Rabbi
Doniel Staum, LMSW
Rabbi,
Kehillat New Hempstead
Rebbe/Guidance
Counselor – ASHAR
Principal
– Ohr Naftoli- New Windsor
STAM
TORAH
PARSHAS CHUKAS
5776
“AT WHAT PRICE”
Rabbi Chaim
Kreisworth zt’l, the beloved Chief Rabbi of Antwerp ,
related a story from his days as a yeshiva student in Lithuania
Rabbi Kreisworth
was physically weak and shy by nature. He also loved to learn and having to
busy himself with those arrangements detracted precious time from learning.
One day a
wealthy man built a beautiful house across the street from the Bais Medrash. He
built a private room with a separate entrance at the side of his home which he
designated for one student. The faculty decided that Rabbi Chaim was worthy of
the convenience. Rabbi Chaim was thrilled with the room that possessed all the
amenities available at that time which enabled him to learn as much as
possible.
For two years he
lived in that room with his learning virtually uninterrupted and worry-free.
Then one semester as he settled back into his room, he noticed a blind boy
among the new students. Rabbi Chaim went to greet him and asked him about his
background. The boy explained that he had just arrived and had no arrangements,
nor was he familiar with the system. In an act of supreme selflessness, Rabbi
Chaim replied that there was an available room right across the street for him,
which would have everything he would need, including three nourishing meals.
The blind boy’s
face lit up. He never dreamed he would be able to find such comfortable
accommodations and so suited for his particular needs.
Rabbi Chaim
himself however, had a very challenging time. After two years of being pampered
it was extremely difficult for him to fend for himself. Nevertheless, he never
regretted his decision.
Several weeks
later the Nazis invaded and the world fell apart. They stormed into the yeshiva
and demanded from the office staff a list of every student. As soon as they had
it they began summoning each student to the office, one at a time. When the boy
entered the office the Nazi asked his name and town of origin. Then he pointed
his rifle at the student who barely had a chance to scream ‘Shema Yisroel’
before the officer pulled the trigger.
The remaining
boys heard the cries and the shots and understood what was awaiting all 250 of
them. The lifeless bodies were cast out the window like slaughtered chickens.
Then a voice
rang out “Number 31, Kreisworth, Chaim”. As he walked tremblingly to the office
Rabbi Chaim begged G-d to help him in the merit of his sacrifice for the blind
boy. As soon as he walked in the officer said to him, “Do you have a father?”
He nodded. “Do you have a mother?” In a barely audible voice he replied that he
did. In a surprisingly mild tone the Nazi continued, “Do your parents miss
you?” Rabbi Chaim nodded again, “Of course they do.”
The Nazi
continued, “Do you miss them?”
“Most
certainly.”
“When the war
ends will you return to your family?”
“Certainly”
“Look, I too
have parents and I miss them terribly. I can’t wait for the war to end so I can
go back home. I understand your plight and I won’t kill you. But there are
other officers here, so here’s what I will do. I will shoot a bullet to the
side of you. You will fall to the ground and then jump out the window. Make
sure you are never seen here again.”
249 young promising students were
brutally murdered that day. But “number 31, Kreisworth, Chaim” survived. Rabbi
Kreisworth was convinced that it was only in the merit of his sacrifice for the
blind student.
The laws of the Parah Adumah (Red
Heifer) are the ultimate Chukas HaTorah, laws of the Torah which are beyond the
capacity of human comprehension. This particularly referred to the paradox
involved in the offering of the Parah Adumah, in that its sprinkled ashes
purified those who were impure yet rendered impure the sprinkler who had been
pure. It was about this enigma that the wisest of men declared[2], “I said I
would be wise, but it was far from me.”
Rabbi Yitzchok of Vorki stated that
the essence of Parah Adumah is the mitzvah that one must ‘love your neighbor as
yourself[3]’. His grandson,
Rabbi Mendel, explained that the priest who undertook the sprinkling of the
ashes understood that by doing so he was going to cause himself to become
impure. He understood that he would have to undergo the whole purification
process and would be prohibited from entering the Temple
The Mishna[4] quotes Rabbi
Shimon who said “The world stands on three things: Torah, Avodah (Service), and
gemilas chasadim (bestowing kindness).” It is noteworthy that the mishnah does
not say ‘gemilas chessed’ in the singular but ‘gemilas chasadim’.
The Me’am Loez
explains that whenever one performs an act of kindness for another, the recipient
is also helping the doer. Performing acts of kindness affords the doer
tremendous merit and no one can know how much blessing he merits in his own
life because of an act of kindness he did for someone else.
In addition,
whenever we perform an act of chesed for another we are repaying our debt to
G-d, as it were, for all of the chesed he does for us. In truth, we are
obligated to thank G-d for every breath we take. The way we express our
gratitude to G-d is by doing acts of kindness with others. Every act of chesed
we do corresponds to the myriad acts of chesed He does for us. For these two
reasons, every act of chesed is really a double act of chesed and is so termed
‘gemilas chasadim’.
In parshas
Chukas the Torah records the death of Aharon. “When the entire assembly saw the
Aharon had perished, they wept for Aharon for thirty days, the entire House of
Israel[5].” Rashi notes
that when the Torah records the death of Moshe it says that the nation mourned[6], but it doesn’t
say “the entire assembly mourned” because they mourned Aharon even more than
they did Moshe.
Aharon was the
quintessential lover of his people. He was able to promote peace and unity
because he spoke to everyone with pleasantness, respect, and love. It was for
that reason that the Mishna[7] exhorts us to
be from the disciples of Aharon “who loved peace and pursued peace”.
This week Klal
Yisroel lost a true disciple of Aharon with the passing of Rabbi Michel
Lefkowitz zt’l, the venerable Rosh Yeshiva of Ponovezh l’tzirim. Though he was
97 years old, his passing is a painful and tragic loss. Not only was the Rosh
Yeshiva a noted scholar and author of many scholarly works on the Talmud
(Minchas Yehuda) he also possessed a deep love for every Jew and made every
person in his presence feel exalted and special.
I had the
privilege to meet Reb Michel once and I will never forget the respect he
accorded me and my friends, as well as his characteristic sweetness and
pleasantness. May his memory be for a blessing and may we learn from his
legendary example.
“The
entire House of Israel”
“Loved
peace and pursued peace”
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