The Stock Exchange is Up; But Nothing to Do With the Economy

Long, long ago, in the 1980s, matchmaker and ohev Yisroel Shimshon Stock wrote a column for the N’shei Chabad Newsletter, titled “The Stock Exchange.” The articles have now been collected into a book.

NCN Staff

Long, long ago, in the 1980s, matchmaker and ohev Yisroel Shimshon Stock wrote a column for the N’shei Chabad Newsletter, which then-editor-in-chief Rivki Geisinsky named “The Stock Exchange.”

Now, the NCN, together with Yoel Atkins, supported and encouraged by the Stock family, are happy and proud to announce that all of these articles have been collected into a book, The Stock Exchange, by Shimshon Stock.

(We’re not inconsistent. When referring to a column, we use quotes—“The Stock Exchange”—and when referring to a book, we use italics—The Stock Exchange. When you work for the NCN, this is the kind of thing you learn.)

The book contains Shimshon’s old-fashioned wisdom and experience. Excerpt:

…I once witnessed a terrible scene. A young widow with three small children was waiting for the van to take her kids to school so she could be at work by 9:00. It was snowing and the van didn’t show up. The young mother turned to a young man about to go into his car and drive his kids to school and asked: “Would you take my kids to school also?” The man looked at her kids, who had snow on them— “I can’t take them. They’ll ruin my car upholstery, they’re full of snow!” The woman looked sort of lost for a minute. What was she going to do, when she had to be at work in 15 minutes? But she marshaled her spirits and went in to call a cab, and to call her boss that she would be late. When she came out, the man said, “I insist on paying for the taxi, I feel bad that I’m not taking them.” She refused to take it of course (how crude to offer it!) and now the man had no way of stilling his conscience, his “guilt offering” having been rejected. Baruch Hashem, now that young woman is happily remarried. She feels grateful to those who helped her in her years of widowhood. And that man, the neighbor with the car, lost his only chance to give her a helping hand in her hard time. His car still looks beautiful. But he can’t take the car with him after 120 years…

For more excerpts from the column, “The Stock Exchange,” click here or buy the Chof Bais Shvat issue, which will be in stores before Chof Bais Shvat. It’s got a painting (by Esther Rosen) of Shimshon and Martha on the cover.

We’re excited about the new book, The Stock Exchange, but we’re also excited about the rest of the issue! Some highlights:

*Esther Sternberg outdoes even Esther Sternberg in this issue. 

*Is it my problem if people get older and still haven’t found their match? Rabbi Avraham Y. Heschel, son of the Kopycznitzer Rebbe, zy”a, says it is.

*Tzippy Clapman recalls how she and her husband were SURE they were going on shlichus—and what she learned about the true meaning of shlichus.

*Leah Riman vividly recalls how her son, Logan, was born without eyes. Logan is 18 now. Read what it was like to raise him alone, and how Leah discovered his special gift.

*Esther Etiquette (written by Chana Kornfeld) addresses all the unspoken competition surrounding bas mitzvahs and what mothers can do about it.

*Ever consider starting to do all or some of Chitas? This is your issue! Read what the Rebbe and the Frierdiker Rebbe had to say about it, and hear from lots of women just like yourself, women who have no extra time in their day

Click here to subscribe, or pick it up in a Crown Heights store before Chof Beis Shvat.