon did not get involved in halachik disputes, because he was a practical man, so what he cared about was that Jews had food on the table and adequate housing. As far as he was concerned the Beis Din was not doing enough in this regards.
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