Part II. The Close Ones of Yesterday
Tzaddikim and Saints
Just to begin the subject, so we should better understand the idea here, we’ll give an example. Let’s talk for a minute about the saints, the Christian saints. Here’s a religion that took over the world; the whole Western world was taken over by Christianity. And they claim to have tzaddikim too – they have saints; everybody knows that.
And so when you hear of a saint about whom you know nothing and you’re told that a cathedral was built in his honor, so without knowing anything about saints, you might think, “Well, maybe he was something. We have our tzaddikim and l’havdil they have their saints.” It doesn’t mean you’ll be a Christian chas veshalom but a little seed is planted in your head; they have something too.
After all, there are big cathedrals, tremendous buildings, named after these saints; something it must be. That’s already a weakening of your emunah. And so we make use of this Torah principle of drawing parallels, of looking at the one or two we do know about and saying just as he’s nothing; he’s not much of a saint; he’s a plain bum who was killed by other bums; that’s the same amount of holiness and sainthood in all of their saints and cathedrals.
Not So Saintly Saints
So let’s see the saints we know something about. In Rinn, Austria, there’s a big cathedral that was erected in honor of a certain saint, Blessed Andrew.
Now, how did this Andrew acquire sainthood? By what virtues did he distinguish himself? He hid away in a room for many years praying and studying? He did some great deeds of kindness, so much so that finally the Vatican recognized him and said he’s the model Christian for others to follow?
No, nothing like that. He earned his sainthood in a more expeditious way – when he was still a young boy he was found slain. Two shkutzim got into a fight and one of them knifed the other. Poor Andrew was stabbed to death. And when they found his body he became a saint immediately.
The Matzah Saint
So any goy who’s found dead becomes a saint? No; here was something different. Because attached to his death there was a canard, a slander on the Jewish community. The Christians began to spread the word that this boy had been killed in order to have blood for matzos for Pesach. That’s an official statement of the church (Papal Bull Beatus Andreas February 22, 1755): Andrew was killed by the Jews for their ‘Passover pastries.’
Oh, if that’s the case so the whole process of sainthood was sped up. Instead of years of fasting and praying in a monastery, he took the shortcut and was immediately elevated to sainthood. Because anybody who’s killed by Jews, he’s walking in the footsteps of the first one – you-know-who. And he was declared forthwith, to be a saint – officially! He’s an official saint in Christian theology!
That’s why they built a great cathedral in his honor in Austria. It’s still standing there. When you walk in there’s a big inscription telling you that it was built in honor of this-and-this saint who was murdered by Jews for his blood. It’s still there.
Fiction Stories, Non Fiction Lessons
Well, we know the whole story. We know that it was sheker v’chazav. Never in history did Jews do anything even slightly, even faintly resembling it. Jews won’t even touch a drop of blood in an egg. It’s as ridiculous as the most silly fairytale, and yet this fairy tale is a great lesson for us. Because you can know now how much weight to give to the church dogmas and their canonized saints.
It’s meant for us as a lesson so we should know what it’s all about. We look back and see that they were sent for a purpose. And the purpose was to let us know who the great men, who the church saints are. Because if that is the basis for big cathedrals – it’s not a small place by the way; it’s a huge cathedral, one of the most impressive buildings in Christendom – if that’s the basis for sainthood, then we have to know that it’s a parallel to all the cathedrals. More or less they’re all the same.
You’re obligated, it’s your duty to take the lesson of Blessed Andrew alav ha'shnubbel, and say, just as he’s nothing; he’s not much of a saint; he’s a plain bum who was killed by other bums; that’s the same amount of holiness and sainthood in all of their saints and cathedrals.
Now you’re going to say, “Well, it doesn’t prove anything.” No, it doesn’t prove anything, but we’re supposed to use that as a parallel. If they claim somebody’s a saint, they’ll have to prove it to us. Because we are muchzek that it’s not so; we know already how others achieved sainthood.
