In a recent article by Robert Rockaway in the Tablet magazine, he recounts a story that took place in Yom Kippur of 1929 in Detroit, Michigan. That year three famous Jewish Mobsters from the Detroit Jewish led Purple Ring Gang, attended services at the Orthodox Congregation B’nai David in Northwest Detroit. The three men who were all powerful members of the gang had no shortage of what to atone for: The Purple Gang controlled the city’s illegal gambling, smuggled liquor during Prohibition, and was responsible for much of the city’s organized crime. The gang used violence, arson, and lots more tactics when it felt it needed to.
On that particular Yom Kippur, the three gangsters didn’t notice three Chassidic men in the back row of the synagogue who were disguised as Police Officers. The officers, who were hoping to arrest the three mobsters at the end of the services, obviously had a hard day sitting in the synagogue and hearing Hebrew prayers the whole day. When there was finally a short break in between the prayers, the officers promptly lit up some cigarettes. The lighting up of their cigarettes which is prohibited on Yom Kippur, blew the cops cover and the gangsters made a dash for it and escaped before they were arrested.
Robert Rockaway, mentions many other Jewish criminals who kept traditions such as Yom Kippur despite their other means of making a living. Robert attributes a lot of it to the guilt of their Jewish Mother’s and the love and respect that they had for their mothers.
The story is an interesting and perhaps funny story that portrays conflicted values and people who are torn and pulled in different directions. Today on Yom Kippur I would like to share three points on this story and dynamic which are perhaps relevant to all of us in different ways. The first two address failure itself, and the third point addresses a point of return.
Fragile Faith
The Talmud in the Tractate of Berachot (63,1) written 1700 years ago actually talks about a similar dynamic as it describes a scenario of a thief who is about to break into someone’s home and then prays to G-d that he should succeed in his burglary and not get caught! This is seemingly an even more striking conflict of interests, with someone praying to G-d to help them succeed in stealing. In other words expressing their belief in G-d, and then asking to succeed in committing a crime which is in direct contradiction to anything G-d stands for.
Chassidic teachings discuss this idea and explain that it is not that the person doesn’t have faith, rather the faith that this person has remained superficial and the person has not internalized this faith and allowed it to become expressed in the manner in which he lives his life. In other words, faith alone may not be so hard to come by, yet developing faith so that it becomes part of who we are and how we act is a whole different act all together, and it is something that takes work, diligence and development in order to succeed with.
Knowing the values of what Judaism stands for is one thing, internalizing them and being able to conduct our life in sync with those values is something that takes work and diligence. Mobsters’ going to Synagogue on Yom Kippur is not without precedent, I think they didn’t only go because of their love for their mother’s or the guilt that they have them, rather it was an actual expression of their faith, yet that faith sill needed lots of development in order for it to impact them and become a guiding force for their actions.
The Trap of Failure
The second point is to do with failure itself. In the evening prayer we say each day “May G-d remove from us the Satan (evil inclination) from before us and from after us”. It is explained that the “before us” and “after us” refer to the tactics of the evil inclination that G-d endowed us with. Firstly, our natural lust and evil inclination pushes us and goads us to do things that we naturally don’t want to do, to sin, to make mistakes, to let loose, to blow up, to say something hurtful, or whatever else it encourages us to do. It pushes us from “Before us”, before we even actually commit the sin or make the mistake or bad choice.
Then once we fail the evil inclination strikes again, this time with telling us that we are really no good, we are a failure, we are weak personalities, we people with bad lusts, and so on and so forth. This time the goal of inclination is not to get us to sin per-se, instead it is get us to think we are a failure, that we are doomed to be stuck in this cycle, that this is who we are and there is no point in even trying to change.. The evil inclination is hoping we fall into a never ending downward spiral of failures, mistakes and bad choices.
