Rabbi Doniel Staum, LMSW
Rabbi, Kehillat New Hempstead
Social Worker, Yeshiva Bais Hachinuch
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STAM TORAHEIKEV 5771
“FLOWING LIFE”
Rabbi Yitzchak Zilber zt’l was a legendary leader of Russian Jewry for over three decades. He remained resolutely firm in his faith and practicing of Torah and mitzvos throughout his arduous years behind the Iron Curtain, even in the brutality of a Russian labor Camp. His autobiography “To Remain a Jew”1 is his incredible account of how he remained faithful to G-d even under the most trying circumstances. It is an incredibly inspiring story of a true unassuming Torah hero. The following is just one anecdote from the myriad recorded in the book:
I managed to relay a message to my wife to buy the smallest pair of tefillin that she could buy in Kazan. In October my wife came to visit me in the camp with the children. Sarah, who was then four years old, was permitted to sit in my lap. The three guards did not take their eyes off us. I knew that one of Sarah’s felt boots contained the tefillin for the arm, while the other contained the tefillin for the head. I sat her down on my knees, putting her legs directly above mine (I wore large felt boots). I held my girl and removed one of her boots. The tefillin fell from her boot into mine. I then maneuvered it under the sole of my foot. I repeated everything with the second shoe. Done!
“The visit came to an end and I was searched. They found nothing. The next task was to arrange a hiding place for my precious tefillin. I scouted the entire camp… finally I came across a barracks that housed a huge pile of torn-up felt boots. There was a place – about 30-40 centimeters wide – that was closed off by a curtain. I said to myself, “Hashem prepared this barracks especially for the storage of my tefillin.” I approached the head of this barracks and said, “Mikhail Ivanovich, I want to live in your barracks… It’s your responsibility to wash the floors and bring six buckets of hot water in the morning and six of them in the evening. I’ll take care of the buckets and I’ll help you wash the floors.
“We closed the deal… Every morning I would put on my tefillin there, hiding them afterwards in my coat pockets. Later I would put my coat in a guarded storage area, where the prisoners kept their valuables… So at 5:30 AM I would take my coat, put on my tefillin, and daven, and then return my coat. What they thought of my comings and goings did not concern me.
“As a result of this use for my coat, during the two years I was in the camp, I always worked outside wearing only my jacket, even during the harsh winters of Tataria, when the temperatures would fall to -5F to -30F. My ears and hands suffered terribly, but I never caught a cold. (However, after I left the camp I dressed very warmly – and caught pneumonia.)”
Every morning we pray2 that G-d grant us, “The light of Your Countenance” and we add, “For with the light of Your countenance You gave us – Hashem, our G-d – the Torah of life and a love of kindness, righteousness, blessing, life, compassion, and peace.”
In a similar vein, every evening we state, “For it (the Torah) is our life and the length of our days, and in them we will engage day and night.”
Why do we refer to the Torah as ‘the Torah of life’ and ‘our life and the length of our days’? It sounds like a lofty sermonic concept. But what is the depth of that terminology?
The Niagara River is a connecting channel between two Great Lakes, Erie and Ontario. The river eventually flows to the majestic Niagara Falls, one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world. The rapids above the Falls reach a maximum speed of 25 mph, with the fastest speeds occurring at the Falls – at times up to 68 mph. The deepest section in the Niagara River is just below the Falls where the depth equals the height of the Falls above 170 ft.
When one looks at the mighty Horseshoe Falls, it's difficult to imagine any force strong enough to stop this gigantic rush of water - yet it did stop in 1848.
In March of that year, local inhabitants, accustomed to the sound of the river, were greeted by a strange, eerie silence. Niagara had stopped! For thirty long, silent hours, the river was blocked by ice which became lodged at the source of river. It blocked the channel completely causing the Falls to completely cease to flow. Those who were brave enough walked or rode horses over the rock floor of the channel. Then, with a roar that shook the earth, a solid wall of water, cresting to a tremendous height, curled down the channel and crashed over the brink of the precipice, as Niagara Falls roared back to life.
