At the beginning of the 20th century, there was a war between Russia and Japan. Sadly enough, many young Jewish people were drafted into the army. A group of bochurim came to the Sfas Emes (Rabbi Yehuda Aryeh Leib Alter) and they asked him for a brachah. He bentched them that they should not have to go out to war, but to one bachur he said, “Wait a minute.”
The Sfas Emes went into his room, and came back with a book. It was a little manual on how to do brissim. The Sfas Emes said to him, “Here, learn how to make a bris, and I bentch you that even when you go to the army, you should come back b’shalom.”
The boy began crying, and said, “Rebbe, please bentch me that I shouldn’t have to go to the war at all.” But the Sfas Emes was already talking to somebody else.
The boy got drafted and went to basic training. One day a general came to inspect the troops, his eye falls on the Jewish boy and he says, “I want to talk to you in private.”
He takes him to his office, takes a pistol in his hand and says, “Is it true that you only eat kosher food?” The young soldier says, “Yes.” He holds the pistol to his heart and he says, “Hey, you are a soldier of the Czar of Russia, and the Czar doesn’t want you to be hungry, the Czar wants you to eat all the food you can get your hands on. So, I’m ordering you to eat non‐kosher food.”
Trembling, the boy answers, “I’m sorry, I’m a servant of G‐d, not of the Russian Czar.”
The general paces furiously up and down the room and then he comes up to him again and says, “I heard you keep the Sabbath.” He answers, “Yes.” He says, “You are crazy! You are a soldier in the army of the Russian Czar! The Czar needs you to work every day!” This young man knew that this is the test of his life. He says, “I’m sorry, I’m a servant of G‐d,” while the general holds the pistol against his heart.
Suddenly the general smiles and puts down the pistol and says to him, “Listen to me, nobody knows, but I’m Jewish. My wife just had a baby and I need a mohel to do the bris. I’m not religious, but one thing I know: A mohel has to keep Shabbos and eat kosher food. So, I just wanted to test you to see if you really eat kosher and if you really keep Shabbos.
“But now that I see that you do, I’ll tell you what I’ll do for you. I’ll sign you out from here and say I need you and take you with me. And after you do the bris, I will give you civilian garments and you can just run home.”
Reprinted from the Seuda Stories of Shabbos Chayeinu, Parshas Re’eh 5784
