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Letter: 770’s Honest Cleaning Crew

by Miri Yevsa

This Shabbos a close Satmar friend of my husband and I was in Crown Heights for a visit and went to 770 for Kabolas Shabbos. While in the bathroom, he realized he had left his wallet in his pocket and immediately shook it out of his pants, hiding it behind a bottle of bleach.

When he came back on Motzei Shabbos he was dismayed to discover that his wallet was gone.

Unfortunately, the Jews he asked for help refused – offering only that he shouldn’t have left it and instead gone home with it on his person. However, when he and my husband arrived to speak to the cleaning crew – two Hispanic gentiles – they happily delivered the wallet.

The wallet did not have a cent missing, albeit there was $140 held within. They had put it aside for safekeeping to ensure it wasn’t stolen.

I am proud that such righteous gentiles serve in the Rebbe’s shul, and it’s time that 770 got in the news for something positive.

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58 Comments

  • miriam

    yes…! I have seen much more honest gentiles than very frum jews…as strange as it may sound it is quite indignant and upsetting!

  • LH

    Not sure why the writer felt it was necessary to ruin a nice srory with loshon hara about the Lubavitchers who refused help. What exactly were they supposed to do for him anyway since they didn’t know anything about the wallet’s whereabouts?

  • Jerry

    These gentlemen certainly are deserving of thanks for thier behavior and honesty.

  • Yid vs. Goy

    The punishment for a goy who steals is far greater than if a Jew steals. A goy gets the Death Penalty for stealing, a Jew only pays a fine!

    Therefore, it only makes sense that a goy should be more cautious about stealing than a jew.

  • don-t be a cheapskate

    I hope you gave them a reward…at least $20 each for their honesty.

  • To #13

    Why should we tank a gentile for being honest? – He is simply preserving his life by being honest and if he steals he forfeits his life!

  • i dont believe the story

    a real satmar wouldnt care about shabbos and would keep his wallet on him…

  • Menashe

    Yid vs. Goy,

    I am very sad for the shocking failure on the part of those that were responsible for your chinuch.

  • To 20 Menashe

    Chessed l’umin chatas, all that goyim do is for their own benefit. Maybe you need to fresher up YOUR own chinuch.

  • to number 13

    what world do you live in? are you an idiot? they did the right thing…give them credit!!!

  • To 13

    You must be really stupid to believe that so therefore
    Frum Yidden are allowed to steal! Great view !

  • To everyone that writes about #13

    Have rachmones on #13 because he was not given the ability to understand what he is saying. He is not capable so he cannot be held accountable for his stupidity.

  • attention #22

    #22-your comments contribute to antisemitism. All people are not bad or good including goyim. Get your head away from the thinking of fifty years ago.

  • to #19 & #8

    To #19:

    Look inside your own daled amos before criticizing others!

    To #8:

    Kindness and common decency go along way, the people asked should have been more helpful, that is what true Lubavitch is all about!

  • Think

    many years ago a heard a story:
    A Lubavitcher chosid was walking down Kingston and asked some bocharim I am looking for a certain street do you know where it is, they shrug their shoulders and said we do not know, the chosid said fair enough you do not know where the street is , but i don’t need the shrug as if you did not care. I think that how the man who could not find his wallet felt. THINK how you answer people when asked a question!!!!!!

  • yitzchok c in Jerusalem

    To all you people leaving negative comments about good goyim you perpetuate anti semitism in the world and make a chillul hashem.You don’t have to post every stupidity in your small minded brain. You also have to learn the appropriateness of posting certain things. FYI non jews visit this site too. Think before posting (morons)

  • Great Story!

    A bucher walked up to me and gave me a free Tanya book last time I was at 770. The book has high quality plastic binding for bad weather too. The book is not printed in NY either. I keep the book next to my bed.

  • cma

    Why taint a good story with dibas ro’oh on Jews? It sounds like the New Testament story of the “Good Samaritan” which does exactly the same thing.

