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Tales
for the Shabbos Table
This week's section features the last
three plagues and the final departure
of the Jews from Egypt.
But it was really only the BEGINNING
of leaving Egypt.
In the amazing book 'Tanya' it explains
that Jews, unlike other people, can
and should FEEL the Infinite Greatness, Goodness, Awesomeness
etc of The
Creator and get excited to observe His Torah with love and joy.
But if a Jew DOESN'T feel this, then
it is called being in 'Egypt'
('Mitzriam' synonymous for 'limitations' in Hebrew) and therefore
we must
CONSTANTLY leave our PERSONAL 'Egypts', every day of our lives.
(see Tanya
Chapt. 47)
And every detail of this story of the
Exodus is important.
If so let us understand why the Jews
had to suffer for so long? (See Rashi
12:40) Two hundred and ten years of torture is too much!! At
first glance, a
much shorter time would have been sufficient - say a few days
or even hours.
After all, the Jews are G-d's chosen. In fact they are G-d's
SONS!! How can
a father allow, no less CAUSE his children such prolonged misery?
Of course, one answer is in order that
they get the treasures of Egypt, as
G-d promised to Abraham in the 'Covenant between the Pieces'
(Gen. 15: 13,
14)
"Your offspring will be strangers
in a foreign land that will enslave them
and torture them for four hundred years...and afterward they
will go out
with huge riches."
But this also makes little sense. Who
would send millions of his children suffering and death so that
their fourth generation get rich?!
To understand this here is a story.
It so happened, several years after the
Lubavitcher Rebbe began leading
Chabad in 1951 (tenth of Shvat 5711, exactly one year from the
passing of
the previous Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak which we will celebrate
this coming
week) that a certain businessman entered his office and asked
advice and
blessing for his business.
[The Rebbe often gave such advice and
it was always accurate. One time he
also advised the questioner to observe the Sabbath and put on
Tefillin
daily. When the man answered that it was too difficult the Rebbe
replied.
"You came from far away and spent much time to receive
my advice on business
although that is not at all my field. So why don't you take
my advice in the field I AM an expert in, Judaism!?"]
Back to our story; The Rebbe handed him
a small amount of money and said
that he would like to be his partner in a business venture.
The pleasantly
surprised man, almost not believing his ears, gladly accepted
the offer.
With such a partner, who could go wrong!?!
The Rebbe continued; "Now we are
partners. Neither of us will do anything
in this endeavor without the other's consent. Good? Now my advice
to you is
to buy furs (the Rebbe told him which type) and then report
back to me."
Overjoyed, the partner went out and after
a few days of thorough pricing and
searching he bought ten thousand dollars* worth of furs (*the
exact amounts
of all these transactions were not mentioned in the story I
heard) and went
back to report.
But the Rebbe was not pleased. "That
isn't the type of investment I was
thinking of. I meant a real investment; say, a *half-a million
dollars!"
The fellow almost couldn't believe what
he was hearing. A half-million?!! He
would have to borrow a fortune!! With mixed feelings he forced
a smile and
left the room.
Hesitant to go into such debt but encouraged
by the Rebbe's optimism he, at
first reluctantly but then with more enthusiasm, spent the next
few days
mortgaging all he had and borrowing huge amounts of money.
And there were other problems. He had
to rent a massive warehouse for
storage, and arrange a way to transport, and guard the furs.
And it all
cost money!
'But what did he care!' he told himself,
'he was going to make a fortune!!
It would all pay off in the end!
A week or so later he finished it all
and was back reporting every detail to
the Rebbe who congratulated him on the good work and reminded
again him NOT
do anything without his consent.
Satisfied and certain the prices would
soar he went home, ate dinner with
his wife and family and made several toasts to the Rebbe and
to the new
future. That night went to sleep with a smile on his face, certain
that
tomorrow's financial page would have bold news!!
But it didn't. The prices didn't soar.
They stayed exactly where they
were...day after day for a month. "Ahhh, of course!"
our hero tried to
comfort himself, "Heh heh!! What a fool I was to think
it would happen
instantly! Good things take time!!"
But after two months he really began
to worry. Each day was costing him
money. He had to pay for the storage, interest on his loans,
his money was
tied up, and worse of all...the price wasn't raising it was
slightly
DROPPING!!
He went back to the Rebbe and suggested
that perhaps they should sell. But
the Rebbe smiled and told him to be patient.
The price dropped steadily until two
months later it was down 20 percent!!
