Kaua‘i, Hawaii. What is it about this place?

Even the name, the street signs, the local paper, have an evocative vibe. All those H’s, W’s, and U’s make the cadences of Hawaiian sound like it’s the wind talking. It all has this exotic feel to it: something faraway, involving islands, and just foreign enough.

That’s definitely how the tourists feel about this place. Of course, even Kaua‘i hasn’t evaded the smothering embrace of Walmart and Starbucks, keeping the intrepid visitor still nestled in the reassuring arms of Americana. Yet Hawaii has managed to maintain its own unique identity and what seems to be an ability to capture the American imagination (full disclosure: I ain’t American). Israel is the only other place I’ve been to where applause breaks out when the plane comes in to land.

The weather, the beaches, the lush scenery, and relaxed lifestyle definitely have something to do with it, but to me, much of the allure of these islands (and probably most islands, come to think of it), and of the buzz going through the plane before touchdown, has to do with just being different and somewhat alien. Human nature is hardwired to be drawn to things exotic and unknown.

In fact, so much of what we do, and so much of what you'll read about on this blog, is about just that. We try help people explore the unknown; we forge friendships with complete strangers; we do our best to expose them to ideas and practices that seemed foreign moments ago, to help them uncover forgotten Jewish identities. We celebrate impromptu bar mitzvahs with people we met minutes before.

Shortly after a particularly uplifting encounter, we received word of the awful, awful death of 9-year-old Leiby Kletzky back in Brooklyn, at the hands of someone he had met only minutes before. Leiby was murdered by a stranger he had met on the street.

I was stunned, by the horror of the story, its incomprehensibility.

Of course the analogy is superficial, to say the least, but what does this story say for the allure of the unknown, for airs of mystery, for random acts of kindness, and for reaching out to strangers to create life-changing friendships? What does this story tell me about what I am doing here? I just want to shut the door and go back to bed.

Is the unknown something to be feared, or explored? Can a stranger truly be a friend waiting to be met? Are we supposed to try run away from the world, or to go out and change it?

Of course, balance is key to everything in life. We proceed with caution, we are careful, and we protect the vulnerable. But at the same time, we are hopeful and open, and most times the world turns out to be a wonderful place.

But there is a much more obvious lesson to be learnt here. I know this probably isn’t the first or last time you’ll read this, but the ever-astute Chief Rabbi (and now) Lord Jonathan Sacks, in describing the Rebbe’s work in the context of the post-Holocaust era, once wrote: “The Lubavitcher Rebbe has undertaken the most daring spiritual initiative ever . . . to search out every Jew in love as they were once hunted down in hate . . .”

Or as the Talmud, quoted by my ever-astute co-rover, Mendel, puts it, paraphrasing Leah’s declamation of the righteousness of her son Reuben and its striking contrast with the wickedness of her brother-in-law Esau: “See the difference between my son and the son of my father-in-law.”

There is evil lurking in the world, sometimes even in the heart of Man. Sometimes we’ve got to fight it, but most of the time, we’ve just got to do the exact opposite, doing as much good as possible.

Aloha.

Boruch Werdiger

Miracles come in all shapes and sizes. Some are noticeable and leave an impression, and some don't. But this story will stay with us for a while.

We received a call about a young Jewish girl named Maxine, who had been admitted to the nearby hospital with serious injuries and was being treated in the Intensive Care Unit. We dropped everything and made our way to the hospital at once. Once we arrived there the details started to emerge. On July 4^th, on a nearby island called Kauai, Maxine had been involved in a serious car accident. Since there's no hospital there equipped to deal with this kind of serious case, she was flown via air ambulance to Honolulu.

We were greeted by Maxine's mother who had flown in on the air ambulance together with her. She described to us the various external injuries that her daughter had sustained including a broken collarbone, broken arm and broken ankle. At the time, they were still unsure about any internal head injuries. Whilst there, we said some chapters of Psalms and a recited a Mi Shebeirach prayer by her bedside. We spoke about belief and the Chassidic teaching that thinking good will bring good results. We also mentioned that G‑d doesn't allow a person to confront a difficult situation without giving him/her the extra strength to overcome it.

During our whole discussion the mother kept on saying that the ideas that we are mentioning are not just a belief for her but actual knowledge. Her faith and resolve was inspiring. As we turned to leave, the daughter—who was heavily sedated at the time and had seemed to be unaware of her surroundings—suddenly piped up and said, "Bye guys. Thanks for coming."

When we arrived the next day, her room was vacant. Fearing the worst, we asked what happened. After some searching, we located her in the neurological ward. We asked the mother when her daughter had been moved. She replied, "actually half an hour after you left, the doctor came in and said it's now ok to be moved out of the ICU!" After conversing and helping Maxine's brother put on tefillin, we entered the room together. To the mother's shock, Maxine suddenly awoke and starting conversing with her brother! After the conversation subsided, we all opened a book of Psalms and said some chapters. As we finished, Maxine turned to her mother and asked, "Mum can I pray to G‑d to fix my collarbone?" She then looked heavenwards, and asked G‑d to fix her collarbone.

Every day we went back, and with each visit, her condition improved dramatically. When the news came back from the doctors that there was no internal head injury, we knew the worst was over. When we came on Sunday, just over one week from the accident, Maxine was ready to go back to Kauai on a flight scheduled for the next night. Recounting the events of the previous week, her mother described how she could not believe that just one short week from that fateful air ambulance ride—when she was unsure if her daughter would ever recover—her daughter was well on the way to a full and healthy recovery.