  • moti

    to #8 they could have been more friendly and hospitable and helped him find the cleaners
    to #13 not very bright
    to #19 very bad taste joke we are in sefirah go look up why we do aveilus

  • Agree with 13

    I agree with 13 – “l’gar’may’hu avdin”: whatever they do is self-serving, as quoted in Tanya chapter 1. Don’t be fooled. We see things through our Jewish eyes, but Torah tells us the truth and that is reality, so accept it!

  • #19 ur a sick stupid SOB

    to #19. ur really sick. i wonder even why ur stupid comment was posted.

  • Goy vs Yid

    Funny how quick people are melamed zchus on goyim but don’t extent the same courtesy when commenting about yidden. They quickly praise the goy while criticize the yid.

    This is NATURAL and expected!!

    That is because our yetzer harah pushes us to knock against fellow yidden, as the yetzer’s job is to combat mitzvot like ahvat yisroel, but the yetzer doesn’t care if we express “love”, compassion, admiration and praise towards goyim.

    It is so difficult to have compassion, admiration and praise towards fellow yidden. We need to overcome our “natural” distaste and resistance for it.

    Our default position (when in control of our yetzer) is to praise a goy and bash a yid.

  • comments comments comments

    sheeeesh, can all you immature kids keep your comments to yourself?

    As they say, empty cans make the most noise. Anyone that has something positively contributing to say are too proud to comment (for the most part), and all those that have nothing to say, say it all the time, and those opinions are what the world see. But who cares about der velt, right?

    Hey ch.info, maybe make the the commenting system required login?

  • to #19

    thanks for the GREAT LAUGH (oy it’s sefira i hope hashem forgives me LOL)

  • thanx for posting!!

    really nice message! btw everyone theres no reason to make fun of others because of a good thing that youve heard….

  • Refreshing honesty

    I hope he gave them a tip for their rare honesty these days. Maybe it’s the times or maybe it’s NY. You were fortunate.

  • Do NOT give a tip!!

    It is absolutely OSSUR mid’oraysa to give a goy a tip – “lo titchanen”. Especially when he isn’t doing anything extraordinary – simply not stealing someone else’s property!

    What next – give a goy a tip for not hitting a Jew?! The Torah is clear: “Lo Titchanen” – DO NOT GIFT THEM!!!

    This is what happens when people start thinking like goyim and lose connection to Torah. NEBECH!!!!

  • Boruch shelo asani goy

    Halacha b’yeduah: Eisov soneh l’Yaakov. It is a halacha (=Jewish Law) that Eisov (= all goyim) hate Yaakov (=all Jews). This is a FACT. You might not like it or you might hate to hear this, but DEAL WITH IT.

    Don’t make a goy your “buddy”, “friend” or “role model”. Don’t make a goy into a tzaddik just because he returned a wallet – he probably was scared to keep it. Yes, a goy you can be “dan l’kaf chova” – judge him for the worst. But to your fellow Yidden, ALWAYS be “dan l’kaf zchus” – judge them for the good.

    Boruch shelo asani goy – thank G-d for not making me a goy, chas v’sholom.

  • Save your hate for better causes

    I find a lot of these comments horribly offensive. Why is there so much venom at so many fingertips? It is startling and not in the spirit of the sanctity of our people.

  • MMB

    To # 19, with your dumb careless comment you just negated thousands of yidden who happen to be satmar’s. That will certainly do your resume justice when going through your maasim, on high, after 120.

  • AA

    #42: first of all, the mitzvah in question is called “lo sechaneim” (or “techanem,” if you prefer), not “titchanen.” Second, and more to the point: please look in Shulchan Aruch before declaring something “ossur mideoraysa.” In Yoreh De’ah 151:11, this halachah is qualified with the statement that you may give a free gift to a non-Jew whom you know (and in Choshen Mishpat 249:2 it adds that another case where it is permissible is where it helps maintain peaceful relations). So don’t be so quick to pasken halachah.

