Rabbi Anchelle Perl: Open Letter to the Juvenile Charged with Painting Swastikas on Port Washington School

Mineola, NY, May 06, 2021 --(PR.com)-- The following is an open letter by Rabbi Anchelle Perl to the Juvenile Charged with Painting Swastikas on Port Washington School:

"Dear Young Person:

No doubt you are learning very quickly the seriousness of your reprehensible and hateful act of anti-Semitism. You will come to understand the pain and agony you have caused. Please be sure to listen very carefully to a Holocaust survivor who will share with you what a swastika really means.

Today I invite you to read my thoughts: You are young man and have your whole life ahead of you. You still have every opportunity to make a difference in the lives of so many people. How do I know this? I have never met you! The answer is simple. Every human being is created in the image of G-d. The moment you were born it meant you matter to the Creator of the world! You were put in this world with the blessings of your parents to be on a mission to fill this world with goodness and kindness.

You may say to yourself, I am a small person in the face of a large universe, I am one among seven billion. What is the purpose of my life?

Please listen carefully to this favorite story of mine:

Just a few decades ago, there lived a great symphony conductor, an Italian maestro named Arturo Toscanini, who led concerts all over the world. He was one of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and his photographic memory.

Toscanini had a biographer who would interview him periodically over the years as a part of a major book he was writing on his life. One evening, he called Toscanini and told him that he would be in town the next night, and asked if he could come to the house to interview him. Toscanini answered that he could not because he would be doing something special that would require absolute concentration; he could not be interrupted.

'Maestro,' the biographer said, 'if I may ask, what are you doing that's so special?'

'There is a concert being played overseas. I used to be the conductor of that symphony orchestra, but I could not be there this year. So, I'm going to listen on a shortwave radio and hear how the other conductor leads the orchestra. I don't want any interruptions whatsoever.'

'Maestro, it would be my greatest pleasure to watch how you listen to a concert played by an orchestra that you used to lead. I promise I won't say anything. I'll sit on the other side of the room, quietly.'

'You promise to be perfectly quiet?' Toscanini asked. 'Yes.'

'Then you can come.' The next night, the biographer came and sat quietly while Toscanini listened to the concert, which lasted almost an hour. Finally, when it ended, the biographer remarked, 'Wow, wasn't that magnificent?'

Toscanini said 'Not really.'

'Why not?'

'They were supposed to be 120 musicians, including 15 violinists. Only 14 of them played.'

The biographer thought he was joking. How could he know from 6000 miles away, over shortwave radio, that one of the violinists was missing? The biographer had his doubts but didn't want to say anything and went home.

The next morning, he had to find out for himself, so he called the concert hall overseas, asked for the music director and inquired as to how many musicians were supposed to have been playing the night before versus how many had actually shown up. The concert hall director told him that there were supposed to have 120 musicians, including 15 violinists, but only 14 had shown up!

The biographer was amazed. He returned to Toscanini and said, 'Sir, I owe you an apology. I thought you were just making it up the other night. But please, tell me, how could you know that one violinist was missing?'

'This is the difference between you and me,' Toscanini answered. 'You're a part of the audience and to the audience everything sounds wonderful. But I'm the conductor, and the conductor knows every note of music that has to be played. When I realized that certain notes were not being played, I knew without a doubt that one of the violists was missing.'

Think deeply about this story:

You and me and all of humanity are musicians in the grand symphony of history. Maybe to the average person it doesn't make a difference how you live, what you do every day, how you work on your moral and spiritual life, but I want you to know, to the Conductor of the World Symphony, (that is G-d) who knows every note of music that is supposed to be played, who appreciates the unique note that only you can produce through your life - to Him it makes a grand difference!

Go for it! We have faith in you.

Every moment of your life is an indispensable note in the Divine symphony. I trust in you, and even more importantly G-d loves you for you will always have the ability to accomplish so many good deeds to make yourself, you family and the world over proud of you!"

Rabbi Anchelle Perl is the spiritual leader of Chabad Mineola. He is a second-generation holocaust survivor. His father survived Auschwitz, Dora and Nordhousen slave labor concentration camps.