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    SAY HIS OR HER NAME

    Earlier this month,
    the 20th of Adar,
    marked the yahrzeit
    of the great Rav
    Shlomo Zalman
    Auerbach zt”l. In a
    tribute written shortly
    after his passing, Rav Aharon
    Lichtenstein, who shared a very close
    relationship with Rav Shlomo Zalman,
    described him as a “Gentle giant.” He
    wrote:
    Reb Shlomo Zalman was endowed, as a
    lamdan, with a set of qualities which
    served him, ideally, as a posek. He had
    encyclopedic knowledge — and he had
    it, as mechudaddim beficha, at his
    fingertips. His temperament was

    remarkably judicious, invariably level-
    headed, and never pedestrian. He was

    deferential to the views of others, and yet
    genuinely self-confident. He could be
    innovative and even daring.
    Rav Shlomo Zalman’s brilliance was
    undeniable, and yet it was perhaps
    surpassed only by his humility and
    sensitivity to all. R’ Chanoch Teller

    recounts the following anecdote: “When
    Rav Shlomo Zalman passed away, a
    beggar in Sha’arei Chesed sobbed in her
    anguish: “Now who will say ‘good
    morning’ to me every day?” (Mi yagid li
    boker tov?)”
    While a testament to his
    unpretentiousness and accessibility, the
    anecdote has the potential to leave the
    reader believing that one must be the
    gadol ha’dor, the greatest of the
    generation, to be friendly, caring and
    gracious to all. Indeed, Rav Shlomo
    Zalman’s greatness was seeing his
    warmth and friendliness as nothing
    extraordinary at all, but something that
    should come naturally and be instinctive.
    The Talmud testifies (Berachos 17a)
    about Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai that
    no one ever preceded him in a greeting
    [of Shalom], even a stranger in the
    marketplace.” The Mishna in Pirkei Avos
    (4:20) encourages us all, “Hevei makdim
    b’shalom kol Adam, be the first to greet
    each person.” The Maharal explains that
    when you walk by someone without
    offering a greeting you make him or her

    feel invisible and insignificant. By
    making a point of greeting someone you
    demonstrate that you don’t see yourself
    as superior or better than another. Rather,
    by instigating the greeting, you show that
    you respect that person as an individual
    and thereby you give them dignity and
    worth.
    In his book, “Reflections of the
    Maggid,” Rabbi Paysach Krohn tells the
    following story:
    In Argentina there was a ritual slaughter
    complex, comprised of several buildings.
    There was a building where the animals
    were fed, a building where they were
    slaughtered and the meat packed and
    loaded onto trucks, and an office building
    with dressing rooms for the shochtim
    (ritual slaughterers). The entire area was
    surrounded by a tall chain link fence and
    everyone entered through a wrought iron
    gate in the front, near the parking lot.
    The owner, Yisrael (Izzy) Nachmal, was
    a workaholic. He was the first one in
    every morning and the last one out every
    evening. He oversaw every aspect of his
    company, Ultimate Meats, and made it a
    point to know every worker. The
    guard at the front gate, Domingo,
    knew that when Izzy left in the
    evening, he could lock the gate and
    go home.
    One evening as Izzy was leaving, he
    called out to the guard, “Good night,
    Domingo, you can lock up and go.”
    “No,” Domingo called back, “not
    everyone has left yet.” “What are you
    talking about,” Izzy said, “everyone
    left two hours ago!” “It is not so,”
    Domingo said, “One of the shochtim,
    Rabbi Berkowitz, hasn’t left yet.”
    “But he goes home every day with
    the other shochtim, maybe you just
    didn’t see him,” Izzy said. “Believe
    me, I am positive he didn’t leave yet,”
    the guard insisted. “We better go look
    for him.”
    Izzy knew that Domingo was
    reliable and conscientious. He
    decided not to argue, but instead got
    out of his car and rushed back to the
    office building with Domingo. They
    searched the dressing room thinking
    that perhaps Rabbi Berkowitz had
    fainted and was debilitated. He
    wasn’t there.
    They ran to where the animals were
    slaughtered, but he wasn’t there
    either. They searched the truck dock,

    the packing house, going from room to
    room. Finally they came to the huge
    walk-in refrigeration room where the
    large slabs of meat were kept frozen.
    They opened the door and to their shock
    and horror they saw Rabbi Berkowitz
    rolling on the floor, trying desperately to
    keep himself warm. They ran over to
    him, lifted him off the floor and helped
    him out of the refrigerated room, past the
    thick heavy wooden door that had locked
    behind him. They wrapped blankets
    around him and made sure he was warm
    and comfortable.
    Izzy Nachmal was incredulous.
    “Domingo,” he asked, “how did you
    know Rabbi Berkowitz hadn’t left? There
    are over two hundred workers here every
    day. Don’t tell me you know the comings
    and goings of every one of them?”
    The guard’s answer is worth
    remembering. “Every morning when that
    rabbi comes in, he greets me and says
    hello. He makes me feel like a person.
    And every single night when he leaves he
    tells me, ‘Have a pleasant evening.’ He
    never misses a night – and to tell you the
    truth, I wait for his kind words. Dozens
    and dozens of workers pass me every day
    – morning and night, and they don’t say a
    word to me. To them I am a nothing. To
    him, I am a somebody. “I knew he came
    in this morning and I was sure he hadn’t
    left yet, because I was waiting for his
    friendly good-bye for the evening!”
    When you are checking out of a store,
    make it a point to look at the person’s
    nametag and use his or her name. Instead
    of feeling invisible or anonymous, you
    will give them a sense of identity and
    dignity. We may not have encyclopedic
    Torah knowledge, but every one of us
    can be extraordinary just by making a
    point of greeting everyone with a smile.