Posted on 06/09/17
On a recent drizzly morning in Passaic, I found myself peering through the driver's side window of my rental car looking at the car keys resting on the floor under the steering wheel. Unfortunately, I was unable to retrieve the keys as the door had mysteriously contrived to lock itself.
Fortunately, my first appointment wasn't for another hour and was well within walking distance. I called the person whom I was scheduled to meet and asked him if he could recommend a locksmith. Instead he recalled that he has once been helped by an organization called Chaverim, previously known to me only through Yisroel Besser's account of his misbegotten attempt to show his son that he could change a tire on his own.
Within ten minutes, the local Chaverim dispatcher was on the line. Shortly thereafter a pleasant young man drove up and proceeded to pry open the door with a nifty balloon instrument far enough to allow him to hook the keys on a pole and extract them from the car. No charge either, though he did hand me an envelope if I wanted to send in a contribution, which I most certainly did.
My savior explained that every decent-sized Jewish community on the East Coast has such a Chaverim organization. Imagine -- hundreds of Jews who volunteer their valuable time to help, inter alia, shlemazels like me, who forget to turn off their lights, ignore the gas gauge on the dashboard, or never learned to change a tire.
Chaverim brings home the basic truth that wherever a Jew goes he is not alone, but is part of a larger community. Chaver, friend, is from the language of chibur, connection. We are all connected.
And that message is a powerful chizuk. The Torah teaches that when a dead body is found between two cities, the elders of the nearest city must take an oath that they did not spill the blood of the victim. The Gemara (Sotah 46b), wonders how the elders could be suspected of murder. And it answers that the oath refers to the mitzvah of accompanying the sojourner as he departed the city. A failure to do so is tantamount to spilling his blood.
From which Chazal derive the principle that one who is accompanied as he departs a particular locale will not come to harm. The feeling of being cared for by his fellow Jews, even though he may not know them personally, strengthens the traveler and protects him on his journey.
No question my cheery rescuer left me feeling uplifted and rejoicing in being part of Klal Yisrael.
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Chaverrim of Baltimore - 410.486.9000