Parsha Vayishlach - 5763
       

Yaakov is journeying home when he is confronted by Esav, who is coming at him with 400 blood thirsty soldiers. Yaakov does not shrink from the challenge. With great courage and faith, he faces the dangerous confrontation. With the help of Hashem (G-d), Yaakov emerges unscathed. There are many times in our history when we are forced to confront an enemy. Times when we must have deep trust in Hashem. We bring you to one such time:

 

        The year is 1917, the communists take over Russia and begin their tyrannical campaign to wipe out religion and Judaism. In Minsk, a rabbi, Reb Shiah, vows no matter the cost, he is going to continue fulfilling the Torah and helping others fulfill the Torah. After an amazing 4 years without interference from the Communists, the rabbi is "invited" to an interview with the Chehka, the secret police. Knowing what the invitation means, he puts his affairs in order, says good-bye to family and prepares for the worst.

        At the secret police headquarters, he is ushered into a room. The interrogator greets him cordially in Yiddish, "Reb Shiah, would you like to have a seat?" This is not how the people who had survived them described these sessions to him! Seeing the rabbi frozen in indecision, the interrogator tells him to "please sit down." He then asks, "Reb Shiah, perhaps you and your family would like to go to Palestine?" Reb Shiah doesn't know what to answer. If he says, "Yes", then he is a disloyal citizen. He's silent.

        The interrogator sees that he is getting nowhere, so he reaches into a drawer and pulls out a five-inch thick file and puts it down in front of the rabbi. "Reb Shiah, this is your file. It details everything - every Mitzvah, every child you taught, every Bris that you performed." Reb Shiah looks at the file and trembles.

        "Reb Shiah," says the interrogator, "for the last four years I have been assigned to your case. It is I who has protected you and watched out for you. Now I am being promoted and there is no way it will go well for you with a record like this. The best I can do for you is to help you and your family get to Palestine. I see that you don't recognize me." He then tells the rabbi his name and the rabbi is shocked - the interrogator is the son of a famous rabbi who died young.

        The interrogator continues, "I want you to know why I have been protecting you. After my father died, it was very difficult for our family. One Friday, before Shabbat, my mother came running to your home with me in her arms. She cried out to you, 'Reb Shiah, what are we going to do? We have nothing in the house!' You were dressed in your long black Shabbas robe and you had a beautiful gold watch and chain. Without a moment's hesitation, you reached down, grabbed the watch, handed it to my mother and said, 'Take this!' For months we lived from the money we got for the watch and I have never forgotten it!"

 

The foregoing true story was submitted by Rabbi Berel Simpser, Des Moines Kollel.

       A Rabbi was giving a lecture and commented that everything mentioned in the Torah teaches us a deep eternal lesson that has a dramatic impact on our lives today and for all time. Every word of Torah is precious. 

        A scoffer in the audience sneered,"What great lesson do we learn from the verse 'Va'achos Lotan Timnah?' 'and the sister of Lotan was Timnah' (Gen 36:22) This is just a boring historical factoid.  I don't care about Lotan and I don't care about Timnah, and I certainly don't care that they were brother and sister. What marvelous inspiring lesson do we learn from this insignificant statement?" 

        The Rabbi responded, "Why we learn one of the most profound lessons in  Judaism from this verse. The Torah wrote previously (Gen 36:12) that Timnah was the concubine of Eliphaz the son of Esav the grandson of Avraham. Now it is telling us that she was the sister of Lotan - a Chief of Edom. She was born into royalty. Why would she make herself a mere concubine?" 

        The reason was that she recognized the greatness and holiness of the G-d of Avraham, and decided to be connected to this greatness by marrying one of Avraham's descendents. The only way she could do this was by becoming a concubine to Eliphaz. 

        Being attached to G-d's shechina (presence), even in this tangential manner, meant so much to her, that this regal princess was willing to make herself a lowly concubine in order to attain this closeness to Hashem (G-d)." 

        The Rabbi concluded, "If Hashem's holy shechina meant so much to her that she was willing to sacrifice so much - think of how much it should mean to us and how much we should do to be close to Hashem and walk in His ways."

        On December 5, 1941 (Kislev 15, 5702) Rav Dovid Leibowitz ztz"l passed away after a terrible illness. He was a relatively young man, building up a small yeshiva in Brooklyn with a grand vision of spreading Torah in and across America. The burden of his dream fell on his 26 year old son Rav Henoch Leibowitz who took over the helm of the Chofetz Chaim Yeshiva. He served for twenty years when he reached a crossroads. The yeshiva never quite got off the ground - twenty years of sacrifice with barely anything to show for it. This was incredibly frustrating and depressing. Rav Leibowitz had so much to give, yet precious few talmidim (students) were coming to receive it. He wanted to call it quits. He considered going into a different area of Rabbinics which didn't have the same issues, pressures and problems. After much soul searching, he reached deep within himself and recalled that his father Rav Dovid had told him that leading the yeshiva was within his grasp and was the greatest thing he could do. Rav Leibowitz strategized and revamped the methods by which he led the yeshiva. The yeshiva began to turn around.