You Know Who That Was? - R. Joey Haber - TorahAnytime.com

So the other day, this is probably what made me sick. I had a flight to LA. The mistake was I flew there and back like within 18 hours. I spent 13 hours out of 18 on a plane and I flew back the night the Sunday I flew Sunday morning 10:00. Flew back Sunday night and then then had a whole busy day Monday and by Monday night I was feeling out of it and Tuesday it was whatever. I tried to get as many shots as I could today to try to be prepared. Anyhow, I'm in the airport in JFK on Sunday and Sunday's usually a busy day. Now, I'm going to be on the plane most of the day. So, I had some phone calls to make. As I'm sitting in the airport waiting, a man looks like a rabbi and his wife come. >> There you go. I realize. Wow. Like, hashem, could you send me a voice or something? >> Anyhow, the man, by the way, it's better. It makes it's a little better. I think it makes it easier for me now. I'm not straining. So, the man sits down next to me. He's like a rabbi. And I'm on the phone. His wife was with him. There was no room for the wife. I motioned like, you know, you want me to get up? He said, no. I think cuz he really wanted to sit kind of looked like he wanted to sit next to me. He said, "Hi, Rabbi." I said, "Hi." And I'm on the phone and I'm like, you know, like, "Please don't bother me. I'm on the phone." So, I'm walk I'm talking on the phone. The conversation ends and now we're ready online to get on the plane. Like, and I'm getting up online. This is not going to sound nice at all. Please, I apologize. The man, the rabbi again says to me, "Oh, where are you sitting on the plane?" Like as if like maybe we'll sit together. I said, "I'm sitting in the front as if I'll see you later." He says, "Oh, okay. I'm not." And [snorts] then as his wife said, you know, I'm only going to LA for a few hours. He says, "I once only went to LA for 2 hours." Two weeks out. He said, "I once went to Florida for 2 hours." I said, "What do you mean?" And he shows me a picture around his neck. He has like a necklace around his neck with a picture of a girl. I'm like, "Oh, okay." I went for her. Now I'm thinking I started like, "What kind of rabbi has a picture of a girl around his neck?" Like, "Is it a hostage?" Trying to figure like what this but I I don't have time. I sat down in my seat. He went to the back and we called it a day. And again, conversation avoided. I got out of it. I could mind my own business and deal with what I have to deal with and not speak to this random man. It's nice that he wants to talk to me, but like I don't know if he wanted to talk to me or not, but like he seems like a nice guy, but like I don't really have time for every random person. That's what my head is thinking. Again, let me be clear. Every single part of the thought that I just described is disgusting. And it wasn't actually as bad as I just said, okay, I'm nicer than that. You, if you know me well, you know I'm not really like this. But my point is like in the back of my mind like, you know, I'm doing my thing. I I really am in the middle and I have to make that his phone calls out of the way before I take off and I be on the plane all day and it's very nice to see him. I had things I wanted to do on the plane and like it's great to see I was nice to him. I wasn't nice to him and he went to my place. He seems like a wonderful man. Okay, very nice. I land in LA and someone picks me up and when he picks me up he tells me you know who was on the plane with you. I said who was on the plane with you? Who's on the plane with me? He says Rabbi Schlommo Nanov. I said, "Who's that?" He says, "You remember there was a story in the summer of two sisters that want a jet ski and one passed away and the other one got injured?" I said, "Yeah, I remember the story." He said, "It's his daughter." The picture around his neck was his daughter. And I said to myself, "Wow, Joey Haber, look at you. Look how you have a person sitting next to you. He wants a little again he wasn't nothing wasn't asking like it wasn't like he needed but like he was like looked as if he saw a friend maybe I've spoken in areas near his neighborhood and stuff like that and we've seen each other a few times I didn't remember and like you could have been so much nicer and who knows why someone could use a smile I [clears throat] actually happens to be the man who was driving me got Rabbi Nissan's card I said do me a favor give me the guard and on the spot I called the Rabbi Nissanov. I said, "Rabbi, I just want to tell you I didn't know who you were. I'm sorry how I handle it." He said, "No, no, you were fine. You were good." Like it was nothing cuz I didn't anything like really obnoxious. I sounded like I did, but I didn't. He says, "You were fine. You" And I He says, "You know," and I if you have a need, I sometimes speak about my story and overcoming the challenges. I said, "You know what? We're actually doing a program for Kesha girls. We're going to have six rabbis six weeks in a row make speeches of overcoming the challenges. I said, "Rabbi, how about if I can I call you?" He said, "My pleasure." So, I went from something that was not nice, turn it into something beautiful because I don't care who you are. I don't care who you know. I don't care where you think you're going. I don't care how what you think is happen going on in your life. [snorts] There's never a place for a lack of dead.