By Rabbi Yechiel Spero
During his tenure as one of the premier leaders of Russian Jewry, R’ Yitzchak Zilber taught countless Jews who otherwise would have been completely ignorant of all Torah. Even after he made his way to Eress Yisrael, he would still make it his business to sneak back into his native country to inspire and instruct. During those trips, he had to make sure to keep a low profile because if his true identity were revealed he risked being sent to the Russian gulag, a prison from which few return.
Once, as he was on one of his trips, a man called out to him, “Reb Yitzchak! Reb Yitzchak!” Shocked that someone would call his name publicly, he turned around and recognized a man whom he had taught many years before, obviously in dire straits, dressed in rags. Poor and hungry and cold as he was, the man could not control his excitement upon seeing R’ Yitzchak for the first time in many years.
R’ Yitzchak tried to temper his own excitement in seeing the man, and after quickly looking around to make sure no one was watching, he asked many questions about how his former student was doing. Nothing, though, could have prepared him for the question this poor, hungry man asked him. “Rebbi, seven years ago I bought a new coat to wear during the winter months. I have not worn it yet. I was wondering if you would be able to check it for sha’atnez.”
R’ Yitzchak could hardly believe his ears...or his eyes. He looked at the coat the man was wearing. It was literally falling off his shoulders, it was so worn down. The man had purchased a coat seven years ago. Despite the brutal Russian winters, he was worried about the possibility that the new coat might contain sha’atnez and therefore had not worn it. Any Rabbi would have given him a heter (allowance) to wear the coat, regardless of whether or not it had sha’atnez; it was pikuach nefesh (saving a life); without the coat the man could have frozen to death. But to this unbelievably sincere Jew, sha’atnez was poison! He had probably been hoping, for the past seven years as his old coat became more and more tattered, that he would find someone able to check the coat for sha’atnez. It boggles the mind!
And now we can ask ourselves, and dig deep to find the answer:
What would we have done?
Reprinted from the ArtScroll book – “Touched by a Story 2” by Rabbi Yechiel Spero.
