Jewish Celebrities

When the average secular Jew thinks of meeting a Jewish celebrity I bet they think of Woody Allen, Barbra Streisand, Adam Sandler, or any number of other Hollywood types.

I bet if you were to ask the average Jewish kid to name a famous living Jew you would get similar answers. A list of actors and athletes.

Sad.
I came to this conclusion this past Tuesday afternoon.
I was sitting at a local car repair shop when I received this text message from my Rabbi,

"I have a good chance of getting the Satmar Rebbe to come to the mikva today. Can you come with a camera?"

Needless to say my mouth opened and my eyes got big.

Now for a little background.

There is a slaughter house here in my city that does kosher slaughter for the Satmar Chassidim in
Kiryat Yoel.
The shochtim live here for three days out of the week and then return to N.Y. On Thursdays.
Every so often the Rebbe comes for inspection.

Our Chabad House recently completed our new mikva.
A beautiful thing.
The majority of the funds were donated by Satmar Chassidim with encouragement of the Rebbe.
The mikva is named for his Great-Uncle Rav Yoel Teitelbaum.  Ztz "L.
Mikva Divrei Yoel.

The Satmar Rebbe, Rav Ahron Teitelbaum, he should have long life and health, visiting the new mikva.

This would be the Rebbe's first trip to see the mikva.

Meanwhile, back to opened mouth an big eyes.
I asked the mechanics how much longer til my car would be ready.
"About an hour"

Baruch HaShem it was 20 mins.
Out of there and on my way to take pictures of a real Chassidic Rebbe.

I immediately began to take photos of the Rebbe and his entourage along with my Rabbi.
I was in awe.
I was a little scared and actually had an increase in my pulse.

I photographed the Rebbe as he looked at the mikva and also as he toured our schul.
I finally had the courage to extend my hand and say shalom aleichem.
Yes, the thought did cross my mind that I should never wash my hand again.

He left after giving bracha and hatzlacha to my Rabbi.

After I got home I started to think about this celebrity thing.

This was a REAL Jewish celebrity.
Not some person who lived in make believe world.
Not a person that pretended for a living.
A REAL person.

A person that dedicates his life to Torah and mitzvos, the real definition of TIKKUN OLAM, not the definition used by secular Jews today.
This is the type of Jewish celebrity we should look up to and learn from.
The celebrity we should strive to be like and encourage Jewish children to emulate.

This is what a Jew should mean by being Star struck.