He was desperate. Time was against him! He rushed to 770 Eastern
Parkway in
Brooklyn (the Rebbe's headquarters) and again got permission
to enter the
Rebbe's room.
"Please, Rebbe" he asked wide
eyed "The price is dropping. If I. that is,
WE, sell now I can at least pay off the loans I took. I'm sure
I'll make
the loss up elsewhere. Let's sell before it drops even more!"
But the Rebbe again assured him not to
worry. Everything would FOR SURE be
all right.
But it wasn't. It's not that he didn't
want it to be; he wanted it to rise,
he believed it would rise. But it didn't.
In fact two months later fur prices were
at an all time low. 40 percent
lower than when he bought. It was a catastrophe!! He would be
wiped out
for life! His head was swimming. He had heard so many good stories
about
the Rebbe. He had been so sure! It seemed so right! It was a,
a mystery,
maybe it was because of his sins, but he had to get out! That
was CLEAR!!
"This will be the last time!!"
He swore to himself as he again went to the
Rebbe's headquarters, got permission to enter and poured out
his heart. But
the Rebbe refused to agree.
A week later he mechanically bought a
newspaper, as he had been doing for
the last months, and with a heavy heart opened to the financial
page; furs
were UP...four hundred percent!
He ran to the nearest payphone to call
the Rebbe...and the Rebbe answered
"Sell"!!
He was rich!!!
Immediately after he cashed the check
he sped to 770 with wings on his feet,
again got permission to enter and gave the Rebbe a big donation.
"Now," he said joyously to
the Rebbe. "Let's make another partnership!"
"No," the Rebbe replied seriously,
"You are a difficult partner."
This is the answer to our question. The secret of creation is
interwoven
with the paradox of the Jews: Are they part of creation or part
of the
Creator?
The thousands of years they have suffered
at the hands of the nations seem
to indicate that they are under the laws of nature and within
the framework
of time.
But their eternal survival and unchanging
devotion to the Torah and Jewish
identity show they are clearly outside of nature.
But really they are both.
That was the novelty and purpose of leaving
Egypt. The TRUE nature of the
Jews began to be revealed. They have the power to transform
limited
creation (Mitzriam) into infinite truth; to reveal the ONEness
of the
Creator in His creation.
But really it was only the BEGINNING
of that revelation. Moshiach will
complete it.
When the Jews left Egypt the country
was decimated. The only thing
transformed to G-dliness was the riches they took and the time
they spent
there. But Moshiach will finish the job. Nothing need be destroyed.
That is why the Jews had to get the riches
of Egypt, in order to use them
for serving the Creator and begin the process Moshiach will
conclude.
[This also explains why they had to borrow
(11:2) from their Egyptian
neighbors rather than just take what was due to them. They wanted
the
Egyptians to also surrender somewhat to the Creator in order
to open the
door for all mankind in the days of Moshiach].
But just like in our story, it takes
time. And why so much time is a secret
that ONLY Moshiach will reveal.
(The present Lubavitcher Rebbe writes
that before the age of three he
already had formed in his mind an idea of how Moshiach will
make sense of
all the thousands of years of Jewish suffering).
This is the goal of Judaism and it all
depends on us; each and every Jew can
reveal infinity in this world.
(The Rebbe was once asked what is wrong
with Reform Judaism and he answered,
"Their goals are too limited; they underestimate the potential
of a Jew.")
But now it's different. We don't have
to wait. The Rebbe has told us the time has come! Time to sell, to complete the deal! Time to realize
that it
all depends on us to reveal Moshiach! So let's learn from the
businessman in
our story and not be 'difficult partners'.
Let's do all we can to reveal...
Moshiach NOW!!
Rabbi Tuvia Bolton
Yeshiva Ohr Tmimim
Kfar Chabad, Israel
Tales
for the Shabbos Table
This week we read about the last preparations
of the Jews before leaving Egypt.
Rashi explains (12:6) that among other
things, G-d told the Jews to:
1) Sacrifice a lamb or goat
2) Put the blood on their doorposts and
3) Circumcise themselves (most of them were uncircumcised because
of the constant slavery).
Why were these preliminaries to leaving
Egypt and what has all this got to do with us today?
Today we neither make sacrifices nor
put blood on our doorposts (in fact it was never done again
after they left Egypt) nor circumcise ourselves the day before
the holiday so what does this all mean to us?
To understand here are two stories.
