By Rabbi Shimon Finkelman
All Jews are in essence brothers. The Chofetz Chaim states: ... In Heaven, the souls of the Jewish people are like one ... It is only in this world, where each soul is clothed in its own physical body and is involved in its own personal matters, that one sees himself as a distinct entity, apart from his fellow Jew. In truth, however, all Jews are one in a very real sense.
In the 1980s, before the collapse of the Soviet empire, Agudath Israel’s Vaad L’Hatzalas Nidchei Yisroel, under the leadership of Rabbi Mordechai Neustadt, regularly sent shlichim (emissaries) to teach Torah in secret to small, courageous, irrepressible baalei teshuvah in the Soviet Union.
Fraught with risk, these missions were blessed with great siyata diShmaya. The late Rabbi Mordechai Shapiro, Rav of Congregation Beth Israel in Miami Beach, and his rebbetzin, were two of those shlichim. They had spent many hours at the Vaad office in New York prior to their departure learning the do’s and don’ts of such mission. They had been warned not to allow strangers to lure them into conversations that might jeopardize what they aimed to accomplish.
From the moment they landed in Moscow, they knew that they were being watched. As they left the airport to head for the hotel where they had booked reservations, an official pointed to a specific taxi and said, “That is the taxi you will take.” They entered the taxi, and immediately the driver struck up what was ostensibly a friendly conversation in Yiddish.
“So where are you folks from? Florida? So how’s the weather there? Is it true that Florida has lots of palm trees? How long are you living there...?”
And then, in the midst of his idle chatter, the driver said with feeling, “Aber alle Yidden zenen brider” (“However, all Jews are brothers”).
The Shapiros froze. Was this a trap? Was the driver an agent of the KGB (secret police), trying to lure them into saying something incriminating? There was no way for them to know. Following the instructions they had received in New York, they did not respond.
The driver seemed to ignore their silence. He resumed his mindless chatter and then, a few minutes later, said once again with feeling, “Aber alle Yidden zenen brider.” Again, Rabbi and Rebbetzin Shapiro did not respond.
When they reached the hotel, the Shapiros paid the driver, checked in at the front desk, and then made their way to their room. Rebbetzin Shapiro was about to begin unpacking when she looked up and saw that her husband was crying.
“Who knows? That driver may have been sincere and was desperately trying to reach out to us. And we could not respond.”
“Now,” said Rabbi Shapiro, “I know how Yosef HaTzaddik felt when his brother Binyamin stood before him unaware of his true identity. The time for Yosef to reveal himself had not yet come, and Yosef was overcome with emotion. He therefore went into a private room and cried.
Alle Yidden zenen brider. A feeling of true brotherhood with all Jews impels special people to undertake dangerous missions to Russia, and to cry when they cannot acknowledge a stranger’s overtures of brotherhood. As the Torah indicates with the term achicha ha’evyon, your destitute brother, a feeling of brotherhood should impel all of us to treat those in need with kindness and compassion.
Reprinted from the Parashat Re’eh 5784 edition of At the ArtScroll Shabbos Table. Excerpted from the ArtScroll book – “Living the Parashah” by Rabbi Shimon Finkelman.