The Baal Shem Tov the founder of the Chassidic movement explained that the second strike, the “after us”, is much more difficult than the first one, and this is where the evil inclination’s main success is. Man is going to fail as we are all human, but when we convince ourselves that we are a failure and that there is no way out after we sin, that is when we are in real trouble.
Think of a spider and its web, even when a fly gets stuck in the web, the spider doesn’t rush for the kill; it simply waits for the fly to get so entangled in the web that it gives up. Then only after the fly gets so caught up in its failure and it gives up, then the spider goes in for the kill. We people are no different, as long as we try to break out of our habits, faults and flawed behaviors we are within reach of success at breaking out, yet the moment we convince ourselves that we are a failure, that is when we are truly stuck.
Perhaps some of the mobsters had long since convinced themselves that there was no way out of it, and they would have to live by the mob until the day they died. In truth, in Judaism, we always believe that we can change, become different, and improve who we are and there is no situation that makes a person truly stuck and unchangeable. Changing ourselves may be very difficult and challenging but it is surmountable and accomplishable.
Pintele Yid, the Diamond Within
The third point which addresses why they came to Shul on Yom Kippur, is a little different in that it’s more about the positive than the negative. In Judaism we have a tradition that each one of us has a deep layer of our soul that is untouched by anything that we do. This part of our soul, often referred to as the Pintele Yid, remains pure, powerful and at one with G-d, regardless of what we do and don’t do in life. Often that deep inner layer may be covered by layers and layers of other trappings which seem to conceal its presence, but it is always there. Sometimes in the most unexpected situations we feel an inner inspiration, an inner calling to improve, a sudden strong pull to be more spiritual or to improve, all of which are the G-dly spark that is at our core, making it call heard in our life.
With this angle, the mobsters were actually no different, they too had that inner G-dly spark that was seeking arousal, that was seeking an opportunity to express itself and makes it presence felt in the life of the person. Their choice of attending Yom Kippur prayers were an expression of that inner core, of the innocence that preceded their actions, of their essence that remained pure and untouched despite an external appearance that seemed to show otherwise.
Yom Kippur Takeaway
Today on Yom Kippur, let us remind ourselves of these three points and their importance in our lives.
1. Faith and Jewish Values require a process of internalizing and making it our own for them to fully impact our choices and actions. When we choose to study Torah, Pray, or reflect, these are the kinds of processes that help that faith become a more tangible part of who we are and how we view ourselves. Accordingly our actions will start to reflect those values too.
2. Never allow our mistakes and failures to overtake us and dictate who we are. We must remember that even when do fail, remaining stuck in the failure is a recipe for disaster. We must fight failure and climb back up, and then we can always succeed in overcoming and winning our struggles.
3. Remember the Pintele Yid, the inner dimension of our soul that is always one with G-d and is never impacted by the past choices that we have made. We must learn to capitalize on it, and give it room for expression not only on Yom Kippur when we make a tangible effort to connect to our deepest core and essence, but also allow it to impact us in the way we lead our lives throughout the year. We must create opportunities for it to get its workout, by finding Mitzvot that we can do and include in our life and by creating moments in our lives, when our spiritual side can find expression and live up to itself.
A Plea of a 12 year old boy and a Yizkor takeaway message
In a few short moments we will be reciting the Yizkor, in which we will be remembering our loved ones and those who perished in the Holocaust, in defense of Israel and at other times of our history.
Before we do so, I would like to share a short story that I read and I was touched by.
In Israel, there is a famous Rabbi called Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Grossman who is the Rabbi of a city called Migdal HaEmek. Rabbi Grossman is a very popular and respected personality by many segments of the Israeli society and is also a very busy person. Rabbi Grossman is pretty well known for his social services organizations that help large numbers of under privileged people and individuals in a wide range of ways.
One day about 2 or 3 years ago, his assistant, Yisroel Yaret, received a phone call from someone who sounded like a young boy, the boy identified himself as a 12 year old boy called Gilad from a town called Talmon, in central Israel. Gilad proceeded to tell Mr. Yaret who was responsible for the Rabbi’s schedule that he wanted to request an opportunity to meet with the Rabbi in person for five minutes.
