Last week, I sent out an email to many of my friends with some stories which had been posted on Roving Rabbis.

Below is a response which I just received:

“I was sitting on the beach yesterday, chatting with a neighbor. Her oldest son will be celebrating his Bar-Mitzvah in September. The family belongs to a temple where a new rabbi has just been hired.

"The newly installed rabbi was immediately embroiled in the intrigues and controversies which plague so many communities.

"She and her husband were both getting frustrated with trying to plan an event in the midst of all this turmoil, and were disappointed with the new rabbi’s lack of sensitivity. The conversation turned to the Reform/Conservative/Orthodox labeling thing. I brought up Chabad. She said she thought they were a clannish Orthodox group, and that while she receives literature from Chabad occasionally, she just throws it out. I explained that Chabad was very accepting and helps all Jews be Jewish.

"Then I remembered that I still had your last email on my Blackberry. I opened your email, handed her my Blackberry, and showed her how to scroll. I watched her face as she read it. Her face lit up with a warm smile. When she finished reading, she asked me, 'Is this real?' I told her it was. She said she misunderstood what Chabad was all about, and she would be visiting the Chabad as soon as possible.”

It is stories like this that keep me going. We never know the extent of our actions....