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thepassionatejew

The Modern Day Baal Shem Tov

By: Ettie Jacobson

This past Shabbat was a very emotional and heavy one. It was the Yortzite of a very holy man, Shlomo Schwartz aka Schwartzie. Back in the day, my parents were both brought back to the Gdly/spiritual way of life because of him and his entire family. And if it were not for this one man, if Gd did not bring Schwartzie into this world, I would not be here, and neither would hundreds of thousands of other Jewish people. Personally I think of Schwartzie as the modern day Baal Shem Tov. Schwartzie was able to bring so many Jewish people close to Gd, and to make them understand that they personally had an extremely unique relationship/connection with Gd. This past Shabbat his family, and a couple of close friends celebrated Shabbat together for the Yortzite of Schwartzie Hakadosh. At Friday night dinner, a few people spoke about his life, and how he and his family inspired them personally. Then again at the Shabbat afternoon meal, more people got up and spoke. If you don’t know me personally, you probably would never guess that one of my biggest challenges in life is getting up in front of people and speaking. Speaking from my heart, letting my innermost deepest thoughts come out for people to hear. On Shabbat afternoon, I really wanted to share something though. I wanted to share with Schwartzies family how he impacted me personally, how over the years of growing up with him, unknowingly at the time, he changed my life. And only now do I realize that. Very recently Gd gave me the idea to start The Passionate Jew- at the moment an instagram page, but very soon an online interactive blog, about Judaism, About PASSIONATE JUDAISM. When I started this idea, the role models who I looked up to, and who were the basis of this whole thing was, Gd- of course, The holy Baal Shem Tov, and the Chabad, Lubavitcher Rebbe. Little did I remember that over my years here on earth, I had been DEEPLY inspired by an extremely holy man and his entire family, aka the Schwartz’s. My family was very close to them because they were a big part in helping my parents grow their Jewish identity and personal connections with Gd. And, today, actually this past Friday, when we were at the cemetery, remembering Schwartzie, Gd somehow reminded me that the reason why I am so eager to make this idea public, is all because of Schwartzie. To me he is the definition of THE PASSIONATE JEW. When I was younger I didn’t realize that just being around him and his whole family would eventually shape my entire life. Schwartzie and his family instilled into my parents the idea of PASSIONATE JUDAISM. And from him, they passed it on to me and my siblings. And for that I am so thankful. I am so thankful because nowadays, Being a Passionate Jew is VERY rare, but to me, Passionate Judaism is the only way to be a Jew. So, on Shabbat, I had this feeling inside of me hyping me up to say something in front of everyone- but, I pushed it away for some reason, and let my heart and all my emotions, my ego, and my shyness take over. This pst Shabbat, one thing that someone said about Schwartzie was that he used to say- ITS NOT ABOUT YOU. ITS ABOUT SOMETHING BIGGER THAN YOU.- aka Gd. Personally that really hit me hard. Thank Gd, I am growing into a better version of myself, and through my ENTIRE life, Schwartzie will ALWAYS be my #1 inspiration. With Gds help, and some more personal work on myself, I really hope to overcome that fear of speaking in public, because I feel like that is something I would really love to be able to do, not for me, but for GD. Please Gd. Let me follow in Schwartzies footsteps. Please let me be able to help people realize that they are so unique and that Judaism is not about the labels or the different things people call themselves, but about their personal connection WITH Gd. Please Gd, let me be able to show other Jewish people that Judaism is not supposed to feel like a stone brick wall that is numb with no emotions. That Judaism goes hand in hand with fire and passion and as a Jew, we MUST live with EMOTIONS and EXCITEMENT and HAPPINESS, because that is how Gd intended us to live. Thank you Gd for letting me be able to share this on social media. Thank You Gd for giving the world SCHWARTZIE!!! Bro that was one of your best ideas 😂 Thank you Hashem for Schwartzie and his idea to spread PASSIONATE JUDAISM!!! THANKYOUHASHEM!!! May we ALL be zoche to physically see Schwartzie with the coming of MOSHIACH THIS MILLISECOND!!!! #THANKYOUHASHEMILOVEYOU

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