One of the most famous and courageous
Rabbis of the last century was the Malbim (Rabbi Mair Levush
Malbim). Besides being a renowned Torah genius he was an outspoken
foe of the German-founded 'enlightenment' movement that plagued
European Jewry.
The 'enlightened' Jews did not believe
in such irrational ideas as Holiness, Moshiach or Redemption
and with rationality as their banner they succeeded in luring
millions of Jews into assimilation.
Once a group of some twenty of these
'assimilationists' met the Malbim as he was coming out of the
Synagogue on the Sabbath of this week's section (Bo) and confronted
him with a 'difficult' question.
"Rabbi" one of them condescendingly
asked while the others looked on and smirked, "Is it not
true that you believe that there will arrive some sort of Messiah
that will rebuild a third Holy Temple in Jerusalem?"
"Yes, it's not just my belief. It
is G-d's promise and it is true."
"Aha!!" Their spokesman replied
as the others gazed at the Rabbi to see how he would react to
utter defeat. "Third Temple ehh? Third Temple?!" he
looked over his shoulder at his friends and winked.
"I see you are not familiar with
even your own Scripture. In the Prophet Haggai (2:19) it says
clearly that, 'Greater will be the glory of the LAST house than
the first' and the sages in your Talmud (Baba Batra 3a) say
this refers to the SECOND Temple!
"Do you understand, Rabbi? The Second
Temple is the LAST!!! There will be no Third Temple Rabbi!"
He leaned forward till his nose was almost touching the Rabbi's
gloating with success and repeated. "Sorry old fellow,
the Second Temple was the LAST!!!"
His friends puffed up and smiled with
glee but the Rabbi just looked off to the side, and when they
quieted down turned to them and replied.
"My friends, there are those that
contend that you are evil people, but I always held that you
are simply fools. Now I see that I am more right than I thought.
Your 'proof' proves exactly the opposite of what you think it
does; it proves that there WILL be a third Temple.
"Please let me explain" he
continued, "I'll go slowly so even you can understand.
Please bring me a Chumash (Pentateuch).
"See! He turned to the page in the
Bible, "In the story of the burning bush (Exodus 4:1-9)
G-d shows Moses three signs to show the Jewish people. The first
is turning a stick to a snake and the second is his making Moses'
hand leprous.
"Then G-d tells Moses (4:8,9) 'If
they don't believe in the first sign they will believe in the
LAST sign. But if they don't believe in these two signs…
then take water from the river… pour it on the ground and
it will become BLOOD'.
"So you see" the Malbim continued
"That the word 'last' does not always mean 'final'. In
fact you see that the trick of creating BLOOD from water came
after the 'LAST', or second, sign. So your proof from Haggai
is no proof"
They grabbed the Bible from his hands
and saw he was right. They wanted to just walk away but he wasn't
finished.
"But there is more" the Rabbi
continued. "In this week's section when G-d commands the
Jewish people to smear the blood of the Passover sacrifice on
their doorposts He uses the following language:
'And the BLOOD will be a sign on the
HOUSES.' (12:13)
"'BLOOD' means that the sign of
'blood' we spoke of earlier will be a sign to non-believers
like you on the NUMBER of HOUSES (Temples).
"Namely, just as the sign of BLOOD
at the burning bush came after the second and 'LAST' sign, so
the Third Temple will come after the second and 'LAST' HOUSE!"
A similar story is told about another holy genius who lived
about the same time; the founder of the 'Musar' movement Rabbi
Yisroel Salanter.
The story goes that he once visited one
of his past pupils only to discover that the latter had completely
left all observance of the Torah and its commandments.
"It's my brother Reuvain" the
poor man was almost crying as he whispered embarrassedly. "He
convinced me. He went to Germany to learn a few years ago, and
now… well I don't know what to say. Here, he's coming"
He whispered again.
"Rabbi" he announced as his
brother entered, "I would like you to meet my brother Rudolf.
He just received a degree in literature from the University
of Berlin and is here for a brief visit. Rudolf, this is Rabbi
Yisroel Salant."
Rudolf (that was his new name) was dressed
in the style of the lettered gentiles of the time and looked
with utter disdain at the visitor. He shook hands halfheartedly
and got to the point.
"Rabbi, let me be direct and not
waste time. I don't believe in G-d and I have proof that I am
right, pure analytical proof.
"You claim that if one defiles the
Sabbath or eats bread on Passover G-d will punish him with death
or something else, correct?
"Well, Rabbi, I have done those
things and many more and, well, here I am! I'm just as alive
as you are, Rabbi. In fact even more so!! I am free to REALLY
live life and you are still living in your dark, restricted
world of superstition!!"
