Before Succos, I bought Emunah with Love and Chicken Soup, the biography of Rebbetzin Henny Machlis a”h, by Sara Yoheved Rigler. I had flipped through it a few times at other people’s houses and was always inspired by whatever I read, so this 500+ page book was my reading material for Y”T. And full disclosure: I haven’t read the whole thing yet. Actually, I’m only about halfway done. As you’ll see, it’s not the kind of book you can just read straight through from cover to cover. (Note: Since this is ultimately a book about working on yourself and your perfection in avodas Hashem, it’s worth noting that not everything is for everyone to apply to their life the way Rebbetzin Machlis did, but the lessons to be learned from her as a person are huge.)
The Machlis family of Maalot Dafna is well-known for their hachnosas orchim and chessed. They host hundreds of people from all walks of life for meals every Shabbos, and provide assistance to many people in need throughout the week. I never went for a Shabbos meal myself but I feel that I have gotten to know who Henny was a little bit through reading this book.
As I read the book, I kept mentally noting sections that I wanted to reread after Y”T. Now I’m going through what I’ve read and taking notes. Honestly, this might be a book to read with a highlighter. It’s not just a biography — it’s a heartwarming mussar sefer, filled with hundreds of examples of how someone can work on themselves and grow to be a great person in chessed, emunah, and avodas hamiddos. I loved that the book is layered with personal stories of scores of people who knew Henny, whether intimately or from a distance, as well as numerous quotes from her husband and children and even from Henny herself.
On davening while cooking Shabbos food:
“‘…we pray before and while we cook: “May the food have the taste of Gan Eden.” And we say Tehillim while we’re cooking. And we pray that the people who eat this food should love Shabbos and love Hashem and do chesed and love Torah and be in touch with themselves and that they should have the joy of Shabbos and that the food should be for the honor of Hashem and for the honor of the holy Shabbos.'”
On not knowing why:
Henny would quote a story her mother used to tell: “There were three men sitting around. One said, ‘If I were G-d, I would do things differently this way.’ The second one said, ‘If I were G-d, I would do things differently that way.’ The third one said, ‘If I were G-d, I would do exactly what G-d does, but I would know why I’m doing it.'”
On loving yourself:
“I want to tell you a gorgeous, gorgeous Torah thought from the Kotzker Rebbe. The Kotzker Rebbe came into his beis midrash and said, ‘I want somebody to tell me what is the number one principle of Torah.’ So what did they say? V’ahavta l’reiacha kamocha. You should love your neighbor as yourself. So the Rebbe said, ‘No. That’s the number two principle. What’s the number one principle in Torah? To love yourself.’ You could only love your fellow man as you love yourself if you first love yourself.
Have you read this book? Any thoughts?
