In the Cold of Montreal, a Soul Found Its Way Home

Even a Jew who feels far away can always return to Hashem. Rabbi Yitzchak David Grossman, Chief Rabbi of Migdal HaEmek and a beloved figure in the world of outreach, shared a deeply moving story in the BeKehilla newspaper that took place in an unexpected setting, a parking lot in Montreal, Canada.

Rabbi Grossman had traveled there with a host to meet generous Jewish donors. At one point, his host left him in the car while he ran into a nearby office building. The area was not particularly Jewish, and the Canadian cold pushed its way through the windows. “The heating was on,” Rabbi Grossman recalled, “but it didn’t help. I sat there shivering, afraid I’d catch a cold.”

Looking around, he spotted the small attendant booth nearby. “I figured there would be heating inside, so I stepped out of the car, hoping the attendant would let me warm up for a few minutes.” He walked over, never expecting what came next.

“As I approached, the man inside stood up, completely wrapped in a raincoat and scarf, and said, ‘Shalom Aleichem, Rabbi Grossman.’ I was stunned.”

It turned out the parking lot attendant was Israeli. He had been living in Canada for 18 years and grew up on a well-known kibbutz in northern Israel, one not known for religious observance. He wasn’t keeping mitzvot (Torah commandments), and sadly, he was eating non-kosher food. Rabbi Grossman described him as a man with no direction, “empty like a hollow vessel.”

But this brief encounter quickly turned into something deeper.

They stood together under the warm air of the heater, rubbing their hands to chase away the chill. Rabbi Grossman gently started a conversation about life, faith, and purpose. “I’ve been taught since childhood, in the name of the Baal Shem Tov, that every Jew is placed in the exact situation where he can do his soul’s work. If you discover a fellow Jew’s struggle, you become his partner in helping him.”

So, standing there in that tiny booth, Rabbi Grossman looked the man in the eyes and asked, “What will become of you? You’re a Jew. You have a neshamah elokit, a divine soul. I’m asking you just do one small thing for the Creator of the world, who gives you life, health, and everything you have.”

The man was quiet. Then he asked, “What kind of thing?”

“Tefillin,” Rabbi Grossman answered simply. “Put on tefillin every morning and say Shema Yisrael.”

Suddenly, a tear rolled down the man’s cheek. He began to tell his story in a broken, emotional voice. Years ago, he had planned to celebrate his bar mitzvah at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. But just days before the special occasion, his father passed away. His bar mitzvah was canceled, and he never put on tefillin.

The conversation ended, but the seed had been planted.

A year later, during Sukkot, a Torah scholar walked into Rabbi Grossman’s sukkah in Migdal HaEmek. He was refined, serious about mitzvot, clearly devoted to Torah.

He looked at Rabbi Grossman and said quietly, “I’m the parking lot attendant.”

Only the two of them knew the story behind that introduction.

Sometimes a warm word, a moment of connection, or an act of kindness can awaken the spark in someone’s soul and change the course of a life.