The Rabbi did not know what to say. Here,
standing before him was living 'proof' that the Torah is obsolete!
He closed his eyes and prayed silently 'G-d, help me. Send me
an answer. Do it for Your sake!"
Suddenly the door opened and a teen aged
girl entered. "Ahh, Rabbi. This is my daughter Rachel"
said his past pupil happy to find some relief from the awkward
confrontation. She is a wonderful daughter and an accomplished
pianist too! See!?" He took the Rabbi to the piano and
pointed to an impressive document in an ornate frame hanging
on the wall above it.
"She just won the national Chopin
piano contest for teens! The best in all of Poland and Russia!
It is a real accomplishment!" He said proudly. Rachel,
I'd like you to meet my old teacher, Rabbi Salant"
Suddenly the Rabbi knew what to do.
"I don't believe it!" He announced
loudly. "She doesn't look like much of a pianist to me!
Let's hear her play something!"
Her father almost lost his breath, Rudolf
let out a scoffing laugh which encouraged the surprised girl
to almost do the same.
"Rabbi" She answered as calmly
as possible trying to muster up all the respect she could for
this poor, uncultured Jew who didn't realize what a fool he
was making of himself.
"You see" she pointed to the
framed document on the wall "This is a certificate proving
my abilities. Just take a look. It is signed by expert judges
and witnesses. It's not necessary for me to prove myself for
each, excuse me Rabbi, for each Tom, Dick and Harry who enters.
And frankly, Rabbi, even if I did play…. would it convince
you? Do you understand ANYTHING about Chopin or about concert
piano?"
"Aha!" The Rabbi said as he
turned to Rudolf. "Did you hear what she said? She was
speaking to you!!"
They all stared at him as though he was
insane.
"You don't believe that G-d exists
just as I don't believe that she can play piano." The Rabbi
calmly continued. " But just as she has the document to
prove her claim so do I. The Torah was given before millions
of expert eye-witnesses who passed it from generation to generation.
Just as she doesn't have to prove her piano playing so I don't
have to prove G-d's existence to every Tom, Dick and Rudolf
that asks for it.
Needless to say his old pupil came back
to the Torah and Rudolf began to seriously doubt the absolute
value of 'reason'.
This is the point of the Passover sacrifice,
the smearing of blood on the door and the circumcision. All
three indicate acting in a way that is above reason:
The entire idea of sacrificing animals
is seemingly barbaric and irrational, especially when it means
taking the god of Egypt and arousing the ire of all the Egyptians.
So is smearing the blood on one's door, especially in order
that G-d will pass over the house and not kill its inhabitants.
But perhaps the most irrational of all is circumcision, especially
before making an arduous journey into the desert!
But the Torah is telling us here how
to prepare for the arrival of Moshiach; we must surpass reason.
(As the Sma'k explains; we learn the faith in Moshiach from
the first of the Ten Commandments: I am G-d that took you from
Egypt, Namely that G-d will send another Moses to free all the
Jews from exile).
That is what it means that the "Blood"
will be a sign for the houses. That through our self-sacrifice
and our warm enthusiasm; learning about Moshiach and doing all
we can to bring him even a moment sooner (see our essay on Moshiach
at www.ohrtmimim.org/torah ) we will soon be actually making
the Passover sacrifice in the Bait HaMikdash HaShlishi with…
Moshiach NOW!!
Rabbi Tuvia Bolton
Yeshiva Ohr Tmimim
Kfar Chabad Israel
Torah Online Site: http://www.ohrtmimim.org/torah
Tales
for the Shabbos Table
This week's Torah portion tells us of
the plague of darkness; A terrible
pall of pitch-blackness that kept all of Egypt paralyzed for
almost a
week.
Rashi informs us, that one of the reasons
for the plague was that when
G-d killed millions of Jews (eighty percent of the Jewish nation)
in the
darkness because they did not want to leave Egypt, He didn't
want the
Egyptians to see the carnage, so He made darkness.
This is very hard to understand.
Firstly, why didn't these Jews want to
leave? They saw that G-d was
destroying Egypt and that they were being released from slavery!
They
saw that He loved them and spared them from all the plagues.
Why did
they want to stay in Egypt?
Secondly, why did G-d have to kill them
for such a harmless crime?
Couldn't He just have left them behind or forced them to leave?
Thirdly, what has this got to do with
us today?
