By Rabbi Yitzhchok Zilberstein
My aunt told a story that happened in her town, Goborova, during the Holocaust. One Friday afternoon, the Nazis set fire to the town from all sides, and gathered all of the Jews — men, women, and children — into the shul, which was made of wood. They declared that they were going to torch the shul, and that any Jew found outside the shul would be killed on the spot.
The children, who were hungry and tired, cried continuously. Among the Jews in the shul was R’ Yoel the baker, a truly G-d-fearing person. R’ Yoel had managed to bake some challos for Shabbos that morning, but the challos were still in his bakery. At risk to his own life, he decided to sneak out of the shul to get the challos and bring them back to the shul so that the people could fulfill the mitzvah of lechem mishneh.
The Jews Washed Their Hands for Their Last Seudah
Several minutes later, he returned to the shul with the challos and invited the people to partake of a Shabbos seudah. Momentarily dismissing their unfortunate circumstances, the Jews washed their hands and ate the fresh challah. Then, inexplicably, a Nazi commander arrived and informed the soldiers that their regiment had been given a new assignment on the battlefield, and that they were to leave the town immediately.
The evil Nazis guarding the shul requested that they be allowed to set the shul on fire before departing, but the commander insisted that they follow him without delay. The Jews of the town were convinced that this miraculous turn of events, which happened just as they were fulfilling the mitzvah of seudas Shabbos, was due to the mesirus nefesh of R’ Yoel the baker. His mesirus nefesh purified the environs to the extent that it banished the Angel of Death, causing the Nazis to abandon their murderous plan.
Reprinted from the Parshas Bo 5784 edition of At the ArtScroll Shabbos Table. Excerpted from the ArtScroll book – “Aleinu L’Shaneiach”
