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Sam Ballesteros/The Republic

Rabbi Michael Beyo shares his story at the Tempe Center for the Arts on Dec. 12, 2023

Michael Beyo grew up as an Orthodox Jew in Italy. Michael went on to become a rabbi and lived in Israel for 25 years. When he and his wife moved to the US, he experienced financial hardships that made even buying groceries difficult. It was during this period of hard times that Michael met a man from a different faith.

I was working anything that I could find — three jobs, four jobs, in the middle of the night, in the middle of the day — I was doing everything that I could. But sometimes you just can’t break through that wall and it’s tough.

And I learned what it means to go to bed hungry. I learned what he means to be embarrassed. Embarrassed in front of yourself, embarrassed in front of your wife that I could not support her. I was afraid and everything I tried felt like the world was crashing on me.

My wife had an old Toyota Corolla that was supposed to be green but it was rust. And every time we drove that car we made a prayer to the gods of Toyotas, to make sure that the car would not stop in the middle of the road because we could not afford to fix it. It was really, really hard and I’m not telling you anything that you don’t know. I’m sure that so many go through difficult times.

Now one day a friend of my wife asked if he could meet with me — actually a friend of a friend. This gentleman, his name is Ramsey. Ramsey was born in Lebanon. He’s a Druze, a separate religion similar to Islam. He was born in South Lebanon, and when he was young, he came to the states and over the years he became a Christian. He converted to Christianity and he became an evangelical Christian. And he wanted to meet, in his words, “a true Jew.” He wanted to meet a Rabbi — an Orthodox Rabbi — because he has some theological question that he needs to ask a Rabbi.

So, sure, I meet with him and we hit it off. I think it was the fact that he was from the Middle East and I lived in Israel for 25 years that Middle Eastern, Italian Lebanese — you know we always speak with our hands, we hug, we kiss, we fight, we scream. And we hit it off right away and we spent a few hours that first day, talking about history and religion and culture. It was wonderful and Ramsey became a dear friend.

He was the first non-Jewish person that became my friend. It was very different for me. I was not used to that. And then one day Ramsey realized I was very depressed, and he asked me “What’s going on?” And I told him that “I’m going through a tough financial situation.”

Out of the blue, without asking, Ramsey takes out his wallet, takes out a checkbook, and writes me a check. I was speechless. I cried.

Ramsey and I are still in touch today and he has helped me throughout the time that I needed help he was there for me. Ramsey helped me because of his faith. Ramsey is a very devout Christian as I said. And because of his faith he chose to help me. Ramsey taught me how to be a better Jew. Ramsey taught me how to be a better community leader, a better rabbi. It is thanks to Ramsey, I learned that I can be a better Jew by focusing on my religion, and at the same time being there for everybody else as well. Thank you.