To understand this here is a story.
It was a beautiful autumn day. The fallen
forest leaves covered the dirt
road and crunched musically under the wheels of Reb Shlomo's
carriage.
The song of birds rang out from overhead deep in the colorful
Ukraine
forest. But Shlomo was going insane with misery. He mumbled
angrily to
himself, and occasionally when he couldn't take it any longer,
he
pounded with his fist on the bench he was sitting like a madman,
and
shouted "Aaaachhhh! Whyyy!? Why me?" into the empty
woods around him.
He had had such great plans. He was going
to be a great Rabbi or head of
a Talmudic academy (Rosh Yeshiva). Everyone said that he was
a genius
(g'oan) in Torah learning. He could have been famous!
But it all dissolved before his eyes
when his daughter became insane.
She went into some crazy trance and stayed there. She had been
a normal
intelligent girl of fifteen when suddenly five years ago she
became
unexplainably withdrawn, crawled behind the stove and refused
to talk or
even move.
Now she had to be fed, washed and cared
for constantly, and to make
matters worse his wife forced him to be with her half of the
day every
day. She didn't trust anyone else to watch her.
Then they began traveling to doctors.
Rab Shlomo had money, so they
spared no expenses. They took her to the greatest specialists
in the
world. But it didn't help. After wasting a lot of time, energy
and money
they realized that it was hopeless; only G-d could help, and
it didn't
look like He was going to do it soon.
Rab Shlomo became depressed. He couldn't
concentrate enough to learn
Torah, he was ashamed to be seen in public and he hated to be
at home.
But just as he thought that it could be no worse, one day a
guest
arrived at their house and when he noticed the girl, innocently
suggested that they take her to a great holy scholar that did
great
miracles called The Baal Shem Tov.
When Rab Shlomo heard that name he just
winced, and tried to force a
smile. But as soon as the guest left, he began nervously pacing
the room
and mumbling bitterly.
His wife didn't notice all this, she
was lost in thought, and when she
finally came out of her reverie and said, "What do you
think Shlomo? Do
you think it might help? I mean we've tried everything. I know
what you
think of him but I've heard the Baal Shem Tov is....".
"THIS IS THE END!!" he screamed.
He stood still and pounded on the
dining room table. "I will not have that name mentioned
in my home! NOT,
NOT!"
His wife looked at him blankly as he
paused briefly, looked about like a
trapped animal, then stared at her wildly and continued.
"The man is a charlatan! A pure
soothsayer and idolater! Do you hear!?
All those miracle stories are lies! I have it from the most
impeccable
sources. Who does he think he is, Elijah the prophet?! NO! I
will NOT
GIVE MY DAUGHTER TO IDOLATRY!" He pounded on the table
with each of the
last six words.
But his wife thought otherwise; "It
is our only chance. There simply is
no alternative. At least gave it a try!". Finally when
she threatened
him with divorce he had no choice but to bundle his daughter
up, carry
her into the carriage, hitch up the horses, and of course take
a large
sum of money for the "Tzadik".
And now here he was; driving through
the miserable Ukrainian forest to
Mezibuz to "him".
After what seemed to be infinity, the
town was finally in sight.
He stopped in the marketplace to ask
directions and he noticed the joy
and reverence in people's eyes when they mentioned the Baal
Shem's name,
but he ignored it and finally found the address.
He parked outside the window, left his
daughter in the carriage, took
his bag of money, went around to the front door and knocked.
"Nu, so
I'll lose a few thousand guilder" he thought to himself,
"at least my
wife will get this insane idea out of her head".
The door opened and he was invited in.
He told one of the Chassidim
there what he wanted, and was told to have a seat in the waiting
room
and minutes later was summoned enter.
He considered just walking back outside
and going home. He shuddered at
the idea of speaking with this faker. He would lie to his wife,
he would
tell her that the Besh't tried and failed. But he found himself
entering
and closing the door behind him.
The Baal Shem Tov didn't look so special.
His eyes had a certain
unusual deepness, but certainly nothing to get exited about.
"Nu!" Rav Shlomo said with
disdain as he took the moneybag out of his
pocket, put it on the Baal Shem's table and opened the string
revealing
the golden coins. "Here's your money. Here, take it! Now
lets see if you
can heal my daughter. She's in the carriage and she's really
sick. Let's
see what you can do."
The Baal Shem Tov took the bag, lifted
it with all the money in it,
looked Rab Shlomo in the eyes and said casually, "I don't
need your
money" as he turned in his seat and casually tossed the
bag out the open
window behind him into the street.
