In the days when the world’s foundations seemed to be collapsing, when the terrible Holocaust reached the gates of the holy community of Galanta in Hungary, the devoted disciples of their revered teacher, the saintly Rav Yehoshua Buxbaum zt”l (Hy ”d), av beis din of Galanta, arranged for him a safe, orderly rescue — visas and a passage ticket to the United States were ready — and they pleaded with him with all their strength to take the opportunity. By then they already knew clearly the true purpose and end of the deportations, and after expending great effort and large sums to secure his escape from the abyss of slaughter, they were certain he would be glad to save his life.
But the holy Rebbe refused to listen. He said he could not leave his students, “Where my disciples go, there I will go as well.” For it is impossible to separate the Rav from his disciples (Makkos 10a). “If there is no salvation for the students, there can be no salvation for the Rav.”
When the accursed Gestapo burst into Galanta and deported everyone at once on the death trains to Auschwitz, the holy Rebbe descended from the train with dignity, filled with blazing faith and complete trust in Hashem. When the wicked monster Dr. Mengele saw his majestic bearing and fine garments and perceived that he was a great Rav, he snarled at him with satanic hatred: “Du bist der hoicher vunder Rabbiner? (Are you the exalted wondrous rabbi?) Very good; I have been waiting for you!”
The holy Rav answered firmly and loudly, “As for what awaits you, I will not put it upon my lips — it shall be a most bitter and grievous end.” Immediately the murderers, enraged by his steadfast faith and courage, cast him to the side to be murdered al kiddush Hashem — together with all the members of his congregation and his holy students.
His beloved students cried and wailed bitterly as they witnessed their master led to slaughter in such seeming disgrace. But he rebuked them sternly and said, “In such a fateful hour one must be filled with great and boundless joy! For we are privileged to fulfill the greatest mitzvah in the Torah — to offer our souls for the sanctification of His Name, to fulfill the pasuk, אֱלֹהֶיךָוְאָ הַבְ תָּ אֵ ת ה’ וּבְכָל נַפְשְׁךָ... And you shall love the Lord your God... with all your soul — even if He takes your soul” (Berachos 54a).
Then he and the students and the holy members of the community danced with fierce, burning joy — heart and soul — at the threshold of the fiery furnace. That dance and the mighty joy of that hour echoed throughout the camp and were engraved forever on the hearts of those who witnessed it; it was a spectacle of awe and heroic valor, and they merited to sanctify the Name of Heaven in a lofty and exalted measure.
