Twice a month, the Jewish Federation of Ottawa shares a Shabbat greeting from a member of our Board of Directors. This Friday, we are pleased to share this personal message from Board member Tal Scher.

Dear friends,  As a Board member of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa, I am honoured to send you this week’s Shabbat greeting.  I share with you a story, told by Rabbi Lapin of South Africa, that reminds us of the outsized impact one person can have on the world around them (slightly annotated for length):

“As soon as I entered the rabbinate of South Africa, I became concerned about retaining my intellectual independence – something I am fiercely protective of – while serving as a community rabbi at the will of a synagogue’s board of directors. Therefore, I believed that I also needed to secure an independent source of income. And so, I first went to work for an international commodities trading company, and later I founded the leadership consulting firm which I currently lead.  "Was I right to divide my time between my business and my rabbinic duties? It seemed as if I had two full-time jobs, and my family was paying a heavy price as a result.  "I decided to seek the advice of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. "I will never forget meeting the Rebbe. I asked him about the responsibilities that I faced and the limitations that I felt, which seemed overwhelming. How could I manage it all? What should I give up – my business or my Torah teaching? Where should I direct my energies?  "His answer to me was that I should give up nothing and continue working in business while still teaching Torah. My profession increased my communal impact and was a vehicle of Kiddush Hashem, of sanctifying the name of G-d. He stressed that I would have greater impact if I was involved with both business and Torah.  "I was still very young, and I couldn’t imagine how I could continue to do both. So, I burst out with: 'I don’t think that this is realistic. I’m already up to here … I feel very humbled and very honoured that you would even talk to me this way, but it just isn’t realistic!'

"I remember clearly his response to my outburst. He said: 'I’ll tell you what your difficulty is. You think that human interaction is like a chemical reaction. But it isn’t. In a chemical reaction, there are two elements which interact with each other, and they result in a third compound. But people aren’t chemicals. When people interact, the result is a nuclear reaction. A nuclear reaction occurs at the core and then it radiates in a spherical, rather than a linear, way. As the outer rings of your sphere get bigger and bigger, the number of people you are touching gets bigger and bigger – indeed, there is no limit.' “When you touch the heart of one person, there is a nuclear reaction because that person in turn touches so many other people. So, each person you touch – even if it is a moment’s interaction – represents a nuclear reaction in terms of impact. That’s what it really is.”  Rabbi Lapin concluded:  “This meant that, both in my work as a rabbi and as a business person, week after week I was affecting tens of thousands of people without realizing it. That’s what the Rebbe tried to get across to me. He was talking about the huge amount of holiness that I had the potential to bring into the world.  "Indeed, he changed my entire mindset when he said, 'Don’t underestimate what each person is capable of doing. Just remember that when you touch one person you are causing a nuclear reaction.' And that’s something that I’ve never forgotten.”

I think of this story as I reflect on the great privilege I have of serving on the Board of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa as well as other extremely important institutions within our Jewish community. I witness firsthand, every single day, the truth of this message. The people that act, with humility and sensitivity, for our community, create nuclear reactions of goodness and positivity with a reach that is impossible to imagine.

As we stand less than a week after the holiday of Shavuot, when we once again stood in absolute unity and re-accepted the precious gift of the Torah as we have done for millennia; I urge you to take this message to heart and know the impact every single one of us can have … truly, beyond our wildest imagination.  Shabbat Shalom,  Tal Scher

P.S. Please join the Ottawa Jewish Community Foundation this Thursday, June 8 at 7 pm as they honour their leadership and grant and scholarship recipients at their Annual General Meeting. Keynote speaker is Stephen Poloz, former Governor of the Bank of Canada. Stay afterward to schmooze and enjoy a Scotch at the dessert reception. Register here.