Rav Shlomo was astounded. Ten thousand
guilder! Out the window! He was
frozen.
Suddenly he heard the unmistakable voice
of his daughter yelling,
"Daddy! Daddy, come quick! There are golden coins in the
street!"
Rav Shlomo ran to the window and saw
the most astounding sight: his
daughter had jumped out of the carriage and was gathering up
the coins
in her hat. "Daddy! Look at the money!" She yelled
out again gleefully.
Without even saying a word of parting
he dashed out the door then
outside, around to the back of the house, and began helping
his
daughter.
"Hurry! Hurry!" He whispered
to her aloud. "Pick up the coins and let's
get out of here before he says that it was a miracle and he
wants the
money back!"
This explains why Jews didn't want to leave Egypt. One of the
big
lessons that G-d wanted them to learn from the plagues was to
believe in
Moshe; that Moshe was G-d's messenger and that his words were
G-d's
words.
And they refused to learn it.
After eight plagues the Jews still insisted
on following their own line
of thought. They reasoned that if G-d destroyed all of Egypt
and they
were no longer slaves, then why should they leave? Exactly the
opposite!
Now they could stay in Egypt and THEY could be the rulers! So
what if
Moshe said differently? Moshe was only a person, and they were
the
majority! Just like our Rav Shlomo translated the miracles of
the Baal
Shem in his own terms.
Perhaps we can find the perfect analogy
today. The Lubavitcher Rebbe,
besides making several earthshaking prophesies (the Six day
war victory,
the fall of the iron curtain, every detail of the Gulf war and
more)
being unequaled in his total mastery of the Torah, and beginning
the
spirit of "outreach" in Judaism, did countless miracles
for countless
numbers of people, Jews and Gentiles alike.
But when he said that it was all in order
that people should prepare for
Moshiach and learn the works of the Chabad Chassidut, there
was
opposition.
But this is where the analogy ends. In
our generation NO ONE will die in
the darkness. (Rambam Hil. Tshuva 7:5) "It is certain that
everyone will
return and then there will be the redemption."
Perhaps the reason that G-d killed so
many Jews back then in the
darkness was because He knew that they would be forced by Pharaoh
to
leave Egypt with all the other Jews (Shmot 13:17) and then later
at
Mount Sinai they would refuse to accept the Torah. And if all
the Jews
didn't accept the Torah it would endanger the entire world (see
Rashi
Breshis 1:31).
But one thing for certain, it is not
going to happen again. Now we
already have the Torah, and the Torah promises that all Israel
will
return to G-d (Deut. 30:3,4,5).
In the coming redemption EVERY Jew will
follow the Moshiach (Rambam
Melachim 12:3). As we say thrice daily in "Alenu"
- "All humanity will
call Your (G-d's) name. All the evil people in the world will
turn to
you". But it all depends on us to make the world a better
place and make
it all happen NOW!
Moshiach NOW!
Rabbi Tuvia Bolton
Yeshiva Ohr Tmimim
Kfar Chabad Israel
Torah Online Site: http://www.ohrtmimim.org/torah
Tales
for the Shabbos Table
This week’s section describes the
last moments of the Jews in Mitzriam
(Egypt) before their birth as a nation.
Just before attaining freedom G-d commanded
them (through Moshe) to do a very strange thing, everyone had
to eat a roasted lamb (Koban Pesach).
This was to become the first Jewish holiday,
Pesach …. Jewish Independence day.
On Pesach the Jews became freed not just
from Egyptian bondage but also from all limits of creation,
(both spiritual as well as physical); they became G-d’s,
the CREATOR’S, people and His representatives in the world.
What does roasted lamb have to do with
this?
I would like to answer with a story.
A very talented Chabad Rabbi, Rabbi Dovid
Shochet of Toronto once received an invitation from an organization
in Buffalo New York to speak before a crowd of intellectuals,
among which would be many priests and soon-to-be priests, on
the topic of charity.
He had his reservations about speaking
to such a crowd; on one hand he wanted to educate, but on the
other hand he wanted to avoid interfaith debates, so he called
the office of the Lubavitch Rebbe and requested from one of
the secretaries to ask the Rebbe what to do.
The answer came immediately, The Rebbe
said that he should accept the offer, and to be sure to end
his lecture with the story of the ‘Rich Miser of Krakow’.
