Rabbi
Dani Staum
STAM
TORAH
PARSHAS
EIKEV 5776
“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 many
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
“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 pray[2]
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 Niagara Falls 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
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
Rabbi
Shlomo Freifeld zt’l[3] 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 Niagara Falls ceased to flow for six months a mere 42 years ago that
would invalidate it from having the status of mayim chayim[5]. 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”
Rabbi
Dani Staum, LMSW
Rabbi,
Kehillat New Hempstead
Rebbe/Guidance
Counselor – ASHAR
Principal
– Ohr Naftoli- New Windsor
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[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
[6] 10:20-21
[7] 11:13-25
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