    #43: where do you see in this statement that it applies to every single goy? Even about Eisav himself, no less an authority than R. Shimon bar Yochai – the author of this very statement – says that it has exceptions, as when Eisav kissed Yaakov “with all his heart.” In any case, though, what relevance does that have to appreciating the person’s good deeds? Consider how, for example, Chazal use pagan non-Jews as the ultimate exemplars of kibbud av v’eim (Kiddushin 31a and Sanhedrin 96a).

    Everyone pointing out “chesed le’umim chatas” and “einan ela lehisyaher”: are you aware that chassidei umos ha’olam are an exception to this rule (see Lessons in Tanya, end of ch. 1)? So how do you know that these two cleaners aren’t in that category?

  • yitzchok c in Jerusalem

    All these negative are sickening and indicative a a “ghetto” mentality. I find it infuriating that such a nice positive story about non jews received so many negative comments. I agree with #46 People ought to read the stories throughout history of righteous goyim. If goyim are so “evil” why did the Rebbe and friediker rebbe invest so much time in educating them? 7 mitzvos bnei noach, released time, moment of silence to name a few. The ignorance and hatred on this site is astounding and disgusting. You few ignorant people give Jews and human beings a bad name. HUGE CHILLUL HASHEM! Don’t fool yourself into thinking you are any better than the goyim you slander.

  • To AA at 46

    #46 I think the point that they are making is that we should focus our love and admiration on other fellow Yidden.

    The same people who sing praises about the “wonderful” shaygetz are also quick to criticize our brothers and sisters.

    Unfortunately, that is a “tend” among many commentators and the golus mindset that invaded our mentality.

    There is a parallel with those who are overly concerned about animal welfare (e.g. PETA, Germans in the 1930’s, Europe’s shchita ban etc.) are also uncaring about the welfare of fellow humans.

  • Man bites dog is news

    Man bites dog is news. Goy returns lost wallet is news. Because it is unexpected… unusual… not the norm.

  • Glatt Yoisher

    Honest?

    I did NOT give them permission to so much as TOUCH that bottle of bleach that I put aside in the bathroom to use for kiddush Shabbos morning!!! I had to track down Pinto and use his 96 instead of bleach, and I ended up sleeping through the experience of listening to an empty table farbreng.

    Had they not touched the bottle, I would have found the wallet and charged my usual return fee – 80% of the contents plus a day’s use of the credit card numbers inside.

  • Chanie

    This story is not an isolated one. I lost a gold ring in the women’s bathroom in 770 (this was my great-grandmother’s ring, hence very precious to me), and when I got home I gasped when I saw it was missing. I retraced my steps on Kingston – in various shops, until I got to 770. As soon as I entered the women’s section, I scanned the room to find the cleaning lady. I asked her if she saw a ring – she immediately procured it for me.
    There are definitely honest workers in 770 – remember, we were all created in Hashem’s image. Let’s leave the shtetl mentality back where it belongs – in the shtetl.

  • My roots are from the shtetl

    #51 “Let’s leave the shtetl mentality back where it belongs – in the shtetl.”

    How dare you???

    My Bubbie and Zeidy were from the shtetl and no one in today’s generation would be able to walk in their footsteps. Halevi, if only, we had a little bit of their “shtetl mentality”, their bitochon, emunah, mesiras nefesh and sharing the crumbs of food they had with another hungry Yid.

    My Bubbie and Zeidy knew what a shaygetz is, and they also knew the value of another Yid and the greatness of helping him or her even bgashmiyus and of course b’ruchniyus.

    Clearly you have no roots in the shtetl, which is sad, because you are missing much in your background and basics, which affects your mentality and impairs you and leaves you disabled in heritage.

    I suggest you learn more about the Yidden in the shtetl that you dismiss in such a flippant manner. Until then, I pity you – nebech.

