A lot of nice and interesting things happened to us while walking on the boardwalk. Just to mention a few:
Yesterday we met two guys who were sitting and talking, One of the men—who had never put on tefillin in his life—did so for the first time, right then and there. The reason he was in town was to meet his prospective in-laws. Our conversation flowed naturally to the importance of marrying Jewish.
We met a guy who was on his daily jog. We asked him if he would like to put on tefillin, and he readily agreed. He began to cry. When he calmed down, he explained to us that his uncle had just passed on without leaving any heirs. He was a special person who had done much kindness for others all his life. We helped him say the Kaddish memorial prayer for his beloved uncle.
We met a Yom Kippur War veteran who had lost both his legs in the war—which itself is quite humbling. We shared a beautiful story about when a group of wounded Israeli war vets visited the Lubavitcher Rebbe. After addressing the group, the Rebbe asked to personally greet every one of the heroes. One of the men later went on to relate how the Rebbe thanked him for his sacrifice. It was that simple “thank you” that allowed him to move on and put back together the pieces of his life.
