By Sruly Besser
There was a Yid in Manchester, England, named R’ Yaakov Yosef Weiss. He recalled being in the concentration camps alongside a particularly dispirited person. Through the worst moments, R’ Yaakov Yosef kept repeating that the Ribbono shel Olam is good and all He does is good, proclaiming his emunah.
His companion did not like hearing it, and he shared his skepticism with R’ Yaakov Yosef at every opportunity. Eventually, they ended up on line for the crematorium, and it was clear that the end was imminent.
This person turned to R’ Yaakov Yosef and bitterly asked, “Do you still believe that it is all good and there is a plan?”
“Yes, of course,” came the firm reply, “the Eibishter is here, with us, and His rachamim surrounds us at this very moment.”
Moments later, they were inside the room, but there was a delay. The doors couldn’t close properly, and so the guards pulled out a few inmates to make room, telling them to wait for the next shift. R’ Yaakov Yosef, he of the emunah and conviction, was saved.
He would share the story at the Seder each year, surrounded by children and grandchildren. When they would ask him how he, a young man at the time, had such clarity and faith, he would tell them that all his emunah came from hearing sippur Yetzias Mitzrayim as a child.
As the Ohev Yisrael writes: On this night, the child is not just able to hear, but also to absorb, internalize, and make it part of him so that he has it forever. Share the story with joy, because this is the story they will remember.
Reprinted from the Parshas Tzav/Pesach 5785 edition of At the ArtScroll Shabbos Table. Excerpted from the ArtScroll book – “Reb Meilech on the Haggadah” by Sruly Besser.
