Blue and White: Shmuel Sackett

Everyone is talking about Artificial Intelligence these days, but most Torah observant Jews – I included – have been AI robots for years. We love Hashem and keep His mitzvos but tend to do it in an “artificially intelligent” way.

People throw around the term “Jewish unity” all the time, but what does it mean and how do we achieve that important goal? Do we have to agree with everyone? Must we compromise our values and ideology to make room for our brothers and sisters? Should we cast aside all that is important to us in the name of unity? I have a two-letter answer to all those questions: N-O!

On my recent trip to the United States, I spoke in several locations and noticed that the age of the crowd was older than usual. Yes, I am also “older than usual,” but something seemed different. Over the years, I have spoken in over 500 Jewish communities in the United States and Canada and am used to seeing Jews of all ages; but this time, there was not one person under 40 in any of my presentations. Baruch Hashem, in my personal goal of making it to 120, I recently entered the second half of life (Do the math), so I thought that maybe it had to do with me. Am I no longer able to attract the younger crowd? Are only older people interested in hearing about Israel and the Jewish nation? I spoke about this to a dear friend of mine and he explained what was going on.

While the overwhelming majority of Parshas Sh’lach (read last week in Israel and this week outside Israel) is about the sin of the spies, the last five verses deal with the mitzvah of Tzitzis and the famous blue thread called “t’cheiles”: “Speak to the children of Israel…that they shall make for themselves tzitzis on the corners of their garments…and they shall place upon the tzitzis of each corner a thread of t’cheiles (blue wool)…”

This past Shabbos, a person I didn’t recognize walked into my shul. I went over to him – as I try to do to all the guests – and said, “Shabbat Shalom and welcome to Herzliya! My name is Shmuel Sackett. Where are you visiting from?” His answer stunned me.

I remember it like it happened yesterday. The year was 1979 and I was studying in BMT – Bet Midrash L’Torah, in Jerusalem. It was time for our first tiyul, and our guide, Eli Horowitz, son of our Rosh Yeshivah, was leading the hike. (Sad note: 24 years later, Rabbi Eli Horowitz and his wife, Adina, were brutally murdered by Arabs. May Hashem avenge their blood.) Eli, who had not yet been ordained as a rabbi, was an amazing guide and told us to take water and a Tanach (Bible) for the tiyul.