“These are the generations...” (25:19)
The Rambam, in his commentary on the Mishna, describes how a king commands his servants to build a palace of perfect beauty, and to plant a world-class vineyard fit for a king. Says the Rambam, “It’s possible that the whole reason that this palace was built was that one day a righteous Jew will come and find shelter from the sun in the shade of one of the walls of this palace, and be saved from dying. As it is states in Iyov (27:17), “A Rasha (evil person) prepares it, and the Tzadik (righteous person) wears it.”
In other words, this entire existence, this entire world, was created for the Jewish People. Every being, every city, everyone in China, the entire world, was brought into existence for the Jews. When the Mir Yeshiva escaped from Europe, Rabbi Meir Ashkenazi, a Chasid who served as the spiritual leader of the Jewish refugees in Shanghai, arranged for the yeshiva to occupy the Beth Aharon Synagogue. The Synagogue was built in 1927 by Silas Hardoon (1851-1931), an assimilated business tycoon, in memory of his father, Aharon.
The story goes that Silas Hardoon’s father appeared to him in a dream and asked him to build a shul in his memory. For some reason, Hardoon didn’t build the shul in the center of town, but far from the community. The shul had two hundred and fifty-two seats, a huge kitchen and dining hall - and it remained empty for years. That is, until the Mir Yeshiva arrived - with exactly 252 bochurim.
Nowadays, China is a popular business venue for many Jewish businessmen. And just as Hashem arranged events so the shul would be there for the Mir, so every test was created for us to be righteous. Maybe you’re on a China Airways flight to Shanghai and there’s a challenge, such as a movie that you shouldn’t watch. Maybe that entire movie was made just so you shouldn’t watch it? And by turning off your screen, you reap an eternal reward. That’s a really successful business trip. Maybe the only reason you went to China in the first place was not for your business meeting, but to succeed in this test - and not get “Shanghaied.”
Every temptation, everything out there, was put there for you to succeed. Don’t get Shanghaied!
