By Rabbi Yosef Weiss
Avraham Krupnik was among the thirty students in the Kaminetz Yeshivah who managed to escape Shanghai with the students of the Mir.
Young Avraham was in Moscow with friends, trying to obtain travel visas. A sudden knock on the hotel door one evening turned out to be two intimidating NKVD officers. Avraham was whisked to headquarters.
“Do you speak Russian?” asked the interrogator harshly.
Rashi’s Advice Based on Yosef HaTzadik
Avraham didn’t know what to say- which answer would please the officers? The words of Rashi suddenly flashed through his mind. When the ten brothers appeared before Yosef, there was an interpreter between them. Rashi explains that the interpreter’s presence indicated that Yosef did not understand their language, so the brothers spoke freely before him.
Avraham realized that if he feigned ignorance, the officers would reveal secrets in their native tongue. “I do not know Russian,” he answered.
The NKVD’s Attempt to Trap Avraham
The NKVD officers discussed their next question- conversing in Russian. “Let’s ask him what he’s doing in our country. If he’s just passing through, we’ll scream at him for his gall to leave such a beautiful country. If he says he’s here to stay, we’ll tell him ‘You’re a foreigner! Who invited you to come?’ Whatever he says, we’ll trap him.”
Thanks to Rashi’s foresight, Avraham was prepared. When they shot the question at him, Avraham responded, “Doesn’t Comrade Stalin write that Russia is a light to all nations, that everyone should come see its beauty? I listened to Stalin!”
The surprised officers were forced to admit the accuracy of his response.
And so, the interrogation continued. The two officers discussed the next question and Avraham answered accordingly. Eventually they were forced to release him.
“You’re back?” his friends asked in astonishment when he returned to his hotel room. He reported the evening’s events, and his friends congratulated him on a well-played game of chess: “Krupnik won that round!
Plans to Buy Train Ticket to Vladivostock
But Avraham knew that if they came once, they would come again. He needed to get out of the danger zone. Early the next morning, he headed to the travel office to purchase a train ticket to Vladivostock.
No one was at the desk. Avraham banged loudly until a grumpy man appeared from the back. “Why are you making so much noise?” he screamed at the young visitor.
“I want to buy a ticket to Vladivostock,” Avraham said urgently. “I have money.”
The man wrote out the papers and threw them at Avraham. “Take it and go!”
When Avraham returned to his hotel, the two NKVD officers were waiting for him. “We have a one-way ticket for you - to Siberia.”
“But I already have a ticket to Vladivostock,” protested Avraham.
Taking the ticket from his hands, the officers laughed cruelly. “We are the NKVD! We tell you where to go.”
Recognizing The Signature of a Fellow NKVD Officer
And then one officer noticed the signature on the papers. “Do you think he knows who signed these?” he asked his comrade in Russian. The second officer studied the official signature. “It’s a fellow NKVD officer,” he muttered.
Avraham listened carefully to the conversation. “Excuse me,” he interrupted them. “Do you realize who signed my ticket?”
The officers looked up in surprise and disgust. Take your ticket and get out of here. If you’re still here in a couple hours, we’re coming back for you!”
Avraham fled, heading for Vladivostock. His friends joined him shortly afterward, and the entire group escaped to Shanghai- where they survived the war. The words of Rashi had saved Rav Avraham Krupnik’s life. (Excerpted from “Visions of Greatness IX”)
Reprinted from the Parshat Mikess 5784 email of Rabbi David Bibi’s Shabbat Shalom from Cyberspace.
