The three, two ahead and one way behind, walked for what seemed like hours on that frigid winter morning. It was very cold and the walk was very long, yet Rav Braunstein walked with determination. Soon, Rav Braunstein and the others left the city and entered the fields surrounding Kiev. Eventually, the group arrived to a small forest. At the entrance of the forest stood two righteous women. The Jewish women stood guard against unwanted visitors, such as the Russian police and the dreaded KGB.
As Rav Braunstein approached an opening in the trees, he noticed an amazing site. Several Jews milled around, some standing, some sitting on fallen trees which served as benches. This was the Rosh Hashana minyan, in the middle of a forest outside Kiev. This was a minyan made of up survivors, survivors of the evil Russian Empire. Rav Braunstein was amazed at what he saw...
The congregants huddled around what few machzorim there were, back in the cold Russian forest. Soon after Rav Braunstein arrived, a chassid began to lead the prayers. The minyan was made up of Skverer, Lubavitcher, Chernobler, and Breslever chassidim.
It was a davening that Rav Braunstein remembers to this day. Sitting nearby was an 80-year-old man who was too tired to stand up at all during the prayers. Apparently, the man had spent all his strength taking the long walk to the secret forest.
The old man sat on a log, in a talis which was in tatters; for new talesim and the like were not available in Communist Russia. The old man sat crying on the log from ma tovu - the beginning of the prayers to Aleinu. Rav Braunstein watched in awe as the old man soaked his raggedy talis in tears.
Soon, it came time to blow the shofar. This was the most dangerous time for the secret minyan. The baal tokeah wanted to immerse himself in a mikveh before blowing the shofar, as is the common practice for many. Where would they find a mikveh deep in the Russian woods?
The baal tokeah went off to the side and undressed. He then proceeded to roll himself in the snow several times before getting dressed and rejoining the minyan.
The voice of the shofar had to reach up to the ears of the minyan and onwards to heaven without alerting the Russians of the holy congregation. So the baal tokeah sat on the forest floor while the minyan crowded around, squeezed together and hunched over him.
Because of the conditions, the baal tokeah had to blow the required 100 blasts one after the other, instead of the usual custom. As the voice of the shofar rose up to the ears of the members of the minyan huddled above, tears rained down on the baal tokeah. Fervent prayers sailed up to shomayim, asking Hashem for forgiveness and begging an end to the evil Russian Empire.
Having shed so many tears on that cold Russian day, Rav Braunstein left the minyan and trudged back to Kiev. It was a Rosh Hashana he would never forget. Nearly 25 years later, the Iron Curtain and the Communists finally came down; at least partly on the power of that secret minyan in a forest outside of Kiev in 1964. (as told by Rav Yosef Chaim Greenwald) As long as the voice of Yakov is heard in prayer, Yakov - Yisroel will prevail.
Reprinted from the Parshas Toldos 5785 email of Good Shabbos Everyone.
