Mivtzoim via radio

⁠⁠[15:33, 8/17/2017] Rabbi Lipszyc Weekly Story: ⁠⁠⁠Story of the Week, Sponsored in honor of the Bris of Menachem Mendel Chazan As noted earlier, the first year that we were in Michigan, we lived in Southfield. B”H were able to accomplish quite a lot and had a positive influence on a number of individual people and families. But three families stand out in particular. One particular story about Dr. Reuven Starr a”h I already wrote awhile back, when he passed away, in his memory. He was a great philanthropist who gave away more than his income warranted. The story of how he came to us is quite interesting and is a tribute to my colleague and friend, who passed away young in a tragic car accident. Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Kagan a”h was a very special chossid and shliach whom I looked up to, admired and learned a lot from. He was a talented speaker, writer and radio show host. Throughout the years, we worked together on many successful projects, and till now I think of him quite often and miss his endearing style. In numerous stories, you will see that he played a tremendous role. Every radio station, by law, has to give a certain amount of time as public service, without charge. Rabbi Kagan arranged with one of the stations that they should give him a 30 minute slot for weekly Jewish programming, which they did. His program was very well planned out, popular, and he had quite a following. His program would begin with some chassidic melodies, followed by a short adaptation of a talk of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, connected with the Torah portion of the week, a chassidic story, a sprinkling of Chabad news around the world and other interesting tidbits, always interspersed with chassidic music. However, since he wasn’t paying for the time slot, whenever the managers of the station felt they needed that particular time slot, they would just change Rabbi Kagan’s show, sometimes without even giving prior notice. For a certain period of time, in 1970, they would change his program times very often, even every few months. Eventually we found out what the story behind the scenes was. There was a Christian group that was paying for a time slot for their Christian program. They were keeping tabs of all the ratings of different radio shows. When they realized that Rabbi Kagan’s Jewish program was getting tremendous ratings, they were convinced it must be because of the time slot. So they requested that time slot for their program. Of course since they were paying for it, the station managers gave them first choice. For the first couple of weeks, their ratings were up, because unfortunately those wanting to listen to Rabbi Kagan didn’t always realize immediately that there had been a change. But as soon as they found out the new time, they switched. Up went Rabbi Kagan’s ratings while their ratings plummeted. So they requested Rabbi Kagan’s new slot, with the same results. Finally, after a year of many switches, all with the same results, the station managers pointed out to their paying customers, that it was obvious that it was the programing that was drawing the ratings not the timing. One of the times that Rabbi Kagan’s time slot was moved, it was moved to Sunday mornings at4:00 a.m. He complained to me that why should he even bother, it is so much work and who is going to be listening to him at 4:00 a.m.? Nevertheless, he continued putting in the effort and the powerful outcome soon became apparent. One Sunday morning, at 4:00 a.m. a certain Dr. Starr, living in Southfield, Michigan (a suburb of Detroit) was called to deliver a baby. As he tiredly got into his car to drive to the hospital, he turned on his car radio to keep himself awake. As he turned the knobs to find something interesting to listen to, he was surprised to hit upon a Jewish program. He was so captivated by it that, from then on, every Sunday morning he would get up at 4:00 a.m. to listen. One Sunday, just before Chanukah, Rabbi Kagan mentioned, as part of his news tidbits, that a new Chabad rabbi had moved to town and Chabad had now opened a Shabbos minyan in Southfield. When he mentioned the address, Dr. Starr realized that it was quite close to where he lived. And so, that Shabbos of Chanukah Dr. Starr came to our fledgling minyan.  He liked what he saw, what he heard and what we learned. He became a regular and eventually became a complete chossid, and changed his family into a Torah oriented family. When he came to our minyan, he introduced himself to me and told me how he had found Rabbi Kagan’s radio program, become an avid fan of the radio show, and as a result how he had heard about our minyan and joined. Of course, having heard Rabbi Kagan’s complaint of how ridiculous it was to host a radio show at 4:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning, now I was able to point out to him that even at that early hour, someone might be listening and changing his entire life as a result! To receive Rabbi Lipszyc's Story of the week via Whatsapp add the number 513-456-7595 to your phone contacts, and then send a text to with the message "Join".  Support Rabbi Lipszyc's work by Donating at https://chabadcrimeaorg.clhosting.org/templates/articlecco_cdo/aid/2511910/jewish/Crisis-Relief/lang/en or sending checks to: Chabad of Crimea World Friends, 1601 Union St, Brooklyn, NY 11213