The Rebbe Reached Me Through a New York Times Ad

my name is David Halperin and I am born and raised in Chicago Illinois and then the surrounding suburbs we're a very light reformed family started to attend South Shore Temple at the time on the south side of Chicago my parents divorced when I was seven and we moved to the western suburbs of Chicago work near where my mother worked so we we didn't go to Temple anymore and being Jewish just became something that we did really do so we've lost connection with heritage and was like that throughout my early adult years I went to the University of Illinois studied there graduated then a few years later I saw ad in the paper it was during the first Gulf War just before the first Gulf War about a volunteer trip to Israel I said well I'll do that signed up for that went to Israel with sarel I was placed on the kibbutz shortly after that in in April of that year we're out planting grapefruit trees but we came under a fire from we terrorists at the time we didn't know what was going on uh I was shot and wounded my friend was killed the kibblesnik was killed there were four of us and then the other kibletsnik survived and was able to get back to the kibbutz to to grab to get help and the kombucha looks basically put down their lunch literally picked up the rifles and came and got us out of the out of the attack I couldn't walk I was uh wounded at the time it was a long recovery in Tela Shamir and then on the kibbutz after that had to learn to walk again so I came back from Israel uh I believe it was 92 August of 92. and for a couple years there I was pretty uh lost my parents died in my mid-20s um so I had a lot of extreme experiences within the span of a couple years and I was pretty lost at the time spiritually I didn't know what to make of it emotionally wandering through life I guess and didn't really know what to make of much so much of my world had collapsed the world that I knew you know previous to to being heard I was a national championship athlete so being put in a wheelchair for a while uh shook the foundation of who I thought I was really um I met I was taking a Hebrew class in downtown Chicago and met a young woman there about my age she was from the former Soviet Union and she talked about Chabad and the rebias I don't know anything about the rabbi um so that was kind of my first introduction to Chabad so I was walking through coming out of the subway and I I see a New York Times paper and I don't read the New York Times I'm from Chicago I read the Chicago papers pretty localized but I saw this full page ad of a picture of the rabbi the Remy and and turn what he said about turning pain into action tears into growth and I thought that that really resonated with me because I had a lot of pain at the time and a lot of Tears um so I bought the paper which I never do and I cut this out put it on the wall uh back in in Chicago and it was just a I looked at it for inspiration and always reminded me of uh there's a way out of this darkness that I was living so when when I saw this photo of the revi in the words it was as if uh he was personally reaching out to me I mean it was a the connection I felt was was like being drawn in I mean like he was personally talking to David Halperin I mean only me that's truly what it felt like even today to look at it again I mean it's very uplifting just just to see it again so I I then fast forward moved to Alaska I folded it up put it in with my things I want to keep special and uh kept it for a long time shortly after I moved permanently to Alaska and then met Rabbi Greenberg and SD Greenberg and uh slowly learn more about the Remy and about Chabad and the richness and the joy of it and the light that was just shining through this photo of this of the rebbe and uh I guess everything happens for a reason right wow so today having my own parent to fill in I try to do it as much as possible but I live in Alaska a lot and the Darkness and my work schedule sometimes doesn't permit me to do it every day but I do it uh quite a bit and it's very meaningful for me and it keeps me my mind in the right place and the connection to Judaism that I feel through it is is something I've been looking for all my life even though I didn't know I was looking for that so when I uh Rabbi Levy came to Alaska but he had another baby and I wanted to do honor it in a meaningful way but I thought well this is perfect so I went and found the the the paper I had cut out and to honor the rebbies work that continues you know it says right here as his children are alive he is alive and uh the work of reaching out to Jews unaffiliated all over the world and that it is able to draw people in it just shows that it he's really still with us relationship uh is still that the rebbe has with the Jewish people is is active and Alive as it ever was in my opinion