By Rabbi Binyomin Pruzansky
Rabbi Zechariah Wallerstein
The Chovos HaLevavos teaches that a person should think about all of the good that Hashem has done for him, from the time he was born until today. This should fill him with a deep sense of hakaras hatov, enough to inspire him to serve Hashem with all his heart.
Rabbi Zechariah Wallerstein was real and down-to-earth, which made him so effective as a speaker and an educator. He related the stories and ideas that inspired him, believing that if these stories and ideas inspired him, they could inspire others, as well. More often than not, he was right on the mark.
As someone involved with people enduring trauma and challenges, Rabbi Wallerstein used to approach Holocaust survivors and ask them how they managed to survive and then build their lives anew. If these people, who went through such hardship yet kept going, could disclose their secret to Rabbi Wallerstein, he could transmit that information to others, to teach them how to overcome the challenges in their own lives.
A Very Special Man Named Mr. Weiss
One such Holocaust survivor, a very special man named Mr. Weiss, was still serving as baal tefillah for the Yamim Noraim at the age of ninety-seven. Moreover, this was in a tent, during Covid-19, when the world at large was dealing with unprecedented challenges.
Rabbi Wallerstein asked him, “After the war, when you found out that everything was lost, that six million Jews had been slaughtered, among them your family members, did you have any questions? Did you wonder why Hashem had done this? Please tell me the truth. If you did question Hashem’s ways, I understand. You were a young man who lost everything: your family, your friends, your yeshivah, your town.”
Mr. Weiss looked at him, eyes piercing, and asked, “You want to know the truth, Rabbi Wallerstein?”
“Yes, I do!”
“I had one question. When I realized what had happened, I looked up to Shamayim and asked, ‘Six million Jews died — and You let me live? Why me? What did I do to deserve life?’”
“You mean, you didn’t ask Hashem why everyone had to die?”
I Had My Emunah Intact
Mr. Weiss was surprised. “No, of course not. I had my emunah intact. All I asked Hashem was why I merited to live. What did I do to deserve this kindness? At that moment, I realized that I would be forever indebted to Hashem. And I made up my mind to make Hashem proud of me. When I go up to Shamayim after 120 years, I want Him to be pleased that He gave me life.”
Then he went on to list all of the bnei Torah among his descendants and how he merited raising a beautiful family of shomrei Torah u’mitzvos. “I will come up to Hashem after 120 and tell Him, ‘You made a good decision.’”
Said Rabbi Wallerstein: “We all need to do this. Before we go to sleep at night, we need to feel grateful to Hashem for all the kindness that He bestows upon us every day. And since Hashem decided to give us life today, that means He wants us in This World. How lucky we are...” At the end of every day, and at the end of our lives, we want to be able to tell Hashem, “You made a great decision.”
Reprinted from the Parshas Ha’azinu 5784 edition of At the ArtScroll Shabbos Table. (Excerpted from “Living Higher” by Rabbi Binyomin Pruzansky.)
