“The rabbi said that it was permitted.”įrom his father’s facial expression, he understood that he was displeased. His father finally raised his eyes and asked, “You played chess on Rosh Hashanah?” When he entered the room, his father was engrossed in his Torah study, and he waited there for several minutes. That evening, he was called to his father’s study. “Chess doesn’t transgress any of the holiday prohibitions,” the rabbi responded. The nine year old was surprised “It’s Rosh Hashanah,” he told the rabbi. Once, a rabbi staying in their home on Rosh Hashanah heard about his talents and suggested that they play a game. When he was nine years old, he was already a talented chess player.
He also related another story from his childhood. Rabbi Twersky would repeat this story whenever he wanted to emphasize that everything comes from the home. “If the education that we gave him in our home does not give him the strength to withstand a Christmas performance, we have failed as parents.” His mother responded with a powerful statement. She then commented to his mother, “I thought you would comment about your son’s involvement in a Christmas play…” The teacher responded that he was doing well. The teacher expected to be reprimanded for including a rabbi’s child in a Christmas event, but to her surprise, his mother actually wanted to know if her short son had integrated well in a class of children who were all taller than him. A week later, the teacher received a telephone call from Rabbi Twersky’s mother. When he was in third grade, he was a clown in a school Christmas performance. He didn’t have a single friend who observed Torah and Mitzvos. In the 1930’s, no cheder, or even Jewish school for that matter, existed in Milwaukee, and his parents sent him to public school. His father served as a Rebbe for his community in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Rabbi Twersky was born ninety years ago as a descendant of a famous Chassidic dynasty, the Rebbes of Chernobyl. It was the deceased’s final request – to sing this song at his funeral. They sang the well-known Chasidic tune, hoshiah es amecha. This was a funeral with a small attendance, and it was strange because the deceased was accompanied on his final journey with a happy song. This wasn’t the funeral with ten thousand participants which garnered international coverage. This past Sunday, a strange funeral took place in Jerusalem. What was the key to his work? Childhood Lessons Abraham Twersky was a person who worked his entire life to help people reach happiness.
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