Journeys of the Soul

Sometimes it takes a bit of drama to help spur someone’s religious growth.

Eliahu Levenson began his journey to religious observance in 1984. He had grown up in a non-observant household and had little connection or interest in Judaism. In fact when his sister had become observant four years earlier, he viewed the event like a disinterested spectator from the sidelines. He was so removed from Judaism that the event had no conscious impact on his life.

Eliahu’s own journey began when he was invited by friends to attend a local Orthodox synagogue on Shabbat in Venice, California. He was totally shocked by the experience. He had always thought that Judaism was based solely on blind faith with no room for intellectualism or rationality. Yet in synagogue on that Shabbat he heard a sermon by Rabbi Daniel Lapin that challenged everything he thought he knew about Judaism.

“When I heard him speak my life changed overnight. For the first time in my life I heard a religious discussion that was based on logic and intellect, and not on blind faith. I was stunned. I never imaged there could be anything ‘logical’ about religious doctrine,” Eliahu said.

From that moment, Eliahu was hooked. He engaged Rabbi Lapin in theological discussions and every answer he heard penetrated his soul. He began returning to the community week after week and went to the rabbi and other families for Shabbat meals. He eventually became fully observant through the community.

A few months after beginning his own religious journey, Eliahu became interested in how his sister had become observant. She told him that she had heard a rabbi speaking on a radio program and was extremely impressed with how he presented Judaism. She was so drawn to what he said that she went to meet him in person afterwards, and she eventually became observant through his help.

That rabbi was none other than Rabbi Daniel Lapin. The messages that he presented were the key to bringing both Eliahu and his sister back to Yiddishkeit.

In 1986 after starting his religious journey Eliahu purchased his first pair of Tefillin. At the time he knew little about tefillin and even felt uncomfortable wearing them. He tried putting them on a few times but he could not get excited about them.

However Eliahu realized that if he wanted to change the way he felt about tefillin he needed to commit to wearing them on a regular basis. So he decided that he would begin donning tefillin before his 35th Hebrew birthday, which was several months away.

Eliahu’s birthday fell on a Monday that year, and so promised himself he would begin wearing tefillin one day earlier on Sunday morning. At the time he was a member of his Orthodox synagogue’s baseball team. The games were every Sunday. Eliahu planned to daven in shul in his tefillin and then head to the game afterwards.

Unfortunately Eliahu overslept and missed Shacharis in synagogue. He was now faced with a choice: stay home, put on his tefillin and daven by himself, which would result in his missing the game. Or forgot about his commitment, skip shacharis and head to the game.

The shul’s baseball team was the only Orthodox team in the league and it was having a stellar year. They had a chance at the league championship, a first for the team. Eliahu worried that he would let his teammates down if he missed the game. He decided to go back on his promise to himself, skip that day’s tefillin and go to the game.

It was an exciting, close game. Eliahu was playing catcher. During one of the final innings the opposing team had a runner on third base. Eliahu knew that if the batter hit a ground ball his teammates would throw it home to get out the runner.

The batter hit a low bouncer and the runner took off from third base like a shot. The short stop snagged the ball bare handed and immediately threw it to Eliahu. The throw was too high but Eliahu leapt for it. Eliahu missed the ball and fell back to earth just as the baseman was sliding into home. The baseman slid directly into Eliahu’s leg and Eliahu crumpled to the ground.

People gathered around Eliahu. His teammates picked him up and carried him to a friend’s car. He went straight to the hospital, where x-rays showed that his leg was broken in four places.

“I knew in my heart without any question that I was in the hospital because I failed to honor one of the most important commitments of my life,” Eliahu said.

Eliahu’s leg was operated on in the afternoon and he spent the next two days in the hospital. Eliahu was clearly struck by the irony of being in the hospital on his birthday, the same hospital in which he was born 35 years earlier.

Eliahu later asked his rabbi if it was significant that he spent his 35th birthday in the same place as his birth. Without hesitation the rabbi replied that the 35th birthday was the midpoint of Eliahu’s life. He had spent the first day of the second half of his life in the place he had spent the first day of the first half of his life.

Eliahu’s birthday also marked a major transition in his religious commitment. Though he had missed the first day of his commitment, the event propelled him to take the mitzvah of tefillin seriously and soon afterwards he began to wear them regularly. Thus the event truly was a birth, a new beginning for him in his journey towards observance.

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Michael Gros writes from Ramat Beit Shemesh, Israel. The Teshuva Journey column chronicles uplifting teshuva journeys and inspiring kiruv tales. Send comments to michaelgros@gmail.com

Published in The Jewish Press in May 2011