It is appropriate to remember the Holocaust on Tisha B’Av. That was the churban that happened in our recent collective memory. The following story is very powerful and we can draw some positive lessons from it.
Rav Moshe Meir Weiss shared this story (from the sefer Aperion Chaim) which occurred in an unspecified shul in America. Every Yom Tov, there was a certain person who walked out on duchening. Now I don't know if you've ever experienced anyone walking out on duchening. Hopefully many people walk out on Yizkor. Usually, a few people walk out on the Rabbi’s drasha. It’s sad, but it’s understandable. But who walks out on a berachah?
So, the first time it happened, the Rav said to himself, maybe he had to go to the bathroom. The second time it happened the Rav said maybe there was an emergency. But the third time it happened, the Rav knew it was intentional. Every time they got to Birchas Kohanim, this person folded his tallis and left.
So, the Rav told his Rebbetzen maybe we’ll invite him for Yom Tov lunch and he’ll join us. And that's what he did and the fellow was flattered. Certainly, he said. It was an honor that he had been invited to have Yom Tov lunch with the Rabbi.
But that Yom Tov morning the scenario repeated itself. It came time for duchening, the chazan said "v’sayareiv", he folded his tallis and went out.
At the meal everybody ate and drank and they were all in a good mood. Then the Rav gingerly said, “You know, I’m puzzled. I noticed that when it comes to duchening you go out. Is there something about the duchening that bothers you so that you have to leave?”
The man looked at the Rav and said, “You know Rabbi, we holocaust survivors, we don’t talk about things. But you’re asking me a direct question so I have to tell you.
“I was in Auschwitz and I was in a barrack with a hundred people. Yiddishkeit wasn’t even on our radar. We were in survival mode. Pure survival mode. Forget about Yiddishkeit. But there was one Yid, an alter Yid, who lived on a different plane. You would see him saying krias shema, worried whether the zman had passed, and trying to find negel vasser. He was above everything. It was amazing.
[Rav Weiss commented that it is very dangerous talking about the Holocaust to a Holocaust survivor. They look at you, “who is this little pipsqueak pampered American boy who knows nothing about what we went through.”
Rav Weiss' father was a holocaust survivor. And he said that anyone who knows the difference between Pepsi and Coca Cola wouldn't have survived the Holocaust. Another time his father made the same comment about his sons. They were three brothers, and each one had his own different personal box of sugared breakfast cereal. One had Sugar Crisps, the other had Sugar Pops, and the third Frosted Flakes. “Anyone who needs his own sugared cereal would not survive for 10 minutes,” said his father.
Rav Weiss was once saying over this story at a shul and there was a holocaust survivor in the audience. When he said that there was an old man in the bunk, this survivor jumped up and said, “Impossible, impossible. There were no old men in the camp. They were sent in the other direction.” Taken aback, Rav Weiss did some fast thinking, “He probably wasn’t an old man, but he looked like an old man. After a few weeks in Auschwitz, you looked like an old man.”
The survivor shouted out, “Richtig, richtig, that's right, that's right. That’s how it was!”]
Getting back to our story.
This survivor told the Rav that this alter Yid said it’s two weeks to Pesach (he kept track of the Hebrew date) and we're going to have a seder. I looked at him like he was nuts. A seder? Here in Auschwitz?
He had a friend in the kitchen who made him two little matzos that he was able to hide. Pesach night he sat on the floor, and whoever was brave enough to risk it, sat with him. He said the whole Haggadah by heart. He said we drank four cups of tears. And we sang Vehi She'amd in Auschwitz. “And this is that (promise) which sustained our fathers and us. That it is not one (enemy) alone that stood up against us to destroy us. But that in each generation they rise up against us to destroy us. But the Holy One Blessed Be He saves us from their hand.” We sang Dayeinu. We made it all the way to sing, חסל סידור פסח, and a Nazi walked in.
He took one look at us, and he went berserk. The first thing he did was to grab one of us and hold a gun to his head saying, “If you don't tell me who organized this, I'm shooting you.” The man wouldn't say. These are the unsung heroes. The Nazi threw him to the ground. Then he started shooting upwards, making bullet holes in the ceiling. “I'm going to kill all of you!”
The old man stepped forward and said, “It was me.”
First, he was going to shoot him. But then he stopped, laughing like the Satan, and he said, “I'm not going to shoot you now. I’m going to shoot you in front of the whole camp tomorrow.”
Usually they did hangings, but this time he was going to shoot him. The next day they made a platform. They stood him up on the platform in front of the entire camp. The alter Yid said to the Nazi that he has a last request.
The Nazi started laughing, “Oh, you want a piece of steak? Or wine?”
No, he said. He’s a Kohen, and he wants to bless the people. [Comment: It was Yom Tov.] And they let him. He stood on the bima and recited Birchas Kohanim, and as soon as he finished, they point blank shot him to death.
This man who was talking to the Rav told him, “When I was liberated from the camps, I wanted to get as far from Yiddishkeit as I could. As far as possible.
“The first thing, I wanted to do was to marry a shiksa. I met a girl and was considering marriage. But I heard the Birchas Kohanim of this holy Yid and couldn’t go through with it. I heard that Birchas Kohanim just before they shot him, with such a passion, I couldn't do it.
“I married a Jewish girl. We came to America and I wanted to send my children to public school. I heard the Birchas Kohanim, I couldn’t do it.
“Rabbi, that Birchas Kohanim saved me from so many mistakes in my life, I never wanted to hear a different Birchas Kohanim. I never wanted to water down that memory.”
Rav Moshe Meir Weiss related what this story means to him and how it relates to the time of year we are in. “I'm a Rav. I've heard every excuse in the books, and I’ve heard some doozies. But when I heard that someone was walking out on Birchas Kohanim, I would never imagine that there could be such a righteous reason behind that action.
That’s the epitome of judging people in a positive light. The world would be such a better place if we would practice giving people the benefit of the doubt and try to figure out why they are doing what they do. Why is he behaving this way? Why isn't she friendly?
It's a talent. I’ve seen it in people. People who have that talent invariably do not speak loshan horah.
מי האיש החפץ חיים אהב ימים לראות טוב. נצר לשנך מרע ושפתיך מדבר מרמה – “Who is the man who desires life, who loves days to see goodness? Guard your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceitfully. (Tehillim 34:13-14).
The order of the pasuk is intentional. The concept of seeing goodness, comes before “Guard your tongue”. The fact that you see the possibility of good in the person stops you from speaking bad about him.
May we be zocheh to see the rebuilding of the Beis HaMikdosh speedily and in our days! (R’ Eliezer Parkoff)
