Last week’s International Holocaust Remembrance Day generated a heightened sensitivity to the inhumane treatment and the systematic murder of our brethren by the Nazis.
I was recently talking with my friend Mr. Chesky Schoenberger and he told me the following story. Chesky cared for the needs of an elderly Chassidic rabbi, Reb Mecha’le Mechlowitz, the Zlotchover Rebbe o.b.m. Reb Mecha’le refused to see a medical doctor. He would quip that he had the best Doctor and His Doctor charged nothing! He would then quote a verse from the Torah, “For I am G-d, your Healer!”
At eighty-five years old, Reb Mecha’la eyes and sight were deteriorating and Chesky was finally able to convince him to see a top eye specialist in Manhattan. At the office, they were given medical information forms to fill out. When it came to medications – he said he took none.
Then he was asked to provide the name of his primary doctor. He said he had none.
Chesky handed in the forms and the secretary said that it was imperative that the specialist know the name of a patient’s doctor.
Chesky went back to the Rebbe and told him that they needed to know a doctor he had seen. Reb Mecha’la tuned to him and said, “Tell her, the last doctor I saw was…. Mengele, back at the entrance to Auschwitz! Chesky cleared his throat and told the secretary what Reb Mecha’la said. The secretary had no clue as to who Mengele was.
The Jewish doctor came in to examine Reb Mecha’la and as he was reviewing his chart he asked him who his doctor was. Reb Mecha’la rolled up his sleeve and exposed his number to the doctor and he said the last doctor I saw was Mengele! Needless to say, it took a few minutes for the stunned and emotional doctor to compose himself.
Reb Nissen Lesser, a holocaust survivor, passed away this week at the age of 98. I watched an interview that he gave not too long ago. It was amazing that he remembered and wished to talk about the great courage he and others had during the year they spent in Aushwitz. Through barter, he was able to get a raw Shofar and he had someone who knew how to prepare it, make it usable. He blew it on Rosh Hashana before and after roll call. Each Friday night he had a cup of wine – made from soaked raisins – which he received through barter. For Pesach he was able to procure flour and he somehow baked 13 small matzos.
Reb Nissen felt that his determination to fulfill these Mitzvos gave him special Divine assistance to enable him to fulfill them. As the Talmud says, “In the way a person decides to go, He is Divinely directed in that way.”
He said that the Nazis were obsessed with roll calls. If even one person was missing there were massive and horrible repercussions, because the Nazis did not want anyone to escape, fearing they would expose the atrocities they were conducting.
When asked about his entry into Aushwitz, Reb Nissen could not mention the wicked Mengele’s name, he just said, “The Rasha – wicked one – with a mere movement of his hand, either to the right or the left, determined our fate.”
Reb Nissen said that the Nazis murdered millions and robbed all of them from their time on earth. He then said that time is the greatest commodity we have in life. If we waste it, we’re essentially assisting in killing away our own existence. He said he did not read a newspaper for it was a waste of time. Pretty powerful words! He worked, studied Torah, helped others and lived an exemplary and inspirational life!
This week’s Parsha contains G-d’s instructions to create a Mishkan – Temple. Three vessels of the Temple had a ridge around them that resembled a crown; the Holy Ark, the inner golden Altar and the Table on which the showbread was placed.
The crown of the Ark represents the crown that one bears when they study Torah. The crown of the Altar represents the crown of the Priesthood and when one serves G-d. The crown of the Table represents the crown of kingdom, which includes those who G-d endows with prosperity and they assist others with it.
In the book my father o.b.m. authored, he quotes his Rebbe, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein o.b.m. who points out that when the Torah describes the Table it makes two mentions of a crown. Commentaries wonder if there were indeed two crowns on the Table or just one.
Reb Moshe explained the two crowns on the Table as follows. One represents the crown of wealth/monarchy. The second crown represents the crown of the study of Torah. The crown one bears due to wealth needs to be in harmony with the crown of Torah study and the support of it.
The study of Torah belongs to every one of us – it is the birthright of every Jew to study, embrace and wear proudly. It serves to guide us, elevate us and is there for us to occupy our time enabling us to connect to Hashem/G-d in the most direct, productive, pure and rewarding way!
