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Rabbi Yehuda {Leonard} Blank MS, BCC
Vice President of Professional Development and External Affairs
Chair of the Chaplaincy Commission
Rabbinical Alliance of America/Igud HaRabbonim
917-446-2126  rablenblank@gmail.com
== May 23 , 2024, Iyar 15, 5784==
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Mazel Tov to Rabbi Dr. Hillel Fox

A message from Rabbi Dovid Naki shlita – Loving a fellow Jew.

“Whichever one is on my lap”
The importance of family.

At the Rabbinical Council of America conference this past Tuesday, Rabbi Dr. Fox received the prestigious Healthcare Chaplaincy of the Year Award. Rabbi Fox one of the illustrious members of the Rabbinical Alliance of America Chaplaincy Commission. Previously,  I myself was  a recipient of this award. Rabbi Fox’s impressive bio was included in the recent chaplaincy program held at Touro University where Rabbi Fox was one of the distinguished presenters. I have written extensively about professional chaplaincy such as healthcare and law enforcement chaplains and their responsibilities. Thousands of hours are invested in becoming a professional chaplain and retaining one’s position as a chaplain. These hours include education, experience, dedication and devotion. Rabbi Fox brings much pride and meaning to what professional chaplaincy is all about. 

Rabbi Fox was recently in Israel celebrating his father’s 100th birthday. The President of Israel, Issac Herzog was in attendance and offered  a special mazel tov. President Herzog also offered a special congratulations to Rabbi Dr. Hillel Fox on being awarded the Healthcare Chaplaincy of the Year award. There are several pictures of Rabbi  Fox and President Herzog.

Rabbi Fox returned from Israel Tuesday morning from the airport and just made it in time to receive his award. Next week, I will include the video of Doniel Kramer who is the present Chair of the RCA Chaplaincy Commission bestowing the award to Rabbi Fox and Rabbi Fox’s acceptance speech. Mazel tov to his Rebbetzin and entire mishpacha. We are all very proud of Rabbi Dr. Hillel Fox. 

From the Flatbush Jewish Journal, May 9, 2004 Page 117; “A Message from Rabbi Dovid Naki, Rosh Kollel Ner L’Shimon, Kiryat Sefer (Son of Hatzaddik Hamekubal Rav Meir Naki Zt”l, Yerushalayim)”
“Loving A Fellow Jew” “The posuk “V’ahavta l’reacha komocha Ani H” is usually explained that one should love their friends as themselves and do the same for others as they would do for themselves. For example, if I go into a store to buy something for myself, I should seemingly be obligated to buy the same thing for my friend. The Ramban and other Rishonim ask- how could the Torah command us to do something that is impossible to fulfill? He answers that the Torah is not giving an obligation, just and exaggeration to bring out the posuk’s message. In Sefer HaBris from Rav Pinchos Eliyahu Horowitz of Vilna, he explains that the posuk means whatever you expect others to do for you, you should do for them. He adds that this changes from person to person, according to the closeness of their relationship. According to his explanation, the main point is the ahava which should be transmitted from one to the other.
Another explanation of “komocha” would be that one should love and not hate others in his profession. Chazal teach that “kol uman soneh es ben umnaso”- by nature all craftsmen hate their competitors- yet the Torah is asking us not to. I believe the Torah emphasizes this by ending the posuk with the words “Ani H”- as an eitzah for loving even your competitors. Because if a person realizes that H is the One who provides parnassah, and no one can take away even a penny from another, the mitzvah of v’ahavta l’reacha will not be difficult to fulfill.
I want to share a story that occurred with my father, the great tzaddik Rabbi Meir Naki, zt”l a person who hid many of his great deeds. MY father had a store on Rechov Yechezkel in Yerushalayim, and one day a Jewish Moroccan immigrant knocked on his door and said he was searching for a jeweler who would need someone to work for them. My father immediately hired him, and he worked there for a period of time.Suddenly one day my father began yelling at him “Why are you working for me? You are a skilled craftsman, why don’t you open your own store and make a good parnassah?” The employee was astounded that a boss would advise a good worker to open his own business in competition to him. But the next part was even more astounding. The worker responded, “I have no money, how would I be able to open my own store?” My father responded “What’s the problem; I will lend you the money, go to Meah She’arim, but or rent a store and begin working. I will send you customers.” My father gave him a large sum of money, directed him how to start a business, and the rest is history. As the employee himself eventually told my father with tears running down his face “I owe you my life, if not for you, what would I be today?” 

“Whichever One Is On My Lap”

“The life and legacy of Rabbi Dovid Feinstein. Reb Dovid by Rabbi Yisroel Besser, Artscroll Series, Mesorah Publications Ltd also in the Flatbush Jewish Journal, May 16, 2024 Page 120: “Whichever one is on my lap”. “Reb Dovid and Rebbetzin Malke Feinstein had four children, Chaim Dov (Berel who is presently the Rosh Yeshiva at MTJ) in 1953, Gittie one year later, Shmuel Yaakov (Shmuzey) in 1960 (he was nifter) and then Mordechai Aharon (Mordy) in 1962.  They would become the focus of his life, as he would remind his talmidim, again and again: family is everything. 

