Seidemann: Missing inaction

Posted

By David Seidemann

Issue of July 24, 2009 / 3 Av 5769

The opportunity was right there in front of me and I passed on it. Gone forever was the chance to undo whatever damage the man in the red t-shirt did to the woman in the red t-shirt.  Let me explain.

I arrived in Manhattan last Tuesday an hour before a scheduled appointment and decided to sit on the new chairs next to the new tables at Herald Square. I was basking in the July sun reviewing my file when I saw three people wearing red t-shirts that had “Jews for Jesus” printed on them, both front and back. When I saw the next group of red t-shirt clad people enter the area, I naturally assumed they were part of the Jews for Jesus group as well.

Closer inspection revealed that the second group of red shirts belonged to HSBC employees who converged on Herald Square to advertise the bank through knickknack give-aways.

“Arnie” from the Jews for Jesus entourage approached me. I waved him away. I should have engaged him. Arnie from Jews for Jesus made his way over to a young blond haired woman sporting the red HSBC t-shirt and they spent the next half hour in animated conversation before embracing and parting ways. I should have engaged her. I should have handed her my business card, explained that I had a meeting to attend, but if she would call me, I could refute everything Arnie told her in ten minutes. Better yet, I could invite her to our home for one Shabbos and fill the void Arnie was promising to fill.

I should have, but I didn’t and who knows if my inaction will result in the loss of another Jewish soul. My inaction caused me to have a flashback to yet another tragic episode of inaction, not on a personal level, but on a community level.

I grew up in Columbus, Ohio and am very proud of everything Columbus has to offer. From the old Columbus Jets baseball team to the Ohio State University, from the Capitol building to the Center of Science and Industry, Columbus was a wonderful place to grow up.

But there was one episode, one story out of Columbus, Ohio, which haunts me till today.  There were two elderly sisters who lived together. No husbands, no children, just the two of them. Their mail piled up outside their home to such an extent that a neighbor notified the police who broke through the front door. Slumped over at the kitchen table were the lifeless bodies of the two sisters.

There was not a morsel of food in the entire home and the sisters had literally starved to death. On their dinner plates in front of them were pieces of burnt newspapers. The two woman had actually resorted to eating newspaper due to their inability to afford food.

If only someone had noticed that the sisters hadn’t been seen in weeks at church, at the community center, or out walking.  In Herald Square, I noticed but  didn’t act. Those two sisters from Columbus went to bed hungry because no one even stopped to notice. Somehow I feel there are sisters in our own back yards waiting to be noticed. Each of us, in our own unique way can identify and respond to a person or persons in need.

I have a friend who did just that. His place of business used to be a magnate for charity seekers. Six, seven, sometimes ten people a day would visit him in his office, each with their own story of need. He gave each of them some of his time and some of his money. This continued unabated for years; continued, until the economic downturn a few years back.

He felt miserable. No longer could he afford to dispense charity as he once did, yet the desire to give was still there. He felt trapped until one day when someone collecting for a soup kitchen visited his offices and asked to borrow his office phone. Borrowing the phone turned into borrowing a desk, a chair and then a fax machine. And “one day”, turned into a permanent situation. Reserved for use in this businessman’s office is a chair, table, phones and a fax machine for use on a daily basis for the individual collecting for the soup kitchen. So while he can’t write checks everyday, he writes good will everyday and has a part in the collection efforts of that soup kitchen. In his own new way, he is a partner in feeding the hungry.

He found a unique way to give to a unique charity, in trying times for all parties concerned. He capitalized on an opportunity by keeping his heart and eyes open.

David Seidemann is a partner with the law firm of Seidemann & Mermelstein.  He can be reached at (718) 692-1013 and at ds [at] lawofficesm.com.