Limitless | Rabbi Eliezer Feuer

Jordy Cordish attended the University of Illinois. Besides being the scholar at the university, he was also the captain of his lacrosse team. One evening, while Jordy was shopping at the kiosk on campus, there was a holdup. Bullets began to fly and a bullet lodged itself in his spine, causing him to become a quadriplegic for the rest of his life. Now confined to a wheelchair, paralyzed from the neck down, Jordy began to think, and he deeply thought about his Jewish roots. And slowly but surely, with the help of the rabbi on campus, he became a full-fledged Baal Teshuva. After a while, Jordy, now Avraham Yehuda, made Aliyah to Eretz Yisroel, lived in the neighborhood of Bayit Vegan and became close to the great Posek, R' Shlomo Zalman Auerbach זכר צדיק וקדוש לברכה. One day, R’ Avraham Yehuda had a Sheila to ask of the Posek Hador, R’ Shlomo Zalman, and he, with his assistant that he had with him all day and all night, they made their way to the Yeshiva to pose the Sheila. R’ Shlomo Zalman thought for a few moments and he said, It's מותר. But next time, he said, please call me. I'll come to you. The very next day, R’ Avraham Yehuda Cordish and his assistant landed in front of the great R’ Shlomo Zalman once again. R’ Shlomo Zalman said, R’ Avraham Yehuda, I told you I'd come to you. Why did you come to me again? And with tears in his eyes, R’ Avraham Yehuda Cordish said: Rebbe, I have to ask you a question. Yesterday, when I came to you and asked the Sheila, and you told me it was permitted, was it Lechatchila? Or perhaps you said it was מותר based on my circumstance. R’ Shlomo Zalman thought for a moment, then said, It's מותר, and you have plenty of Poskim to be Somech upon, but I definitely had your circumstance in mind. R’ Avraham Yehuda Cordish started crying and says, Rebbe, please, אני לא איש מוגבל. I am not a limited person. I may look limited. I may be confined to a wheelchair and a quadriplegic, but I'm not limited. I am limitless, I'm a Yid. Please, whenever I ask you a Sheila, please tell me how to live my life Lechatchila and not בדיעבד. אני לא איש מוגבל. Indeed, he rose above all the challenges, all his limitations, to become a limitless individual. You know, when the Torah was given at Har Sinai, the first Tzivui was really Rashi says something fascinating over there. The boundary, the border itself spoke to the Jew and said, Do not come any further. Do not come any closer. Don't go up the mountain. What is Rashi teaching us? It's an amazing thing. The גבול itself speaks? And I believe the answer is that we Jews have to recognize that we are limitless people. We're not איש מוגבל. And when we set that bar high, that bar will speak to us and keep us in check forever. You know, I once heard that the word עברי stands for When we're steadfast in our spirituality, we will be successful.