Make the call

I should have made the call. Now he’s gone. 

A great person, a mensch (a person of integrity), one of my most important teachers, Rabbi Michell Chefitz (z’l – may his memory always be for blessings), died earlier this week.

The last exchange we ever had was from February 2020, more than five years ago, and I was apologizing for not having called sooner. I needed advice, and I wanted to talk. He wrote:

When we left off our call you mentioned you might call back with the passage of some time.
I don't know how much some time is, but it’s been some time.
Call whenever you like.
I'm often available.
If not, please leave a message.
Wishing you well --- Mitch

I really missed out.

Mitch made a big difference in my life. His book, The Seventh Telling, inspired me to learn more about Jewish mysticism and develop new and easier ways to access and share that wisdom with others. Mitch’s book, The Thirty-Third Hour, offered creative and innovative models for Jewish education that excited me about learning with communities. These were some of the first books that reawakened the Jewish learner in me after the marathon of study that was rabbinical school.

When I had the opportunity to help bring Mitch as a speaker to a community, I jumped at it. Before I got to meet him though, he had been delayed in arriving for his first speaking engagement by a funeral. So, with Walli, Mitch’s amazing spouse as moral support, I brushed up on Mitch’s writing and offered a talk in his place. I had never received such a show of faith in me as a young rabbi and teacher.

I re-read The Seventh Telling so many times, using its material in sermons and classes. I purchased copies to share with friends and congregants. When Mitch published a beautiful compendium of some of his most amazing stories, The Curse of Blessings, I enthusiastically read and shared it too. The story that inspired its title is one that I have retold so often that I have developed my own dramatic voices and theatrical gestures in portraying it. 

Every now and then I would remember to connect with Mitch and listen to his calming voice as he sagely reflected on whatever I brought to him. I can only imagine what struggles he faced in recent months as his health seemed to wane and he shared that he was taking a break from writing on his Substack, something that I only discovered after his passing. Now I have more of his writings to explore. 

Mitch’s last post before signing off was a re-sharing of his story, Gabriel’s Horn. It’s a beautiful story, a timely one, and I recommend it to everyone.

Like the character in the story, Mitch showed us all how he was strong and pleasing and wise, and so much more. I am saddened that I didn’t take advantage of connecting with him and learning from him more. I am grateful that I learned so much from Mitch, and that there is so much more of him that I have yet to encounter and learn.

Mitch has left us. And he left me with the reminder that I should have made the call.

Don’t wait. Make the call.