Month: November 2018

AS: This is your 10th collection of stories. Wow! How do you keep them coming, so fresh, varied and new?

RBP: Baruch Hashem I have had tremendous siyata di’Shmaya in finding great, inspirational stories. People are eager to share their stories with me as they know how a great story can make an everlasting impact on countless lives.

AS: There was a poignant backstory to how this book was written. Can you share it briefly with the readers?

RBP: Last summer I met someone in a bungalow colony who told me that my books really gave him chizuk. He went on to tell me how his son who was in his twenties and married was stricken with a serious disease. I then shared with him a vort about the power of strengthening another Jew and asked him to share this vort with his son. I also said that we had to do something as a zechus for his son. The next Shabbos I told him that I was going to write a book about strengthening other people in tough times. Although, tragically, this young man passed away, I began to collect stories about how people strengthened others and also about how we can strengthen ourselves.

AS: How do we “strengthen” people’s hearts – including our own?

RBP: Hashem gave every person tremendous kochos. We all know someone who is going through a hard time, whether they are in need of parnassah, a refuah, a shidduch or in some other area of life. By reaching out to such people, by thinking about them, by giving them a call and showing true concern you can uplift them and truly strengthen them.

As for strengthening ourselves, we have to keep working on our emunah and bitachon in Hashem. When our relationship with Hashem is strong it empowers us to soar above the bumps and hurdles that life may bring us.　

AS: What are some of your favorite stories in this collection?

RBP: It’s hard for me to pick a favorite. The rebbi who is stranded in a Chicago airport in a snowstorm and has an incredible encounter. How about the rabbi who won’t let a nasty prison official get in the way of his strengthening another Yid. Perhaps the boy who wanted a chocolate bar for davening well — and heaven answered him. They are all great and sure to strengthen your heart!

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AS: You’ve written over twenty amazingly successful books for children, but this is the first where you focus on one specific person. Why did you choose Rebbetzin Henny Machlis?

SB: Although I had never met Henny, I had heard so much about her. She was always someone I wanted to know more about. Then Sara Rigler approached me and said she was writing a book about Henny’s life in conjunction with the Machlis family. I became very excited and knew that one day I wanted to write that book for young children.

AS:  How important are role models to our young children?

SB:  Baruch Hashem, today, our young children have many role models to be guided by. But anyone who reads about Henny will quickly see how different she is from all the others. And in answer to your question, role models are VERY important.

AS: The illustrations are so special. How do you and the artist ensure that children will love the pictures?

SB: I work very closely with each artist on every book that I write to make sure that they bring both humor and love to each picture. Lea Kron is a fantastic new find for me and you will be seeing more and more of her work appearing. She is an incredible talent. We are now working on another book together.

AS: Your book is based on Emunah with Love and Chicken Soup, the bestselling book. How did you choose your twenty-one stories out of the hundreds in the book?

SB: I worked on editing Emunah with Love and Chicken Soup while it was being written. Each time Sara Rigler would hand in a chapter, I would read it and give it to my wife. An hour later, she would say, “When is the next chapter coming?’’ I tried to find stories from the book that would be different from each other, that would speak to children, and that they would remember and hold onto their whole life. And, of course, I rewrote the stories in language children would enjoy.

AS: What’s your favorite “Henny story”?              

SB: Not a fair question! Which of your children is your favorite? For me now, the question is which of my grandchildren is my favorite. Those are questions I would never try to answer. The only good answer to that is — all of them!

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