A very popular daf yomi maggid shiru came to the Rosh Yeshiva with a question. As his shiur grew in size and influence, he was being asked to use his platform for various causes besides learning the daf, such as teaching halachos, or raising funds for important causes.

“On the one hand, it’s an opportunity to increase k’vod Shamayim, but on the other hand, my achrayus is the people in the shiru” he articulated his dilemma to the Rosh Yeshiva.

Reb Dovid corrected him. “Your achrayus is not to your shiru either, your only achrayus is to your wife. You stood underneath the chuppah with her and promised to take care of her, That’s your achrayus, and everything else comes after that.”

For the last twenty years of his life, Reb Dovid learned with Meir Berkovits every day. It started when Meir was a Bachur, and then he married. He had a child, and then his second child. One Erev Shabbos, Reb Dovid changed the arrangement, telling his younger chavrusa that they would no longer be learning on Sundays.

“Sunday is family day, and how you have two children to spend time with, so we will resume on Monday.”

A talmid wanted to know about inviting a guest over for Succos of there was limited sleeping room in the succah, He explained to Reb Dovid that he could ask his youngest son, who was under bar mitzva, to sleep inside so that the guest could have a bed in the succah, but he wasn’t sure if this was the right decision.

Reb Dovid told him that the boy took precedence. The right thing to do was to invite the guest but make it clear that the invitation was  for meals only, since there was no room for him to sleep in the succah.

“Even though the boy is not obligated in the mitzvah, and the  guest is? The talmid asked.

“Yes, even so,” Reb Dovid replied. “If you are all sleeping in the succah, that bed becomes your child’s bayis,’ his home, where he feels comfortable and wants to be. You cannot take away a child’s   right to be ‘home’ for the purpose of hosting guests.” 

The annual family Chanukah party was a highlight on his calendar. Held in the basement of the Chasam Sofer shul, where Reb Dovid’s close talmid Eugene Weiser serves as president, Reb Dovid would sit surrounded by children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, enjoying their company, listening, answering, and discussing any questions that arose.

A group of grandchildren were arguing over who was Zaidy’s favorite, when Reb Dovid approached. One of them asked him the question directly.

Reb Dovid smiled, “Whichever einekel is on my lap at that moment, that one is the favorite!” he said.”

There are other parts to this story I chose to save for another time. We can see by Reb Dovid’s actions and responses how “down to earth” he was. 

There is an expression I often like to use “I’m just a poshidika Yid”. That is how Reb Dovid would consider himself or act in life and come across to others. He was an outstanding Talmid Chachom. He was brilliant at everything he said and did. Yet he never wanted to come across as the Rosh Yeshiva. He was a wonderful husband, father and zaidy. I shall tell some more stories in my forthcoming article which I shall dedicate to the meaning of “you should go on in life” shared by Keila Lutza bas Shalom Hakohen a”h whose 4th yartzeit will be the first day of Shavuos and also shared with me by my Rebbe ,Reb Dovid Feinstein zt’l that “life should go on.” They both shared the same idea about how important it is to go on with life and not dwell on the past, not to be sad but to have a fruitful, productive, caring, meaningful life full of simchas hachaim. Reb Dovid showed how important family is. Reb Naki conveyed the importance of loving and caring for a fellow Jew. We also must never forget the importance of being an ambassador of H and Klal Yisrael especially in making a Kiddush H and enhancing achdus.

As rabbis, rebbetzins and chaplains, we can convey what the Ribono shel Olam wants from us and our love of H and for each other.

Sincerely yours, Rabbi Yehuda Blank 


From left to right Rabbi Simcha Silverman, Director of Chaplaincy Services, Lenox Hill Hospital NYC; Rabbi Dr. Hillel Fox; Rabbi Yehuda Blank, Vice President of Professional Development and External Affairs, Rabbinical Alliance of America, Chair of the RAA Chaplaincy Commission; Rabbi Doniel Kramer, Chair of the RCA Chaplaincy Commission and Jewish Chaplain of the VA Hospital


From Left to Right Rabbi Zvi Engel, President of the RCA; Rabbi Dr. Fox; Rabbi Doniel Kramer; Rabbi Yehuda Blank


Message from Isaac Herzog, President of the State of Israel:
May 20, 2024
11 Iyar 5784

“As the President of the State of Israel and on behalf of Medinat Yisrael, I want to congratulate Rabbi Dr. Hillel Fox for being honored by the Rabbinical Council of America as the Chaplain-of-the-Year.
Mazal Tov!
Bracha V’Hatzlacha!”