I was talking to my mom just after the 4th of July shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, and she was lamenting the fact that every day she reads the newspaper, looking for some happy news. It's hard to find these days, but she read me an editorial that appeared in the LA Times in early July, that made me smile.
A young boy moved from Brooklyn to LA about the same time that the Dodgers moved west, and continued loving and following the Dodgers. He especially loved Sandy Koufax. The boy, around 10 years old at the time, lived in El Segundo, and did not know any or many Jews. He heard that Sandy Koufax would not pitch on the High Holidays because of his religious beliefs. He was so impressed by this act of doing the "right thing," that the boy went on to convert to Judiasm and become a rabbi. That's not the end of the story.
Many years later, the Dodgers installed a statue of Sandy Koufax at Dodger Stadium. The rabbi was there with his son for the unveiliing. It turned out that the rabbi and son were staying at a hotel in downtown LA in order to attend the ceremony, and wouldn't you know it, Sandy Koufax was staying there too. Was it serendipity that they met at breakfast one morning, and the rabbi told Koufax how his act of "doing the right thing" years ago, had changed his life? Maybe. The rabbi picked up the check for Koufax's breakfast and wrote him a note telling him how he had changed his life. A few weeks later, the rabbi received a thank you note from Koufax, telling him how much his note meant.
Moral of the story: You never know what your act of kindness or show of character might have on someone. You may never know. But in the story I have just recounted, Sandy Koufax discovered how his act of doing the right thing and not pitching on the High Holidays, changed one man's life.
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