Rabbi Mike Talk - November 24, 2013 at Torah Academy of Milwaukee 7:30 p.m.

Rabbi Mike Talk - November 24, 2013 at Torah Academy of Milwaukee 7:30 p.m.

       “Where the Extraordinary meets the Ordinary”

Lessons from the life of Shoshie Stern a’h- A regular, normal 12 year old

Why did the death of a 12 year old frum girl named Shoshie Stern in Boca Raton become a national Jewish story?Why were there over 1,500 people at her levaya and over a 1,000 people at her Shiva?

Why was I95 Shut down to make way for the funeral procession, something usually only reserved for dignitaries? Why are there over 3,000 people signed up for and tuning into Shoshie’s web page “Mitzvot for Shoshie”, Why has there been a distribution of close to 7,500 “Keep Shoshieing bracelets. Why has there been continued, unrelenting Mitzvah activity done in Shoshie’s name?

One of the most interesting and strange things to have transpired after Shoshie’s Petira was the almost shocking realization of just how great Shoshie truly was in her life time.  The enormity of the reaction, impact and lasting impression of Shoshie’s Petira is a testimony that Shoshie embodied within what we all long for. It’s not that we, her family didn’t think she was special;She didn’t fight with her older sister, helped out at home, took care of the other kids, cooked desserts for Pesach, etc however; nothing in particular was glaring, stood out or drew great attention to us nor did we think to others. Shoshie didn’t noticeably excel at anything in particular. Yet when the final tally came in about her life, without exaggeration, her true greatness, when all was said and done, merited for her to be a Rebbe of sorts for our entire family and an inspiration to literally thousands to grow in greater Mitzvah observance.  How did we miss it? How is it possible that the extraordinary can hidden in what seemingly is just the ordinary? Maybe we need to adjust our antennas! Not only could we be missing out on seeing each other’s greatness but do we really know who we are married to and who our children are?

In this talk, I would like to share some thoughts as to: What was Shoshie’s greatness that will inspire us to create more respect, love, peace and unity in our world?  What were the key and the essential components that when added up created that greatness? Why and how each others greatness is hidden from one another? Down to earth-wisdom for living tools for us to see “true” greatness

in the ordinary, appreciate one another in a deeper way, and build the world that we want to live in.   

Torah Academy is located at 6800 N. Green Bay Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53209 – 414-352-6789