We need Joe Biden. We need a mensch. From Rabbi Michael Beals of Delaware : [View all]

[kpete]

"The story I’m about to share with you about Joe Biden is special -- in fact, I’m fairly certain I’m the only living person left who actually witnessed it firsthand.

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It was about 16 years ago, and I was a young rabbi, brand-new to Delaware, on my way to lead a shiva minyan -- a worship service following a death of a Jewish person. I was from California. Back then, I didn’t know Claymont, Delaware from Scranton, Pennsylvania.

[2/12]
Quick bit of background: When someone passes away in the Jewish faith, we observe seven days of mourning, called shiva. We gather a group of ten Jewish adults together to say the Mourners’ Kaddish. It usually happens in a person’s home -- somewhere intimate.

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In this case, the deceased individual -- her name was Mrs. Greenhouse, of blessed memory -- had not been a person of means. She had lived in rent-controlled senior housing in a tall high-rise building off of Namaans Road.

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Her apartment was too small to fit everyone into, so we conducted our worship service in the building’s communal laundry room, in the basement of the high-rise.

We assembled the 10 elders together, and it was in this most humble of places that I began to lead kaddish.

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Toward the end of the service, a door at the back of the laundry room opened; who walks in but Sen. Joe Biden, head lowered, all by himself.

I nearly dropped my prayer book in shock.

Senator Biden stood quietly in the back of the room for the duration of the service.

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At the close of the kaddish, I walked over to him and asked the same question that must have been on everyone else’s mind: “Sen. Biden -- what are you doing here?”

He said to me: “Back in 1972, when I first ran for Senate, Mrs. Greenhouse gave $18 to my first campaign.

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Because that’s what she could afford. And every six years, when I’d run for reelection, she’d give another $18. She did it her whole life. I’m here to show my respect and gratitude.”

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Now, the number 18 is significant in the Jewish faith -- its numbers spell out the Hebrew word chai, as in “to life, to life, l’chayim!” But it’s also a humble amount. Joe Biden knew that. And he respected that.

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There were no news outlets at our service that day -- no Jewish reporters or important dignitaries. Just a few elderly mourners in a basement laundry room.

Joe Biden didn’t come to that service for political gain. He came to that service because he has character.

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He came to that service because he’s a mensch.

And if we need anything right now when it comes to the leadership of our country -- we need a mensch.

I know this is such a simple, small story. But I tell it to as many people as will listen to me.

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Because I think that, in their heart of hearts, when people are trying to think about the decision they’ll make this year -- this is the kind of story that matters.

Joe Biden is a mensch. We need a mensch."

Thank you, Rabbi Beals. You're a bit of a mensch yourself.