Needless to say Rabbi Shochet threw himself
into the task, (although the Rebbe’s insistence on that
particular story seemed a bit unusual) and when the date arrived
he flew to Buffalo and gave a fascinating two hour-long speech
describing the uniqueness of the Torah approach to ‘Tzadaka’
(from the word ‘Tzedik’ ‘Justice’; we give
G-d’s money not our own). But as the crowd was about to
applaud he announced that he wanted to tell the following story.
“Once in the city of Krakow almost
four hundred years ago lived a rich Jew named Yisroel. No one
really knew his last name and no one even cared, because he
was a miserable person. He lived in a large, plush home and
was very rich, but he was a hardhearted miser and everyone avoided
him. If ever an unsuspecting money collector would knock on
his door he would receive an abrupt ‘No money!’ and
a door slammed in his face.
“Now, although it is forbidden to
call people derogatory names, this old man was so stingy that
eventually everyone began calling him ‘Yisroel Goy’
(‘Goy ’ lit. One of the Nations) saying that only
a non-Jew could be so callous to other Jews, and unfortunately
the name stuck.
“So it continued for many years,
in fact everyone completely forgot about the old skinflint,
until one day the burial society (Chevre Kadisha) received a
message to come to his bedside.
“‘Here is two thousand dollars,
you’re not going to get another penny from me so don’t
ask,’ He announced to them. ‘I want you to bury me
in a good spot, not near the fence or the garbage dump, and
write on my tombstone: ‘Yisroel Goy’’. He then
said the ‘Shma Yisroel’ prayer, closed his eyes and
a few days later passed away.
“No one knew exactly how old he
was, maybe ninety, maybe more, but one thing for sure; no one
wept at his funeral, in fact almost no one attended, and they
also didn’t bury him exactly where he wanted. But they
did write what he wanted on his tombstone: ‘YISROEL GOY’.
And that was the end of a sad episode in the history of Krakow.
Or so they thought.
“One afternoon, about one week later,
the Rav of the city, Rabbi Yom-Tov Lipman Heller (author of
‘Tosfos Yom Tov’ on Mishna) heard a knock on his door
and when he opened it about fifty hungry faces greeted him.
‘Yes, can I help you?’ he asked incredulously, ‘Where
are you all from?’
“‘We are from here, from Krakow.’ One of them
cried out, ‘and we are hungry, we haven’t eaten anything
all day.’
“The Rav didn’t understand
what was going on but he invited them all in, found them all
places to sit and while his wife was preparing something for
them to eat, he heard the following story.
It seems that these poor people had been
going to the grocery store every day for as long as they could
remember and taking what they needed, they only had to sign,
and that was it. But since yesterday the grocery owner refused
to give them anything, so they were all hungry.
“‘Very strange’ thought
the Rav to himself. ‘So many hungry people, and all from
here, Krakow! Could it be that they are lying? I must get to
the bottom of this.’
“ He waited for them to finish eating
and told them to come to his home
again tomorrow morning. Then he put on his overcoat, told his
wife that he would return shortly and walked out the door in
the direction to the home of the town treasurer. From far away
he could see that there was a crowd of people gathered at his
door as well, and as he approached he could hear the treasurer
trying to make some order of the chaos that was prevailing.
‘Oy! Am I glad you are here!’ He shouted out when
he saw the Rav. ‘Look inside, my house is filled too, there
must be three hundred people here, and this is the second shift,
a big group just left!!’
“‘I know, the Rav answered,
they came to me also, different people that is, but hungry and
all of them say that they are from Krakow. I simply don’t
understand it.’
“After everyone had been fed and
the treasurer distributed some money for tomorrow’s meals,
both he and the Rav walked to the house of the Grocery store
owner.
“‘Sure,’ he answered,
‘I used to give everyone food. They would sign and I’d
give the bill at the end of each week to that old rich guy that
just died, the one they called Yisroel Goy. I mean, it’s
been going on for, I’d say forty years, maybe more, even
before I owned the store. I mean he was my best customer that
old man. But what… he kept warning me not to tell anyone,
even my wife. Every time he would pay he said if he heard that
people knew he was paying, he’d stop. I don’t know
why he didn’t want me to tell. Did you see at his funeral?
It was terrible; he almost didn’t have a minyan (ten people)!
I guess he only cared about those poor people. But now that
he’s not around well, what can I do? I can’t give
food for free! I mean I have a wife and family too. Maybe I
can give something, but he used
to give thousands each week! I can’t give thousands like
him. I hope that's not the reason that you came to my house.