For six months in the summer and autumn of 1969, Niagara’s American Falls were “de-watered”. The USA Army Corps of Engineers conducted a survey of the falls’ rock face, concerned that it was becoming destabilized by erosion. During that period, while workers cleaned the former river-bottom and drilled test-cores in search of instabilities, a temporary walkway was installed twenty feet from the edge of the dry falls, and tourists were able to explore this otherwise inaccessible landscape.
During that time the water was diverted over the main Horeshoe Falls by way of Ontario Hydro Control dams and turbine tunnels.
Rabbi Shlomo Freifeld zt’l3 explained that for certain types of tumah (ritual impurity)4 one must immerse in ‘mayim chayim – living waters’, i.e. water that emanates from a freshwater spring.
When the gemara discusses the qualifications of mayim chayim it explains that its water must flow uninterrupted. If there is a steady stream that flows from a freshwater spring, but stops once in seventy years it is no longer considered mayim chayim. It is an incredible concept. A spring which bursts forth with uninhibited force but stops for just one day, forfeits its title as mayim chayim, because it lacks the necessary consistency.
If the mighty Niagra Falls ceased to flow for six months a mere 42 years ago that would invalidate it from having the status of mayim chayim5. Mayim Chayim are, by definition, waters that are ‘alive’. In regards to our own physical lives, it is our continuous heartbeat which keeps us alive. Living waters too must flow with vibrancy and unhindered force.
The ultimate definition of life is eternity. Anything less is a form or a microcosm of life, but it is not life itself. The Codex Romanus, Roman Code of Law, which governed the mightiest empire in the world for hundreds of years has had a strong influence on European and American culture. But it is not a ‘living code of laws’ because it is largely no longer applicable.
The Torah however is a book of life itself. It is as applicable now as it was when it was given at Sinai 3,323 years ago. It has never stopped ‘flowing’ and will continue to do so until the end of time.
Moshe Rabbeinu exhorted Klal Yisroel to never forsake the words of the Torah. “Hashem, your G-d, shall you fear, Him shall you serve, to Him shall you cleave, and in His Name shall you swear. He is your praise, and He is your G-d…6”
Moshe repeatedly told the nation that as long as they remain steadfast in their Torah observance they would be victorious and successful. “It shall be if you hearken to My commandments that I command you today… then I shall provide… For if you will observe the entire commandment… to love Hashem, your G-d, to walk in His was and to cleave to Him. Hashem will drive out all these nations from before you…7”
A stream which gushes like a powerful geyser but stops briefly is not deemed living. Similarly the ‘living Torah’ must encircle our lives and encompass every aspect of the way we live - now and forever.
This is what we refer to when we exclaim that ‘it is life and the length of our days’. It is the consistently overriding force in our lives. It dictates how we live, how we conduct ourselves, how we dress, how and what we eat, who we associate ourselves with, and how we raise our families.
Everything else that seems to be ‘life’ is a farce because it is not eternal. But the Torah and its mitzvos stand the test of time, and its observance connects us with true life.
“The Torah of life”
“Him shall you serve, to Him shall you cleave”
1 Published by Feldheim
2 Final blessing of Shemoneh Esrei
3 “In Search of Greatness: The shmussen of Rabbi Shlomo Freifeld”, Judaica Press
4 See Mikvaos 1:8 – a Metzora and a Zav need to immerse in mayim chayim and mayim chayim must be added to the Parah Adumah mixture. Mayim Chayim is the highest level of purification in that it can be used for all impurities.
5 My intention here is to make a point. One would have to question a halachic authority with expertise in this area to know if the Niagra Falls is really not considered mayim chayim. [Perhaps it’s different if the waters were purposely stopped?] I am also pretty confident that no one is using the Falls for purposes of ritual purification. Just this week there was a tragic story about a young Japanese tourist who fell over at the Falls and was swept over to her death.
6 10:20-21
7 11:13-25
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