The following was shared today by Living Kiddush Hashem. Rabbi Joey Haber shared the following story a couple of years ago and recently added a meaningful follow-up:
Two top executives of Charles Tyrwhitt, a large clothing company based in London, once discovered something remarkable.
Through their research, they found that they were selling about half a million shirts a year in America, and nearly 100,000 of those shirts, close to a fifth of their total sales, were coming from a single source: a simple home in Lakewood, New Jersey.
Curious and intrigued, they decided they had to see it for themselves. When they arrived, they found an ordinary simple house.
While they were there, a customer came by to pick up several shirts. The family casually told their daughter to bring the shirts from the garage.
The customer then asked, “Where should I leave the money?” and they responded, “Just leave it on the table in the garage.”
The executives were astonished. “You trust people to just leave the money there?” they asked. “And this sells more than Madison Avenue?” The answer was simple:
“That’s how this town works.”
Wanting to understand more, they were taken to the Lakewood yeshiva, BMG.
Standing on the second floor overlooking a large beis medrash filled with hundreds, even thousands, of talmidim, someone pointed and said, “You see them? Most of them are wearing your shirts.” The same style, the same look, worn by bnei Torah immersed in learning.
The executives were deeply impressed and inspired.
Sometime later, Rabbi Haber was on a trip to Poland with a group of students when one girl approached him and introduced herself.
She explained that her family was the one distributing Charles Tyrwhitt shirts in Lakewood.
She shared that some of the shirts were specially tailored to fit the needs and style of the Lakewood community.
Recently, the company’s executives in London had requested one of these unique shirts to be sent to them. Her father shipped it.
Only afterward did they find out that the shirt had been intended as a gift for the King of England.
The family was excited. “Imagine,” she said, “a shirt from our home going to the king. We wish we had realized, we would have treated it differently.”
Rabbi Haber responded gently, “You’re excited about a shirt going to the King of England?
Your shirts are worn every day by bnei Torah, by those who are learning Hashem’s Torah. You’re clothing thousands of kings.”
Perhaps there is a divine message here. The same shirt worn by thousands of bnei Torah was ultimately chosen for a king.
Because we are royalty. We are Hashem’s children. We carry His crown, His name, and His identity.
King of England Building Secondary Palace In Lakewood to Be Near the Source of His Beloved Dress Shirts
King Charles III of England is building a secondary palace in Lakewood NJ within close proximity to the source of his beloved Charles Tyrwhitt dress shirts, the King announced on Thursday.
“I recently received a beautiful dress shirt via a home in Lakewood NJ,” the kind told reporters on Thursday. “It’s a maginificent shirt that is second to none! Hence I’ve decided to maintain a secondary palace right near this home, so that I can fetch myself one of those gorgeous shirts at a moment’s notice, any time I want.”
“There is also a beautiful lake in the area with plenty of geese and lots of quacking ducks,” the King said, “plus the town’s got some of the world’s best deli sandwiches, which makes Lakewood the perfect get-away place for me, that’s for sure!”
“Just imagine,” the King added, “I can enjoy a top-notch deli sandwich with mustard any time I want, and when the mustrard stains start landing on my Charles Tyrwhitt shirt, I can purchase a new shirt instantly! It’s crazy! I mean, you can’t get better than that, right?!”
Upon learning of the King’s plans, a local grocery store in Lakewood announced just moments ago that it will begin selling a huge variety of English muffins to accomodate the king and his British entourage.
letzana achas docheh meah tochochos!
Why are you classifying this post as letzanus? He’s bringing out the point that the king isn’t someone we look up to. Bnei torah should be building second homes to be near the shirts!
He was responding to asinine commentator, not to the article
Tho you are a sarcastic (& possibly funny) person you’re comments really ruin a lot of nice stories.
Yes, America has freedom of speech but maybe sometimes you can show some restraint?
And if you respond sarcastically to this comment it shows you are plain immature.
As yechiel Jacob says “Go get a job”.
You forgot to add that he is building a palace near some of the other palaces that Lakewood has to offer
Such a nice story!!
Can someone explain what happened here? Was the Polish guy selling Charles Twight shirts to lakewood, or was Charles Twilight the one selling shirts in Lakewood. Why did the Chrls Twilight need a Lakewood styled shirt for the king? Did the king ask for “Lakewood” shirt?
I stopped reading asinine’s comments a long time ago. Mostly very poor taste.
I don’t always read his full comments because they’re kind of long. But, whether I read the whole thing, or just a part of his comments, I always find them quite funny and not at all in poor taste. To each his own.
I did as well. While reading any forum, I skip the comments /posters I have no interest in reading. The annoying part with that person’s comments are that they are long and take a bit of scrolling. It would be nice if TLS implemented a block feature if you want to just ignore someone.
Editors, if you’re reading this, more often than not when I see a comment from him leading off the comment section, I just change the channel. Maybe better discretion on which comments get posted would help your bounce rate.