A story took place with Rav Meir Arik, zt”l, about the perfect Emunah of a Jewish mother. It was at a time when many of the young men were being forcefully drafted into the army. They would all go straight to Rav Meir for his Brachah, to see if that would help them avoid the draft.
Those who went to him knew right away what their fate would be, because Rav Meir had a system in place. If he gave the Bachur the Sefer Machaneh Yisroel, which was a Sefer that was written by the Chofetz Chiam teaching the main Halachos that apply to soldiers in the army, the Bachur knew that he would be drafted.
However, if Rav Meir said to them, “Whoever accepts on himself the yoke of Torah, the yoke of the government and the yoke of worldly concerns are removed from him,” then he knew that his freedom was guaranteed. This took place in Vienna, the capital of Austria, three months after Hitler, ym”sh, had risen to power.
A woman came to see Rav Meir Arik. She was crying because the authorities had taken her son, who was her only child. She didn’t know where they had moved him to, and it had already been two weeks since she last saw him, and she didn’t know what she should do.
Rav Meir said to her, “Whoever accepts on himself the yoke of Torah, the yoke of the government and the yoke of worldly concerns are removed from him.” He then asked her, “If your son is found, do you promise to get him involved in only learning Torah?”
Without hesitating she replied, “Yes. Rebbe, I agree to this, and I promise.” Rav Meir said, “If so, then I give him a Brachah that he be Zocheh to become a Talmid Chacham that toils only in Torah. Now go and search for him. You have accepted for him and Bentched him to merit the yoke of Torah. You will surely find him now.”
Rabbi Meir Arik
The woman left his house, and after just one hour, she returned to him a second time, together with her son! He asked her how this happened, and she explained that immediately after she left the Rav’s house, she didn’t even think twice. She acted with the Emunah Peshutah of a Jewish woman who heard the words right from the mouth of the Rav, and she turned straight to Hashem, and asked Him for help with a piercing Tefilah that came from a broken heart.
With this Emunah, she went to the jail that was nearest to her, walked inside and simply said, “Give me my son!” The officer that was there just looked at her and said incredulously, “What?” For a moment, she became very nervous, but she strengthened her resolve and shouted again, “Give me my son!”
After this second cry, the officer’s demeanor changed, and he asked her, “What is his name?” She told him, and he asked her to wait a little. He went into a back room, and a short while later, he came back with him and said, “Here is your son.”
The woman then managed to send her son to Eretz Yisroel, where he entered one of the Yeshivos, and was involved with learning Torah constantly. Because of this, he was also saved from the terrible destruction of six million Jews by the Nazis, ym”sh, and the Brachos of the mother and the Tzadik Rav Meir Arik were entirely fulfilled!
Reprinted from the Parshas Ki Sisa 5785 email of Rabbi Yehuda Winzelberg’s Torah U’Tefilah.