I’m sure willing to help, but what can I do?’
“When the Rav and the treasurer
heard these words they looked at each other and began weeping.
They had made a terrible error in judgment. The Rav declared
a day of fasting and repentance for the next day.
“The word spread like wildfire and
everyone gathered at the Shul to say Psalms, they realized that
they had made a big mistake. After several hours the Rav stood
at the podium and announced that they were all going to the
graveyard.
“It was a strange site to see so
many people walking somberly like a funeral with no coffin.
But they all poured into the graveyard and gathered around the
grave. For some reason the tombstone was covered with a large
cloth but everyone’s attention focused on the Rav as he
stepped from the crowd, stood at the foot of the grave, and
began to speak.
“‘Yisroel, Yisroel! We’ve
come here today to say we are sorry.’ He paused; the silence
was broken by some muffled weeping from the crowd. ‘I know
you don’t need our apologies but we are sorry! We’re
sorry that we were so cruel, crueler than we accused you of
being. And we’re sorry that no one was your friend and
that no one really cared.’ Now the cries were louder, almost
everyone was sobbing. The Rav waited for silence, dried his
eyes and continued.
“‘I know you wanted the words
‘Yisroel Goy’ written on your tombstone.
Well I’ve done something that I hope you won’t mind
… I had the stonecutter add a word’.
With this, the Rav pulled away the cloth
and in place of Yisroel Goy the inscription now read:
‘YISROEL GOY… KADOSH’
(Israel, a Holy Nation.)”
Rav Shochet had finished his lecture
and the crowd showed their satisfaction with rounds of applause.
After he had finished shaking hands and was making his way out
the door one of the young men studying for the priesthood approached
him and asked if it was possible to speak to him alone. There
was something strangely sincere in the young man’s eyes
and Rav Shochet set
an appointment for the next afternoon in his hotel room.
The young man appeared at the time they
set and after sitting down requested that the Rabbi repeat the
story he told, and then requested an explain on several points.
He listened deeply to the answers and when they finished they
shook hands and parted.
Years later Rav Shochet, on a visit to
Israel, was praying at the Kotel
(Wailing Wall) when a young, religious, bearded Jew approached
him and shook his hand warmly. “Do you recognize me?”
he asked, “I am the priest that visited you years ago in
your hotel room.”
Rav Shochet stared at him and was so
astounded he couldn’t speak.
“Yes, you don’t know what that story you told about
the miser did to me” the young man continued. “You
see, my mother was Jewish but she kept it a secret. She escaped
to America from Poland in the war and there she married a devout
Catholic. You see, it wasn’t so easy being a Jew in those
times.
Until just before she died she told me that story, and added
that we are
Jews and are related to a holy generous Jew, that supported
hundreds of people anonymously in Krakow hundreds of years ago.”
Your story woke something that was sleeping in my soul and now
I’ve returned to my self.
It took several years, but Rabbi Shochet
now understood why the Lubavitch Rebbe insisted on that particular
story.
With this we can understand the Pesach
Offering.
The ‘Paschal Lamb’ was the
first time in history that people became holy through eating,
and eating meat no less.
Usually if one wants to become spiritual
it is though fasting, abstinence,
and quiet purity. Here G-d demanded from an entire nation that
they occupy themselves with the messy business of slaughtering,
roasting and finally eating sheep and goats in order to become
holy, and free themselves from the bonds of nature!
It was a new type of Holiness; the physical was to become higher
than the spiritual.
G-d Himself chose a nation of people that would reveal the truth;
only the Torah is G-d’s will, and the entire creation,
both physical (meat) and even spiritual (shunning idolatry),
if used according to the Torah can be made holy… revealing
the Oneness of G-d.
Something like our Yisroel Goy. He shunned
fame and favor and earned the title “Kadosh” ‘Holy’
because he devoted himself and his riches totally to the physical
act of giving charity.
Or like the young priest when he heard
the Rabbi tell the story of the miser he left the pristine boundaries
(Mitzriam) of spiritual selfishness of the Church to cling to
the true will of the Creator; to elevate the world rather than
reject it.
And just as the redemption from Egypt
needed a redeemer; Moses, and the priest was redeemed through
the wisdom of the Lubavitch Rebbe, so also the Rebbe assured
us time and time again that our generation will be redeemed
through the immediate arrival of Moshiach NOW!
Moshiach NOW!!
Rabbi Tuvia Bolton
Yeshiva Ohr Tmimim
Kfar Chabad Israel
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