Rabbi Levi Welton is the rabbi of the Lincoln Park Jewish Center in Yonkers. He tells an amazing story of how he recently decided to visit his parents in Sacramento, California, on a random Shabbos in the winter. He went to daven Shacharis at the closest shul, a Chabad minyan, and when he was there, there was a kiddush in shul after davening. An out-of-town family was there that Shabbos celebrating their daughter’s bas mitzvah and chose the Chabad center for the celebration. It was a beautiful kiddush, replete with singing, Torah inspiration, and some hearty l’chayims.
The party continued into the afternoon. At one point, Rabbi Welton walked over to the baal simchah and asked his name and where he’s from. The man said that his name is Chaim Valencia, originally from Mexico City. He had converted to Judaism many years ago (before he had his kids), and he was thrilled to celebrate his daughter’s milestone here.
“So, why’d you pick your Hebrew name of Chaim?” asked Rabbi Welton.
He said that he had once davened at a Friday night Shabbos service at a synagogue in Westchester, New York, back when he was just starting out on his spiritual journey. One of the rabbis had told him that if he ever met a Holocaust survivor, he should remember that any Holocaust survivor who went through what he did and believes in G-d is an angel. During that Friday night service, they were dancing around, welcoming the holiness of the “Shabbos Queen,” when he looked down at the arm of the person he was holding hands with and saw numbers. He felt overwhelmed that he was dancing with an angel and couldn’t control the urge to ask the man his name. The older man smiled and said his name was Chaim. From that moment on, this man from Mexico City decided that when it came time to pick his Hebrew name, he would name himself after the angel he was lucky enough to dance with. Years passed and he never saw the man again.
Rabbi Welton stopped smiling and asked the bas mitzvah girl’s father, “Is his name Chaim Grossman?”
His mouth dropped. “How do you know that?”
He told him that he was the Rabbi of the Lincoln Park Jewish Center in Yonkers, and that Mr. Grossman is a member of his shul. He survived Buchenwald, went on to become a pilot in the IDF, and then immigrated to America and settled in Westchester. The man began to cry. He hadn’t even known that Chaim Grossman was still alive. Rabbi Welton told him that Chaim Grossman was very much alive and that he would be seeing him the following Shabbos. After Shabbos, Chaim Valencia gave him a photo of himself and sent his love and awe to his “Godfather.”
The next Shabbos, Rabbi Welton asked the elderly Chaim to sit in the center of the large shul and began his sermon. Looking at the elderly man, he explained that 3,000 miles away there lived another man who carried his name and who was raising his family to follow in the ways of Hashem – all because of him.
“It is truly incredulous,” said Rabbi Welton to the astonished congregation. “What is the mathematical probability that on the exact Shabbos, the only Shabbos in the entire year, that I would fly out to Sacramento, California, it would be the same Shabbos of this convert’s daughter’s bas mitzvah? What are the chances that he would decide to make his kiddush at this specific Chabad synagogue? What are the chances that after four hours at his kiddush, we would have that conversation about the origin of his name? Indeed, there is no such thing as ‘chances’ as we all know...”
And then, Rabbi Welton pulled out the photo, printed and framed, and looked Chaim Grossman in the eye. As he raised his numbered arm to receive the photo of his “Godson,” everyone began to cry. You see, Chaim had never been blessed with any children. All his life he wondered who would carry on his name. And yet now he had a proud Jew on the other side of the country who was indeed carrying his name and who would pass it on to his children’s children.
Rabbi Welton made sure to reintroduce Chaim Grossman to his namesake, Chaim Valencia. After many years, the family he never had now became the family who would continue his precious legacy of life for generations to come.
(“A Tale Of Two Chaims” by Rabbi Levi Welton)
Rabbi Dovid Hoffman is the author of the popular “Torah Tavlin” book series, filled with stories, wit and hundreds of divrei Torah, including the brand new “Torah Tavlin Yamim Noraim” in stores everywhere. You’ll love this popular series. Also look for his book, “Heroes of Spirit,” containing one hundred fascinating stories on the Holocaust. They are fantastic gifts, available in all Judaica bookstores and online at http://israelbookshoppublications.com. To receive Rabbi Hoffman’s weekly “Torah Tavlin” sheet on the parsha, e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.