This Friday (29 Adar) is the Yahrzeit of R’ Gershon Liebman Zatzal. R’ Gershon’s level of Bitachon in the war was beyond comprehension. He spoke publicly about not being afraid of Nazis, and while they were searching for people “house to house”, and terrorizing everyone by blowing up buildings and other forms of horror, he himself was found learning in an empty Bais Medrash. R’ Yitzchok G. Shlita asked him about his reckless Hanhaga: What about Pikuach Nefesh? He said that indeed he does (minimum) Hishtadlus; when the Nazis pass by his Bais Medrash, he gets up from his Sefer and stands behind the door.
He once announced that he would not eat the food of the Nazis since it was Treife. People thought he was crazy, since he would starve to death. Hashem helped him, and a Jewish girl who worked in the kitchen (to cook the Nazis’ meals) found out about R’ Gershon, and she prepared salads for him... which he shared with others
Once, as he and another group of Yidden were being led out to the field to dig ditches, the Nazi in charge who was following them suddenly called out: Hey you! Come here, I have something for you! R’ Gershon turned around, expecting a bullet, or a vicious Nazi dog to attack him. Surprisingly, the Nazi produced an apple, took a bite, and threw the rest to R’ Gershon. He shared this apple with his friends for many days. It was like a treasure to them to eat a tiny drop of a real apple! R’ Gershon would always give away his food to others. These half-starved Yidden would stand on line to receive R’ Gershon’s portion of bread which he did not eat.
At one point, R’ Gershon announced that he wasn’t going to work for these German Reshaim. He only works for Hashem. A wicked Kapo found out about this statement, and threatened to tell the Germans. This was horrific news for R’ Gershon, since everyone knew how cruel these beasts could be for the tiniest infraction; how would they react to such chutzpa of defying them??!! Don’t ask what R’ Gershon would be in for, Chas V'shalom!
An eye witness saw how this Kapo went to the German commander to give a report about R’ Gershon. As usual, Hashem saves His loved ones. As soon as the Kapo opened his mouth to talk, the German had a whim, and decided to shoot a bullet into his mouth! Midda K'neged Midda! Since he wanted to kill with his mouth, he himself was killed via that same evil mouth.
The stories about R’ Gershon during the war go on and on. His Madrega of Bitachon is totally beyond us. We see the Koach of Novardok, and what years of Mussar can do to a person. We see how much Hashem loves us, especially when we have Bitachon in the face of impossible odds that Hashem can do the greatest Nissim. I can’t vouch for every story, but these are the stories circulating about him.
One thing I am sure about, is what I heard from an eye witness, and from R’ Gershon himself, that R’ Gershon was constantly challenging the zis and defying “the system”. He was constantly B'simcha, never worried or depressed. And he was always learning Mussar, despite his dreadful situation.