Mr. Yaret responded that at that time he was receiving hundreds of such requests each week and being that Rabbi Grossman was spending much of his time visiting communities outside of Israel, it would be very difficult to make that meeting happen. Mr Yaret said, that he didn’t quite understand the big need of this twelve year old boy to meet with Rabbi Grossman, and with the schedule as it was, he pushed off the boy.
A few days later Mr Yaret received another call, this time from a man who identified himself as Gilad’s father, who proceeded to tell Mr. Yaret, that he had a special request, which was to ask for a short meeting with Rabbi Grossman for his twelve year old son. Gilad’s father explained, that he and his wife had asked their son what special gift they could get him for his Bar Mitzvah. They assumed he would ask for a special trip, a new gadget or something like that, instead he explained, his son said that the biggest favor they could do on his behalf, would be to arrange a meeting between himself and Rabbi Grossman for a few minutes. The father didn’t quite understand why, but with such a unique request, he took it upon himself to try and arrange this for his son. When Mr Yaret heard the background for the request he decided he would slip him into the schedule somewhere along the line.
Gilad came and was visibly very excited and emotional about the meeting. The meeting which was supposed to last for five minutes lasted for an hour and forty minutes. Gilad was very passionate and emotional during the meeting as he explained to Rabbi Grossman that as he prepared for his Bar Mitzvah in a few weeks, he was thinking about the direction of his life and the and he had questions that he wanted to ask.
His main questions that he asked Rabbi Grossman, were
1. How can succeed in being a truly kind and caring person to others?
2. In today’s day and age and fast paced world, how is it possible to become a person of Chesed, who does kindness with others and in the best possible way.
3. And thirdly, what is the best way for him to sanctify G-d’s name and be a good expression of G-d’s values in the world.
When Rabbi Grossman realized what a unique boy this way and how he was so driven on bettering himself and those around him as he turned thirteen years old, they ended up speaking for a long longer than planned. Rabbi Grossman shared some ideas and a path that would allow him to succeed in becoming that good person that he wished to be, that would help others a lot and also sanctify G-d’s name in the process.
Gilad’s father even recorded the meeting with video so that his son would have it as a keepsake.
Three years later the boy whose main wish when turned Bar Mitzvah was to be a kinder and better person and to be someone who sanctified G-d’s name, 
was Gilad Shaar, one of the three boys who was kidnapped and murdered by the Hamas terrorists in Hebron.
The tragedy of the kidnapping and murder of Gilad and Naftali and Eyal, united Israel and the Jewish people in an unprecedented way, but the world became a darker place without them.
Today as we mark the holiest day of the year and remember our loved ones, the victims of the Holocaust, the brave IDF soldiers who have given their lives as recently as this past summer, and Steve Sotoloff who just last Yom Kippur was fasting even while under ISIS watch, we will also be remembering the three boys who united a nation around the world. We will remember Gilad Shaar, Naftali and Eyal and we will remember what they stood for, we will think of their courageous parents who held themselves together and responded with tears and love, and we will think of what Gilad left us in this story, “HIS YEARNING AT HIS BAR MITZVAH TO DO MORE KINDNESS TO OTHERS, TO BE A BETTER PERSON, AND TO BE SOMEONE WHO WOULD SANCTIFY G-D’S NAME”.
Yizkor, remembering itself is important, it inspires us, it pays tribute to those who are no longer with us, and it is the right thing to do. In Judaism, the best way to remember someone is by living up to the values they stood for, by continuing to brighten the world in the way they would have wanted and wished for.
Today let us remember those who are no longer with us, but also take to heart all of their sacrifices and values that they stood for, so that we too, continue brightening the world and making it a better place for G-d and mankind, just like the inspiring example of a beautiful boy called Gilad Shaar.