By Rabbi A. Leib Scheinbaum
I was searching for an inspiring story that would capture what Jewish mothers have relinquished throughout the ages– quietly and heroically – so that their husbands and sons could learn. While we have a plethora of stories and vignettes, most are about rebbetzins, holy women who grew up in Torah homes, imbibing Torah values. What about the non- Bais Yaakov bred women whose fidelity to Torah learning was emunas chachamim based? Then I realized that I did not have far to search. I lived that story. It is the story of my mother. My mother was a Holocaust survivor who had lost everything: family, home, stability. Despite her catastrophic losses, after the war, she and my father came to Chicago where they raised three children, of which I am the oldest.
My parents sent me to Telshe, Cleveland, because that was what my rebbe suggested. They adhered tenaciously to what rebbeim suggested. They did not hesitate, even though it meant my being away from home for long stretches. Five years later, a week before my brother’s bar mitzvah, everything changed. My mother’s world came crashing down. My father suddenly became ill. Within two days, he had passed away, leaving everyone shocked and devastated.
Horav Chaim Stein, zl [Rosh Yeshiva of Telshe], attended the funeral. Following the burial, the Rosh Yeshivah returned with us to the house where he sat down and spoke with me in an attempt to ease the crushing grief. As he was about to leave, he turned to my mother and said words that took her breath away, “Leibel must return to the yeshivah immediately following the bar mitzvah.”
Rabbi A Leib Scheinbaum
My mother’s response was utter shock, “How can the Rosh Yeshivah ask this of me? I am a widow with three children and a small dry goods store. Who will help me? I need my son!”
But the Rosh Yeshivah was firm, “Unless you give me your word that Leibel returns, I will take him back with me now, and he will sit shivah in the yeshivah.” My mother broke down. Her husband was gone, and now her son would have to leave. Her world had collapsed. And yet, through the tears, she acquiesced and said, “I will do what the Rosh Yeshivah asks. Please take care of my son.”
And so, I returned to yeshivah. My mother and sister stayed home— alone -- since my brother soon followed me to yeshivah. Every Shabbos, Kiddush and seudah were somber, but proud, experiences. My mother, as did many other mothers, gave up so much. I have no doubt that the nachas her neshamah now experiences in Gan Eden – the joy of knowing that, as a result of her sacrifice, her children and her many descendants continue to devote themselves to the learning and dissemination of Torah. Her story is not just mine. It is the story of countless Jewish mothers who gave up the comforts of this world, so that their sons would build the next.
Reprinted from the Parshas Chayei Sora 5786 email of Peninim on the Torah, a publication of the Hebrew Academy of Cleveland.
