We recently shared some stories from the Artscroll biography of Rabbi Shlomo Gissinger, At Any Hour . I'd like to share a few more unbelievable stories about this great man, as a lesson for rabbis (if there are any reading this) and for laymen as well. The first story involved a man who lived in Eretz Yisrael who was a speech therapist that specialized in assisting people that stutter. He sent an email to Rabbi Gissinger saying that he would be coming to Lakewood for a few weeks, and wanted to possibly give some training courses and drum up some business. And what did Rabbi Gissinger do? He took the advertisement describing the services of the speech therapist, and sent it to a graphic design company to have an flyer made up. Then he went through the trouble of signing each flyer, as an endorsement of this man. Then, using his own money, he hired somebody to distribute the flyers in shuls all over over Lakewood. And then he allowed this man to use his shul for free, to give the seminar on stuttering. And Rabbi Gissinger introduced him to the crowd! He wasn't asked to do this. He took the initiative and did it all on his own. In a second story, one of his neighbors had moved from Denver to Lakewood and did not have a good job to support his large family with. The rabbi up with the perfect idea for him. "Why don't you open up a shoe repair business?” he suggested. The man replied, “ A shoe-repair business? As in me repairing shoes? I don't know the first thing about shoe repair. I'm not a shoe maker. My father wasn't a shoemaker…. the whole idea is foreign to me,” “ Ron, I did my research ,” Rabbi Gissinger said, “ There's only one shoemaker in all of Lakewood. I will help train you, and you'll learn the profession.” It took some convincing, but the Rabbi won the man over and he got the training. The Rabbi negotiated the lease, and even came up with the name of the business for him. And the man said, many years later, “ How in the world of the Rabbi see that it would be financially successful?” So much so, that eventually this man's son opened a second branch in Lakewood! Our final story is about the Rabbi's concern for the business needs of his congregants, neighbors and even distant people: A certain man had a growing family, and ran a seasonal business which was not earning enough money, so he decided to take a real estate course, hoping to make some additional income. Deep into the course, on the night before the test, somehow it wasn't going in. Rabbi Gissinger was known for seeing people from 9:00 PM to 2:00 AM every single day. People would wait on line to ask the Rabbi for advise. It was close to two o'clock in the morning, so this man decided, to give it a try. Maybe Rabbi Gissinger could give him advice. So he walked in at 2:00 AM and said, “ I'm stuck. I have a big test on my real estate course tomorrow, and it's just not going in. I don't know what to do.” In a serene and soothing voice, the Rabbi said, “ Do you have the textbook with you? Bring it in.” And for the next few hours, straight through the night, the Rabbi reviewed the course material with the man, making sure that he knew it, and that he would pass the test. These are unbelievable stories that show the concern that a Rabbi had for his community at large. They show how every individual can go out of their boundaries, and that is really the point. It’s not a rabbi's job to send advertisements to graphic designers, to give advice on opening a business, or to train somebody for his real estate license test. That doesn't go under a rabbi's job description. But Rabbi Gissinger went out of his boundaries, because he cared for people. And that's the lesson for us. Have a wonderful day.