By Rabbi Yosef Weiss
Rav Yisrael Gustman was the Rosh Yeshivah of Yeshivat Netzach Yisrael, in the Rechavia section of Jerusalem. Several of his students were walking past his house one day, and they noticed Rav Gustman watering his front garden.
"May we water the plants for the Rosh Yeshivah?" they offered.
Rav Gustman hesitatingly explained that he preferred to water the plants himself.
A few days later, the same students passed Rav Gustman's house, and again found him watering the plants. "What can be so important about watering a few plants? The Rosh Yeshivah is spending so much time on it!" one of them wondered.
"Perhaps he does it for relaxation," another boy suggested.
"Impossible!" countered a third. "There must be a better reason for the Rosh Yeshivah to devote so much time to such a trivial task."
The boys decided to find out, and one of the students approached Rav Gustman with their question.
"I was once walking with R' Chaim Ozer Grodzinsky in a forest," Rav Gustman explained. "We were discussing various Torah topics, and I wasn't paying too much attention to the surrounding trees and bushes. We were completely absorbed in our discussion.
"Suddenly, R' Chaim Ozer interrupted the conversation. He pointed to a plant we were passing by. 'This one is nutritious,' he told me. He pointed to another plant. 'This one is poisonous.'
"He then continued on with the topic under discussion. Several times during the ensuing conversation, however, he interrupted himself to point out other edible plants.
"I was a bit puzzled by R' Chaim Ozer's interruptions, but I didn't question him. I made sure, however, to observe and remember what he had told me, for I was certain that he had some reason for telling me this.
"Shortly after that, World War II began. I had to hide in the forest, and I had almost no food with me. The hunger was almost unbearable. One day, I happened to glance down at the forest floor, and I recognized one of the plants that R' Chaim Ozer had pointed out to me, many months earlier. I lived almost entirely on those plants during the war years, and they saved my life.
"I feel obligated to show my appreciation to the plants that saved my life, and therefore, I water them personally." (Excerpted from “Visions of Greatness” by Rabbi Yosef Weiss.)
Reprinted from the Parashat Shemot 5784 email of Rabbi David Bibi’s Shabbat Shalom from Cyberspace.
