Rabbi Benzion Kalatzko - Rabbi Kalatzko @ EMET 2nd Annual Dinner 06 24 2015

good evening there was an Italian grandfather who was being taken care of by his grandson and this grandson would look after his his grandfather year after year you would take care of his grandfather and one day this grandson whose name was Vinnie got arrested and he was thrown into prison and this grandfather not only lost his caretaker but he looked outside and he saw his tomato patch and he said you know every year Vinny helped me dig up the tomato patch he makes sure that the soil is dug up so I'm able to plant and this year Vinny is not around not only have I lost my caretaker but this year for the first time I will not be able to plan my tomatoes because I can't dig up my backyard I can't dig up the tomato patch and eventually he get so upset when he thinks about this that he writes a letter to his grandson in prison and he says Vinny I really missed you I miss having you around and you know I look out the window and I say this year I'm not going to have any tomatoes because I can't dig up my tomato patch Vinny I miss you immediately Vinnie writes a letter back to his grandfather and he says grandpa please don't dig up the backyard that's where I hid the bodies at four in the morning the FBI comes and they take shovels and they begin to dig and they did for a few hours and then they knock on the door and they said we're sorry we must have been mistaken have a good evening at the next day the grandfather gets a letter from vinny city said grandpa's the best i was able to do when trying to think about what makes emmett unique it's the following thought there are different communities in New York different Jewish communities around the country and in the Queen's Kew Gardens forest hill area there are between 45 and 50 thousand bukharian Jews and it was very easy to look at the entire group the entire population the bukharian community and to say this is one homogenous group this is one group that is sort of similar it's a group sitting there in Queens the bukharian community and to forget that each and every single person who is involved every person Emmett stands alone they have their own challenges they are unique in every way imaginable and when we forget that then we forget to judge the community favorably the famous story I will try not to be more than eight minutes there is a famous story of a mother who's a little bit hungry and she sees her child and the child is holding an apple in their right hand and an apple in their left hand and the mother turns to the child and the mother says you know mommy's hungry mommy would like an apple and immediately this little child her child takes the apple in his right hand and takes a big bite out of it and then takes the Apple that's in his left hand and takes a bite out of that and the mother standing there and she is stunned is this the kindle is this how I raised my child I just told my child that I wanted and the child takes a bite out of each apple and suddenly the child turns to the mother and the child says here mama this is the sweeter one take this one we're so quick to judge we see a community and we forget this community has been through history the bukharian community many of them iranian and iraqi descent they have their own customs they have their own clothing they're their own traditions and each one of them deserve the covered each one of them deserve the honor and the hope that Judaism will remain with them but were so quick to judge I took a group of students to Israel and one of the students stood up in the final banquet and she said I made a big mistake because I was too quick to judge a community she said I was walking in mayish are in which is an ultra-orthodox community in yerushalayim and there was a husson a very religious Jew and he was walking in front of me and he drops his wallet the wallet falls from his pocket and he doesn't notice he doesn't notice and he keeps on walking so this college student of mine she picks up the wallet and she says here you dropped this and he takes it from her without saying a word and she says look he doesn't even say toe down he doesn't even say thank you what they say is true he's rude it's terrible and it goes into this house and she's left standing there stunned and how ruthless fellow is she just returns his last lost wallet and he doesn't even say thank you and she's about to turn and walk away when all of the sudden this cos seed comes out of his house with a big red pomegranate and he says here zebus relay this is for you for this kassadin it wasn't even enough to say to DOM he had to give her something and she said look I was so quick to judge a people I believe everything that I heard and I was so quick to judge Emmet is a unique organization rabbi kegel and rebbetzin kegel who were just on here this evening they don't come from a rev in achill background rabba Kega was a very successful stock trader on Wall Street and he left Wall Street in order to come and teach Torah in this community Rebbetzin Kegel is a world-class speaker and they are two of the tremendous talents together with rabbi craft and rabbi go tomorrow and Rabbi rutenberg and Rabbi Delmon and sarah b and rev I toffee and all of the rabbi's and revit sins and this amazing fantastic organization that look at each person as an individual and I want to finish her this one idea we all want mashaka come we all want Michelle to come and therefore we say in Domonic Bonet Jerusha liammichelle hashem you are the Bois de arusha lion you are the one who will build your shall I'm Hashem build a guru shall I'm need leg is really kinase you are the one who gathers of the exiles you're the one who gathers and those who are non-religious you bring them back to a life of tehran myths vote hashem you are the need clay inshallah kinase and you know what I shan't says don't forget what I actually am I am they're off a leash for a lathe Omaha Beach labs for some I am the one who heals the brokenhearted and gathers in their sorrow and you know how I do that Menendez por la coka vim Coulomb Shamu Tigre I give I count each star and I give each one of them a name the students and emmett they are stars and every one of them has a name and every one of them is important and every one of them has the full attention of the rabbis and the reverence and it's because of that then my amazing wife Shami and I every single time we make a shabbaton we feel it's our bratha it is ours hood it's our blessing to be able to have these amazing students by us and by sued ashley sheets when they eat stand up and they commit to mortar on its votes we say ashrei new batch of calc a new modern Gurule knew who my yahoo you shall say no and our yerusha is Emmett thank you very much