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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
= October 30, 2025, 8, Cheshvan 5786=
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This past Shabbos, Parshas  Noach was my afruf that was held before my forthcoming wedding Sunday November 2nd. My last afruf was over 27 years ago. It seemed surreal. I was the focus of all the mispallim and called up to the Torah for Maftir by the special singing by Chazzan Hondo Abramowitz. After I concluded the traditional brachos, I was pelted with pecklech and then came the singing of Mazel Tov by what sounded like everyone present. With permission from the Rav, Rabbi Menachem Tuchman and the Gabbaim, I spoke at my late wife’s first yartzeit four years ago. I spoke about her virtues which so many on the Lower East Side and beyond knew and gave hakaros hatov to the Ribono shel Olam for all the good years we had. It was not a speech of sadness but of goodness and appreciation of H. Now is a time once again to publicly give thanks to H for all that He has done and continues to do for me and Klal Yisrael. I gave thanks to Mr. Yosef Peretz zt”l the President of the Bialystoker Synagogue who took a liking to my Moments of Inspiration articles and requested that they be included in the weekly Bialystoker newsletter. I also gave my appreciation to a very humble person who is known for her tremendous chasadim and professionalism reads my articles and offers whatever adjustment needs to be made and helps to make my articles sparkle. Mrs. Malkie Machlis is that wonderful person known in many professional circles for her kindness and goodness. I am grateful to the Mara D’ Asrah, Rav Menachem Tuchman, a gentle giant with phenomenal care and inspiration for his mispalllim and Jews of all backgrounds.  The Bialystoker committee gave an elaborate kiddush in honor of my afruf and partnered with a wonderful family celebrating their son’s Bar Mitzva Sedra. 

I am overwhelmed with the many well wishes , mazel tovs and brachos I continue to receive from throughout my community and even beyond.  I am truly humbled and pray that I am worthy of such niceness. It brings me to tears of how much I must be thankful to the Ribono shel Olam for this new phase in my life. I am looking forward to having a Bayis Ne eman B’Yisrael with my new Eishis Chayil, Devorah, sharing our mutual love of caring for others and being uplifting in our spirit of Chaveirim Kol Yisrael, Shalom al Yisrael, Am Yisrael Chai and seeking opportunities of making a Kiddush H. Also, sharing with others, regardless of their Jewish affiliations. We would like to be like Avraham Avinu and Sara Imeinu conveying the love H has for us and the love we have for Him. 

I was recently at a doctor’s office and I noticed an elderly man wearing a cap stating that he was a US Army veteran. I did what I often have done in the past.  I went over to him and asked him if he was a veteran. He shared with me that he was and told me something about his contribution as a veteran. I responded that it was an honor to meet and speak to him and thanked him for his service. He was so taken aback that he rose up and thanked me immensely for giving him such honor. He grabbed my arm tightly and thanked me profusely. As I mentioned, I have done this many times in the past. If someone is wearing a jacket or cap stating he or she is a veteran, they want to share to the “world” their pride and I’m sure would appreciate kind words and appreciation for their efforts.  This is very important to be aware of especially concerning those who served during the Vietnam war. Unfortunately, those who returned from active duty many received hateful or disparaging comments especially from the anti-war peace activists. Many were wounded, lost limbs and many eventually died from their injuries. Anyways, we should always show and extend kindness and goodness to others. 

This past Monday I was the moderator for and helped facilitate a wonderful program that was a huge success (see the flyer below). We hope to be sending a copy of the recording to the organizations who partnered with us and this organization as well. 

As I begin my next phase of life with my next afruf in Baltimore, MD I want to share with you a story from 102 Stories That Changed People’s Lives, Volume 4 by Rabbi Tzvi Nakar  It was presented to me by Rabbi Simcha Silverman who was my conference co-chair. Rabbi Silverman is the Director of Spiritual services at Lenox Hill Hospital, Rabbi of Etz Chaim of Flatbush and a member of the RAA Chaplaincy Commission. Rabbi Silverman presented the book with appreciation for the work I do for the profession of chaplaincy and caring for each individual chaplain. I was truly honored to have received the acknowledgement for the presentation and especially from such a professional chaplain, a manhig himself of chaplaincy. Before I share with you one of the stories I was asked if I will be sending an article this week before I will be off to Baltimore for Shabbos and next week during my “honeymoon” following our wedding. The answer is hopefully yes because my wife to be wants me to continue and she is looking ahead to sharing my work with her helping to bring Klal Yisrael closer to H. My editor in chief continues to offer her expertise which my wife to be and I sincerely appreciate and are proud of her professional input. So here goes the story and on a personal note, I want to thank my readership who desire to keep receiving my Moments of Inspiration. May everyone be able to share in your own simchas hachaim and may we be zoche to bring kindness and goodness to our world with the essence of Chaveirim Kol Yisrael, Shalom al Yisrael and Am Yisrael Chai. We must always remember Torah, Avodah and Gemilus Chasadim. Our midos, our way of life, our mitvos are all very special and the blueprint of how we should behave.

