Robert Ingersoll said “We rise by lifting others”. A community can benefit from good people that make it their life mission to set aside their own wants and desires just to uplift others. Shalom Lamm is a great example of someone who could have just gone to college, built a career and left it at that. Yet, it was the Jewish whose call he answered. A call from beyond the grave and through the tears of their families.
Shalom Lamm’s Heart for Community
Lamm earned a degree in Philosophy from Yeshiva University in New York City and from there established a career in real estate. Later, he earned a Masters in U.S. Military History at American Military University in Virginia.
He was touched by Jewish families who lost loved ones in WWII and were never properly buried. Out of this tragedy, Operation Benjamin was born. Operation Benjamin “ensures that the fallen heroes are buried under the Star of David.” The non-profit organization has been running successfully and there is no cost to the families that it helps.
Operation Benjamin
Jewish burial under the Star of David is crucial to Jewish faith. Jewish soldiers that have fallen were never given their proper burial.
For generations, Jewish families had to sit with the sad fact that their loved ones were incorrectly buried. Operation Benjamin, through accurate and sharp genealogical research, have succeeded in changing the grave markers of all Jewish soldiers buried under crosses “but there could be hundreds more.”
Operation Benjamin is not the only volunteering Lamm is doing. He and his wife Tina “created an initiative” that delivered thousands of nonperishables to Jewish communities in Kiev and during the pandemic of 2020, he urged safety first because of the coronavirus claiming lives and the importance of still having museums available for educating the masses.
Giving back may not be wildly popular but it yields benefits for humanity and Lamm understands this. Others like Lamm understand this concept as well. When a community suffers and has no answers, sometimes it is one person who has the idea to give back, whether it is food or help for paying others’ rent. It will spark a warm kindness in their hearts. It doesn’t take much. Kindness can begin with one person handing out canned goods or helping single parents. It can inspire a nation.
Lamm is one of many examples of the “quiet hero” But anyone could be if they see the value in the act of kindness, and he may not want others to sing praises of him, but just the act of giving back will never go unnoticed by those who are helped.
