אם בחוקותי תלכו ואת מצותי תשמרו ועשיתם אותם וגו׳ (כו־ג)
Rashi quotes the famous words of the Toras Kohanim at the beginning of this week's parsha ״אם בחוקותי תלכו - שתהיו עמלים בתורה״ .׳ - "If you will go in the ways of My laws - That you shall intensely labor in (the study of) Torah." We learn the im- portance of Torah learning for its own sake.
A number of years ago, there lived a Chassidishe Yid in Brooklyn by the name of Cohen who owned a grocery store and was perceived to be a simple Jew. He had survived the ghetto and concentration camps during World War II and lost many loved ones, yet his emunah and faith in Hashem were never shaken, and he spent any available spare time sitting and learn- ing his beloved Gemara. When a semi- nary girl who boarded at the Cohen home received a letter with an enclosed picture from her family back home in the Midwest, she showed the picture to Rabbi Cohen, who studied the image of the girl's brother.
"This young man," he remarked, "looks very much like a man I once knew in Italy."
"Oh, my father spent some time in It- aly," said the girl. "He was a chaplain in the United States Army and was with the troops that ran the displaced persons camps after the war." Rabbi Cohen was dumbstruck.
Sometime later, the Cohens were blessed with a baby boy. The girl's father flew to New York for the bris, and after spending some time talking to Rabbi Co- hen, he related the following at the seudas mitzvah:
One of the chaplain's responsibilities was to determine each survivor’s most urgent needs. He would mount an army truck and, using a bullhorn, would instruct the people to line up.
The survivors would file past the truck and tell the chaplain what they needed. One of those who stood in line was Rabbi Cohen. When his turn came, he looked up at the chaplain and said, “I need a Gemara Bava Kama.”
The chaplain did not understand. He looked down at the frail, battered Jew and said kindly, "I'm here to try to get you cloth- ing, medical supplies, whatever you need to become healthy again. So, how can I help you?"
The young survivor looked up and re- sponded, "Five and a half years ago, I was learning Mesechta Bava Kama. Then, the Nazis came. I have not seen a Gemara since that time. Now, Boruch Hashem, I am free to learn again. I want to resume my learning of Bava Kama. That is what I need most. Please get me a Gemara."
The chaplain had heard that in an old mansion near the camp, the Nazis had dumped the contents of a Hebrew library. He went to the mansion, searched through the heaps of books, and found a Gemara Bava Kama. Rabbi Cohen now truly had everything he needed.
TORAH TAVLIN