Pages 86-89 “ A Jew Must Ask Himself at Every Moment. What Does H Want From Me Right Now?” Yeshiva Or Baruch is a well-known and successful yeshiva in Yerushalayim, located in a beautiful campus in the Kiryat Yovel neighborhood. The story behind the impressive building clearly shows that when a Yid follows H to the end, without considering personal comfort or convenience, he will succeed.
Rav Michael Toledano was responsible for fundraising for the yeshiva, and he once flew to Paris to meet with several donors and to encourage them to support the place of Torah.
While waiting in line at the passport control, he noticed an elderly woman up ahead of him running into trouble. He approached her to try and help, and he overheard the clerk telling her, “According to our database, you have an account in Switzerland. It seems like you’re laundering money, as you never declared this account.”
The woman was clearly baffled. She shrugged and told the clerk that she had no such account and had never even been to Switzerland. She didn’t understand what they were talking about . It seems like you’re laundering money, as you never declared this account.”
The woman was clearly baffled. She shrugged and told the clerk that she had no such account and had never even been to Switzerland. She didn’t understand what they were talking about.
The clerk raised his voice and called over additional officials.
The elderly woman was completely flustered. What did they want from her? She was a simple, innocent, elderly woman who just wanted to return to her home in France.
Rav Michael was very pressed for time. He had important meetings scheduled, and missing them would mean serious loss and embarrassment. But how could he leave a fellow Jew, and elderly woman, in distress? How could he walk away without helping?
“At that moment,” he later recounted, “the words of the Chofetz Chaim zt”l on the posuk ‘V’atah Yisrael, mah H Elokecha sho’el me”imcha?” came to mind. A Jew must ask himself everywhere: What does H want from me, right now?
“I asked myself-what does H want from me? To run off and raise money for the yeshiva, or drop everything to help this helpless woman (who I later discovered was a a Holocaust survivor)? I decided I needed to help her no matter what.”
An idea occurred to Rav Michael, and he approached the woman and said, ”if you’re sure you have no account in Switzerland, then sign a form transferring ownership of any such account to me.”
The woman immediately agreed. Together, they went to a legal office in the airport, and in front of a notary, the woman signed over her supposed Swiss account to Rav Michael.
The clerk, bound by technicalities, had no grounds to deny her entry to  France. After all, she no longer owned the account. Rav Michael had no issues entering the country either, as he wasn’t a French citizen and therefore, wasn’t obligated to report any foreign bank accounts. And so the matter was resolved.
The woman showered Rav Michael with thanks and went on her way. Rav Toledo rushed off to his own affairs. He had left behind a wife and young children in Eretz Yisrael and wanted to return quickly. But he had two days free, so he decided to travel to Zurich to check out the account whose details were now in his possession.
He arrived at the at the bank in Zurich and presented the account number, asking how much money the account had in it.
The bank clerk quickly referred Rav Michael to the bank manager, but the manager refused to give him any details. He said that only the person who had originally opened the account was authorized to access it.
Rav Michael was persistent. He presented the notarized transfer from the French notary and demanded that the bank manager respect the document. but the bank manager refused and dismissed him.
With little time left, Rav Michael went to see the head of the Jewish community in Zurich. This man was more familiar with such matters and explained : the Swiss banks put up tremendous opposition with matters concerning Jewish accounts opened before the Holocaust, because their intention was to keep the money for themselves.  “I’ll come with you,” “Let’s see if I could help.”
Rav Michel returned to the bank with the respectable Swiss Jew at his side. The Swiss Jewish community leader made his authority clear and began shouting at the bank manager, threatening to publicize the matter in the media so that everyone would know that the Zurich bank was stealing the money of Jews murdered in the Holocaust and refusing to let families access it, even when they had all the necessary documents.
The bank manager, though legally in the right, realized that it would be wiser for him to give in. Better to lose one account than to cause a media storm.
Soon enough, Rav Michael was told that the account contained $500,000.
Upon deeper investigation, it was discovered that the woman’s brother, a wealthy man, had deposited the money in Switzerland before the war. He had left a clear directive: If he were to die and not retrieve the money, the account would be inherited by his sister. The sister had no idea. Her brother had been murdered al Kiddush H, and she had no way of knowing that half a million dollars in a bank in Switzerland was hers.
Rav Michael couldn’t keep the information to himself. He flew flack back to France, at his own expense, located the elderly woman, and told her what I already knew.
Her response was, “Use the money for the yeshivah that you’re building.”
When Rav Michael returned to Eretz Yisrael, he had a tremendous sum of money to purchase land with, and to begin the construction of the yeshiva building. The names of that woman and her brother, whose money formed the foundation of the yeshiva, are engraved for eternity near the aron Kodesh in the beis midrash.
When Rav Michael offered to help that desperate woman, he surely didn’t imagine what H wanted of him at that moment. And one who keeps that in mind never loses.
This story, shared by my friend Rav Goel Elkarif and printed in his sefer Sas Be’imratecha, teaches us a vital lesson to behave bein adam l’chaveiro.
The story teaches how a Jew is to conduct himself when he wants to grow in his ruchniyus. To become a great person, one must develop great middos, even when it’s not convenient, and even when it seems to come at your own expense. But H never remains indebted.
The Secret To A Good Life : We are all parts of one soul. Every Jew is part of you-treat him as you treat yourself.”

Sincerely, Rabbi Yehuda Blank