By Rabbi Yoni Schwartz
During the years of World War I in Tomshovar, a small town in Romania, Rav Chaim Zilber was standing with his family around the Shabbos table. He was serene and focused, making Friday night Kiddush over the beautiful Shabbos candles illuminating their warm home. Suddenly he heard, “Bang! Bang! Bang!”, violent knocking at his door. These were the days when Russia invaded Romania and all the Romanians were required to host the Russian soldiers or risk getting thrown out of their house.
Nevertheless, he continued his Kiddush with perfect concentration, unfazed by the soldiers’ knocking, as if nobody was there. Scared, his wife ran to open the door but the soldiers angrily pushed her out of the way. The captain barged inside in a rage but was immediately mesmerized by the angelic sight of Rav Zilber making Kiddush, basking in the Shabbos beauty, still unfazed by their presence. The captain asked his men to wait outside.
After Kiddush, when the Rav offered the captain some wine he burst into tears and began to share his story. When he was just three, Russian soldiers abducted him from his parents. As he was being ripped away, the last thing he remembered was his father calling out, “Shmuel - remember that you are a Jew! Never forget it!” He explained, “I can still see my father standing making Kiddush.”
“After all the years,” he continued, “I forgot where I came from. Only now as I watch you holding the cup exactly like my father, did it all come back to me.” Shmuel sat with them and finished the Shabbos seudah. He would come back every Shabbos to learn about his Jewish heritage and the Torah which his ancestors have been the guardians of for the last three thousand years since receiving it at Har Sinai.
Comment: In this week’s Parsha Yisro, we receive the Torah and become bound to Hashem for all eternity. We are its guardians, its protectors, and its preservers. As much as we have guarded the Torah throughout the sandstorms of history, it has guarded us, protected us, and preserved us. The G-d of Life gave us the Torah of life, by which we live and are kept alive. If we get lost on our journey, we can be sure it will be there to guide us, just like it was for Shmuel. If we are blessed to have found the Torah's light, let us be there, like Rav Zilber, for another Jew who may have gotten lost on his journey.
Reprinted from the Parshas Yisro 5784 email of Torah Sweets, a publication compiled by R’ Mendel Berlin.
