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#501 (s5767-40 / 11 Tamuz 5767) In Memory of a Happy Jew We decided to endanger our lives and defy the Nazis to go to Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak of Lubavitch (who was then in Poland) and ask for his holy blessing.
In Memory of a Happy JewOne wintry day in 2002, a group of Yeshiva students was traveling on a train on their way back to the Lubavitcher Yeshiva in Minsk, Russia. In the midst of their trip, strong winds whipped up, the temperature went down to freezing and after a while, heavy snow began falling. The crew saw that the snow had covered the train tracks ahead of them and formed a small mountain. When the train reached this point, it was forced to come to a halt. After inspecting the obstacle, the train personnel announced to the passengers that it would be impossible to continue the journey at this stage. They had to call for help in order to remove the snow from the tracks. When the passengers asked how long it would take, the answer was: "Hopefully within 24 hours…." The Yeshiva boys did not want to sit on the train and wait for such a long time. Instead they trudged through the snow to a nearby village -- who knows: maybe they would find Jews there? After a walk in the deep snow they reached the village and asked the first person they met if there was a synagogue in this place. To their joy they found out that there really was a shul in this village. Following the instructions they received, they made their way through the lanes between the old wooden houses. As they approached the synagogue they noticed a light burning inside. They went inside and found one person, an old man sitting in a corner crying bitterly. The Yeshiva boys spoke to the old man in order to calm him and cheer him up. The old man told them his story. He was born in Poland before the Second World War, and he and his father had been through the Holocaust. His father was a very special man, always full of joy and happiness. He knew how to affect other people around him and they were influenced by his joyousness. The Nazis found out that there was a man in the ghetto who imbued the joy of life into the heart of the Jews. They seized him and gave him a murderous beating, warning him to stop making other Jews happy. He took no heed of their warning and continued as before and even more so. When they caught him for the second time, they beat him even more cruelly until his soul almost left his body. The old Jew continued his story: "We got word that there was a big tzadik living not far from us -- Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak of Lubavitch. We decided to endanger our lives in order to go to him and ask him for his holy blessing. My father told him about his plight. The Rebbe blessed him for a long life and that people would remember him. The Rebbe's blessings came true. We survived the Holocaust, fleeing from Poland to Russia. My father lived a long life and passed away at the age of 102." When he finished telling his story, the boys asked him: "So why are you crying?" The old Jew replied: "Today is the yahrzeit (anniversary of demise) of my father, and there isn't even a minyan to say Kadish for his soul." The boys answered him: "Have a look -- we are nine, and together with you we have exactly ten people for a minyan! Let's pray Maariv (the evening prayer) right now." It is not difficult to understand the joy of the old man… The following day the boys came back to the shul again to pray the Morning Prayer with the old man as a minyan. Later that day the boys were told that the evacuation work on the track was finished and the train could continue its trip. They took the time to pray Mincha (afternoon prayer) with the elderly Jew of the village and set off. Thus, thanks to Divine Providence, the old man in the far-off Russian village was able to say Kadish for his father for all the three daily prayers. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Biographical
Note: Yrachmiel
Tilles is co-founder and associate director of Ascent-of-Safed, and editor of
Ascent Quarterly and the AscentOfSafed.com and KabbalaOnline.org websites. He
has hundreds of published stories to his credit. |
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