As a bachur, Reb Binyamin Zev Deutsch, the principal of Yeshivas Ponovezh, lived in Hungary. One day, he and another forty-nine bachurim were summoned to sign up for the Hungarian army. Their parents put together a large sum of money to bribe a doctor to “find” illnesses in the fifty bachurim, so that they wouldn’t be conscripted. The lion’s share of the bribe came from Reb Binyamin Zev’s parents and the parents of one other bachur, as they were the wealthy ones and could thus fund it.
The doctor’s documents, attesting to each bachur’s “illness,” arrived on the morning they were ordered to present themselves to the army. However, the doctor only sent forty-eight documents, “accidentally” leaving out the letters for Reb Binyamin Zev and the other wealthy bachur.
As a result, these two boys had to flee Hungary as quickly as possible. Reb Binyamin Zev remembers not even having time to say goodbye to his family as he promptly packed up, ran to the port, and escaped to Eretz Yisrael.
Reb Binyamin would later say that he considered that day “a dark day, a bad day.” He was jealous of his friends who had been able to remain with their families while he, and his friend, had to escape like thieves. Furthermore, Reb Binyamin was in Eretz Yisrael, alone with no family, which was certainly very difficult for a young bachur.
However, soon after the war broke out, and only he and the other bachur (from the fifty) survived. Reb Binyamin married and had children and grandchildren, some of them famous Roshei Yeshiva.
This reminds us that even when something seems “bad,” it is good in disguise. With time, b’ezras Hashem, we will understand how, but for the time being we must know and trust it.
