If your name is Nachum Feintuch, you won’t have to think twice.
Fifteen Shuls
It’s a years-long ritual. Each week, after Havdalah, Mr. Feintuch and his daughter Tziporah get busy. Their mission: to distribute next week’s Toras Avigdor to shuls across the Five Towns and Far Rockaway. It’s become a personal tradition that Mr. Feintuch has no intention of giving up.
“It’s a zechus to be able to participate,” says Mr. Feintuch, sharing that he was an avid Toras Avigdor reader even before he became a distributor.
Each week, 850 copies of Toras Avigdor arrive at the Feintuchs’ home via UPS. But the real work begins Motzaei Shabbos.
“They’re supposed to get here by Friday. On Motzaei Shabbos, my daughter and I get in the car and drive around to maybe fifteen different shuls. There are a number of distributors. In North Woodmere, for example, there’s one person who distributes to another seven shuls, so I drop off a box to him. Where I work, there are two guys I drop off boxes to and they distribute in Woodmere.”
When UPS is delayed, readers start to worry. “I get a lot of people calling me asking where it is,” Mr. Feintuch says with a smile. “People are excited to get it. In most shuls, they’ve practically run out by Wednesday.”
A New Way of Looking at Life
Rabbi Miller has had a profound impact on Mr. Feintuch, shaping his perspective on the world.
“It’s just an eye-opening way of looking at things,” he says. “Growing up, people didn’t talk about these topics. Thanking Hashem for every detail in your life. Your health and family, thanking in a very itemized way. There are people who tell me it’s like their medicine. They need it every week. If they don’t get it one week, they’ll call me. If the shul where I put it ran out of copies, they’ll find out where they can get another one.”
A Spiritual Nudge
Mr. Feintuch sees firsthand the transformative power of Toras Avigdor. One shul’s rabbi had a congregant who was steadily drawing closer to Yiddishkeit. Intrigued, the rabbi asked what had driven his growth. The answer? Toras Avigdor! Week after week, Rabbi Miller had penetrated his heart, inspiring him to take on more Torah and mitzvos.
“People who know that I distribute Toras Avigdor will randomly stop me when I’m out walking and give me Rabbi Miller’s ‘message of the week.’ I haven’t even read it yet but they have! I don’t read it till Shabbos, so I just say, ‘Okay, good to know!’”
Lessons for Life
Mr. Feintuch is clear about why he’s taken on his role. “I look for opportunities in life,” he says. “It’s a good investment of my time and a great zechus!”
It’s hard to pinpoint a favorite lesson from Rabbi Miller. “The main thing I try to implement is noticing Hashem in so many ways during the day and thanking Him for it. Not to wait till things go wrong, but to try to notice Him when everything’s good.”
A Message for Readers
As a devoted talmid of Rabbi Miller, Mr. Feintuch has one message for readers: “I guarantee you will hear and learn about ideas you’ve never thought of before,” he says simply. And as a regular distributor, he’s in a unique position to see the clear impact his volunteer work is having. For him, it’s more than checking off another item on his to-do list. It’s a way of giving to the community and sharing the wisdom of Rabbi Miller that he’s personally gained so much from.
Meanwhile, he continues his tradition faithfully, each Motzaei Shabbos, knowing that he’s not just delivering paper booklets, but uplifting and energizing Jews across the Five Towns and beyond.
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