  • Fun der shtetl

    The thing is that the shaygetz of the shtetl, who was debased by the poverty and life under dictatorship in the Russian Empire and the USSR, is many levels below a Latin American ben Noach who came to the US to escape a life similar to that of the shaygetz of the shtetl.

    The shaygetz of old knew only how to escape through drunkenness and taking his anger out on Jews. The immigrant janitor knew he had no future where he came from, so he managed to scrape up enough to get to the US, knowing that even cleaning shul floors in New York is better than any kind of existence back home.

  • Fun der shtetl

    The closest thing the US has to the shaygetz of the shtetl is the Welfarian, who does nothing all day and blames his (or usually her) poverty on “the system,” which includes the Jews.

    The Welfarian usually prefers crack or heroin to alcohol, but cheap liquor will do toward the end of each month.

    The Welfarian holds the hard-working janitor in contempt for working rather than living off the system and selling a little crack or meth to make ends meet.

  • Ahavas Yisroel

    An Anti would never return it. That shows that an anti is even worse than a mexican.

  • Ben Torah

    To reinterate a previous comment:
    Obviously some people have been so sheltered out of their parents’ and grandparents’ fears not to notice that the murdering savage gentiles they knew in the ‘old country’ are not roaming free here in the USA Boruch Hashem (Bless G-d).
    In defense of the hateful anti-gentile ignoramuses, they do come from a long line of Jews who were murdered, raped and pillaged at the hands of their gentile neighbors, and have not yet grown out of this anxiety.

    Today: Many gentiles have come to realize the emess (truth) of Toras Chaim (the Living Torah), and have a great respect for the tradition of Bnei Yisroel (the Children of Israel), seeing it as the single greatest beacon of civilization, glory and honor of what is true and right. (Despite the still reverberating anxiety of some.)

    I would like to add, that while B’nei Noach are pure moral people (of which there are many, and surely gentiles working in 770 have discovered the treasure Torah and Judaism is), there are also a myriad of those who are thought to be gentiles yet are descended (maternally) from the many Jews that became lost in the general population, now mixed in with nearly every nationality.

    When I go to 770, I greet the gentile workers with a smile, and appreciate the good sense and good character that emanates from them, be it the result of regular exposure to the “Chosen People” while working in 770 (the Grand Synagogue), exposure to civil life in the USA (possibly in contrast to their country of origin), or simply a product of their mothers’ good sense and character that she imbued in her children.

    Either way, no tip is necessary. A smile and a thank you is definitely sufficient.

    More importantly, thank you to the maintenance crew of 770 for the upkeep and cleanliness of our community center.
    May you take only goodness from your exposure to our community, ways and customs, and most of all, from our Torah for all people.

    “Ki baisi bais tefiloh yikarei lichol ho’amim” (“For My House [says G-d] a House of Prayer will it be called by ALL the nations!”)

  • Pinchos Woolstone

    The cleaners are to be commended for their honesty.
    As I was not there, my only comment is, maybe a little extra chassidishe empathy could have been shown to our Satmar brother.

  • Not a good feeling

    I am sick and tired of a Jew in this day and age in America putting such hate and disrespect toward someone, just because they are not Jewish. It’s ridiculous. It’s really pathetic. It speaks so poorly about that Jew’s humanity and menschkeit. Yes, we love each Jew; however each Jew is not necessarily a shining example of righteous behavior, and not every gentile is an example of horrible behavior. That is the truth, and you (on some level) know it. There is a difference between blind loyalty and basic ability to see reality. I understand that there is leftover anxiety and mistrust from history. I understand that there are wounds so deep that they can be in the DNA of a Jew. At the same time, it is so, so sad that a Jew puts out such hate towards a gentile they actually know nothing about. That gentile did nothing to him. That gentile may be a thief, and he may also be a righteous gentile. He may have respect in his heart and wish only good things for a Jew. Prejudice breeds prejudice, both ways. If you do not like a gentile to say some ugly generalization about you, why would you think they should like it from you? By the way, you are the one who supposedly has some sort of higher standard. Or do you?