Two More Close Ones
I’ll tell you about two more saints. There was a fellow named Saint Simeon the Stylite. Why Stylite? A stylite means a pillar. What were his good deeds for which he was elevated to the sainthood? For thirty years he sat on top of a pillar and didn’t come down. You understand how that pillar smelled. For thirty years he sat on top of that pillar.
Now why didn’t he do it in a forest? He could sit on top of a tree? The answer is no publicity in a forest. If a saint sits on a tree in the woods does it make a saint? So he picked out a pillar in a public square in Rome where there was plenty of audience to admire him and he climbed up to the top. And naturally after a while, you attract a lot of attention. Even today people sit on flagpoles sometimes to attract attention. In those olden days it paid more than it paid today.
Burning Jews
Now don’t think he was sitting quietly wasting his time. He was doing ‘good deeds’. He was preaching that it’s a big mitzvah to burn down Jewish synagogues in Rome. And some of the pious were obeying him. So he has to his credit some synagogue burning. You understand already how he became such a holy man. Sitting on a pillar and burning shuls! A saint!
And another one; you ever heard of Saint Ambrose? So you might think he was a man who went around giving charity to the poor, picking up stray dogs and taking them home, doing other kind deeds. No, he didn’t have time for that. Saint Ambrose was giving sermons to big masses of people and telling them they should get torches and go to the nearest synagogue because all synagogues are dens of devils. “They are dens of robbers,” he said, “and it’s an especially great deed of virtue to take a torch and set a fire and burn it down.”
Now, at that time the Jews in Rome were alarmed. Two demagogues, two evil-mouthed rabble rousers, were inciting the multitudes against the Jews. All you had was the honest pagan king who was opposing them. There were still some pagans left; the good pagans were opposing them. But the Jews were very much frightened.
But now we look back and see that they were sent for a purpose. And the purpose was to let us know who the great men of the church are. And don’t think it’s an unimportant piece of information because these two are among the fathers of the church! They’re listed among the saints of the church!
A Reliable Method
And the Torah eitzah is we’re supposed to learn from them. If these are the fathers we know about then all the rest of the fathers, even those about whom we know nothing are all in one boat. That’s how we’re supposed to judge them – just as there is no substance in these, so also is there no substance in those. That’s how Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants us to think as we make our way in this world of false ideals where it’s hard to see the truth. This is one of the great methods of strengthening our emunah and seeing through the darkness.
And so don’t let anybody tell you bubbeh maisahs; “But what about Saint Francis of Assisi or this one or that one?” We have our way, the Torah way of looking at the world. Anyone who wishes to tell a falsehood tells you about a far-off affair you don’t know about. If we had lived next door to Saint Francis of Assisi, we would have known a little different about him. We would have been afraid to walk out in the street.
This Sect and That Sect
And it’s not ancient history. You want to know about priests and pastors? The last Alshtuter Rav, in Alshtut in Hungary, wrote in his book Lo Tishkach about his brother-in-law, the Ziditichover Rav. The Ziditichover Rav was in the Grosswardein Ghetto under the Nazis, and he tried to escape by sneaking out of the ghetto. But the Hungarian priest, the Catholic priest, seized him by the arm and he handed him over to the Nazis for execution. That’s a Catholic priest for you.
And don’t think the Protestants were any better. I just happened to speak about these but if I speak about those, these are an example of the others. You know, when Hitler sent his Einsatzkommandos, men with machine guns who went ahead of the army as they invaded Poland and Russia and they shot down the Jewish populace, it’s interesting to note that among the members of the Einsatzkommandos were many pastors. Protestant pastors were standing there, machine-gunning down men and women and children.
Their ‘rebbe’ after all, Martin Luther, may he rest in pieces, I can’t repeat what he said about the Jews because it’s nivul peh – you can’t say it in public. So what do you expect from a pastor, his talmid?
But the purpose of these stories is not for them alone; it’s so that we shouldn’t be prejudiced and say only him and only him. They’re all the same. That’s how Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants us to think as we make our way in this world of false ideals where it’s hard to see the truth. This is one of the great methods of strengthening our emunah and seeing through the darkness.
