Purim time of 2021, the famed author of the Siyata D’Shmaya Mishnayos, Reb Shmaya Greenbaum, called Reb Yisrael Falkowitz, who’d been in quarantine for several months, to wish him well. During the call, Reb Shmaya recounted how he had also been hospitalized during the Covid pandemic, due to the coronavirus, and B”H, he’s once again able to deliver the many shiurim that he once did, and he bentched Reb Yisrael with a speedy recovery.
After the dialogue, Reb Shmaya’s family asked what brought him to call Reb Yisrael. They weren’t aware of any association between the two, and yet it seemed from how they spoke that there was a very warm acquaintance between them.
Reb Shmaya explained to them that all the sefarim that he brought forth to the world were in the zechus of Reb Yisrael. Seeing their perplexed faces, he went on to explain:
For this, we must go back to the 1960s in Williamsburg. You have to understand what took place then. Our community was composed of many Holocaust survivors. We all understood what everyone else experienced during the Holocaust years, and when any of us made a simcha, it was celebrated with friends and family in an unparallelled manner. The aura in the simcha room was filled with a sense of Netzach Yisrael lo yishaker — the eternity of the Yidden will never fade. We were so happy to have outlived those bitter years.
Each Bar Mitzvah was joined with the entire class, who shared along in this mood. The class would buy a nice set of Shas for the Bar Mitzvah boy, something that in those days was a rare gem, and this present was treasured for a lifetime.
There was one boy in the class who wouldn’t join in the other boy’s Bar Mitzvos. He was very diligent in his learning, and even during recess he would stay and learn. Similarly, during the Bar Mitzvos of his friends, he sat and learned.
When it came time for his Bar Mitzvah, the peers agreed between themselves that they wouldn’t attend his Bar Mitzvah, and that they definitely wouldn’t be chipping in for a Shas. They were upset — perhaps even jealous — that he did not partake in their simchas, and they wanted to “repay” him by not joining in his simcha. This would be a blow to him and his family, who were looking forward eagerly to the simcha of their beloved masmid.
But there was one “Kalev” who quieted the class: “How can we do such a thing to our dear classmate?” he said. “We can’t just not show up. We must partake. Not only must we partake, but we must partake more than we do with all our other friends. After all, he’s more devoted to learning, which is only a reason to be more b’simcha and show respect. We must buy him the gift that all of us got on our auspicious day, if not something better.”
Hearing his perseverance, some of the group began reconsidering their decision. They reflected that they all should attend each other’s simchas, especially when one of them only wants to grow in Torah and avodas Hashem. Seeing some of the class reevaluate their decision caused the rest of them to shift their position, and by the time the Bar Mitzvah came around, all the boys were convinced that they should attend. That Bar Mitzvah turned out to be an uplifting experience enjoyed by everyone — by the Bar Mitzvah boy himself, and even the friends. At the end of the simcha, the Bar Mitzvah bachur was presented with a nice Vilna Shas — a cherry on top.
“And do you know who that Bar Mitzvah bachur was?” Reb Shmaya asked his family. “It was me. I was that boy who didn’t attend the Bar Mitzvos of my friends, and it was at me who the boys joined up against in protest. When I heard the class’s objection, I was distraught. That’s what I get for my additional learning? If that is what I receive for learning all that extra time, then forget it; I’m throwing in the towel.
“That was all until Reb Yisrael, the ‘Kalev,’ came along and protected me from that grave embarrassment on my special day. Now you understand what I was telling you — that if not for Reb Yisrael, I wouldn’t be giving all my different shiurim. With his protest, he saved my nitzchios. Is he not worthy of such a call?
“Not only that, but many years later, my father, Reb Yiddel Greenbaum, made a special trip to attend Reb Yisrael’s chasuna to express his hakaras ha’tov for ‘saving’ me.”
This all happened out of a consideration for someone else’s feelings. We can never know how far some ahavas Yisrael can go.
