07/03/2026
What My Father-in-Law Taught Me About America
As we gather this weekend to celebrate the Fourth of July, we pause to thank Hashem for one of history's greatest blessings: a nation founded on the ideals of liberty, religious freedom, and the dignity of every human being.
For millions who came to these shores, America offered something almost unprecedented. A person could worship without fear, raise a family according to their beliefs, earn an honest living through hard work, and build a life filled with purpose. For Jews especially, America became a place where one could proudly wear a yarmulke, build a synagogue, educate Jewish children, and live an uncompromising Jewish life.
This week, as our family mourns the passing of my dear father-in-law, Rabbi Sholom Ber Eber, of blessed memory, I have found myself reflecting on what those freedoms made possible.
He arrived in America from Israel as a young yeshiva student with little more than faith, determination, and a willingness to work hard. America gave him the opportunity to build a livelihood with honesty and integrity, but more importantly, it gave him the freedom to live every day proudly and fully as a Jew. He never viewed those as competing goals. His Judaism guided his work, and his work became an expression of his Judaism.
His love for the Rebbe, together with his remarkable talent for recognizing a need and finding a way to fill it, became the foundation of his life's work.
For decades, he devoted his talents to making the experience of visiting the Lubavitcher Rebbe more meaningful for countless people. He helped provide meals and refreshments for the thousands who came to Crown Heights, and helped preserve precious memories of those visits with the Rebbe through photographs.
He worked to develop ways for Jews around the world to hear the Rebbe live via phone hookup, and then after the Rebbe's passing, helped establish the original hospitality house near the Rebbe's Ohel so that the ever-growing stream of visitors would have a welcoming place to prepare and pray.
There is something profoundly moving about the fact that his final journey passed 770 Eastern Parkway, where so much of his life's work took place, and that he now rests just a few feet from the Ohel, where he helped others come closer.
Yet what impressed people most was not what he accomplished, but how he accomplished it. Whether dealing with a customer, an employee, a visitor, or a stranger, Jew or non-Jew, every person was treated with dignity, fairness, and respect. His word could be trusted. His integrity never depended on who was watching.
Hundreds came to comfort the family during Shiva. They came because they had personally experienced his kindness, honesty, humility, and genuine concern for others. His greatest achievement was not a business, but a life that inspired others and a family that continues to live by those same values.
Children rarely become what we tell them to be. More often, they become what they consistently see us being. The greatest inheritance we can leave our children is not wealth, but character. Not possessions, but principles lived every single day. That is the legacy he passed on to his children, and one that with Hashem's help, will continue for generations.
As we celebrate America's birthday this weekend, we should pause not only to appreciate the freedoms this remarkable country has afforded us, but also to recognize the responsibility that comes with those freedoms.
We are among the most blessed generations of Jews in history. We have the freedom to learn Torah openly, build vibrant Jewish communities, raise proud Jewish families, and use our talents in service of Hashem and His people. Freedom is not simply the absence of oppression. It is the opportunity to live lives of faith, purpose, and service.
My father-in-law understood that truth. He lived the American dream not because he accumulated wealth, but because he used the blessings of this country to become more fully the Jew Hashem wanted him to be, while helping countless others do the same.
Those blessings should never be taken for granted. They should be cherished, protected, and strengthened so that America remains a place where faith, family, religious liberty, and moral responsibility continue to flourish.
May we always express our gratitude not only with words, but with the lives we choose to live. May we use the opportunities we have been given to serve others with integrity, to raise children of character and faith, and to leave behind a legacy worthy of being continued.
Shabbat Shalom!
Light Shabbat Candles tonight before 8:10pm
Shabbat Minyan & Kiddush tomorrow 10:00am
My father in law on one of his many visits to Islip, where he loved watching the growth of our community:
