“Hashem said to Moshe: You are soon to lie with your fathers. This people will go astray after the alien gods in their midst, in the land that they are about to enter; they will forsake Me and breech My covenant that I made with them. Then My anger will flare up against them, and I will abandon them and hide My countenance from them. They shall be ready prey; and many evils and troubles shall befall them. And they shall say on that day, “Surely it is because our God is not in our midst that these evils have befallen us.” Yet I will keep My countenance hidden on that day, because of all the evil they have done in turning to other gods. Therefore, write down this poem and teach it to the people of Israel; put it in their mouths, in order that this poem may be My witness against the people of Israel.” (Deut. 31:16-19]. These are bad news and cannot be characterized as a Poem or more specifically a Song. Though, Hashem instructed Moshe to write “That Song”. How come then, Moshe on his own chef decided to add to what he was ordered? The Tzeror Hamor [Rav Avraham Sabba who lived the exile from Spain and was a renamed Kabbalist] explains that the entire Torah is included in this Song, as well as everything that will occur to the Jews till the end of times. The Parasha totals 42 Verses, which is somehow short for describing all the unfortunate incidents and sufferings that occurred during our history. Rav Avraham Sabba suggests that the number 42 symbolizes that this Parasha was sealed with the secret name of Hashem of 42 letters. This name was used for the creation of our world and to set the conditions with the nature and all the forces, that repentance should not only erase the sins but turn them into good deeds. This is base on the logic that the repented, had he had a chance to go back, he would choose to act according to the Torah. Only because of the nature and its forces he is unable to go back in time. The Midrash Eicha recounts, when Hashem destroyed the Beis Hamikdash, the prophet Yirmiyahu went to Chevron to “wake up” the Patriarchs, so they should petition the Almighty on behalf of their children who suffered this tragedy. Yirmiyahu woke up Avraham Avinu and washed his hands. Avraham stood before Hashem and asked, “Why is this happening to my children?” Hashem replied, “It is because your children have sinned. I will summon the 22 letters of the Alphabet to testify of it.” The Aleph got up to testify and Avraham interjected, “Shame on you! How can you testify against my children? The Ten Commandments begin with the letter Aleph. Was it not the Jewish people who unquestioningly accepted Hashem’s Torah and claimed; ‘We will do, and we will listen’?” The Aleph became silent and withdrew. The letter Beis was then summoned to testify. Again, Avraham asked, “Are you not ashamed to testify against the Jewish people? Does the Torah not begin with the letter Beis? When Hashem took the Torah and offered it to all the nations of the world, no nation was willing to accept it. They all wanted to first know what was written in it. When they heard its contents, they all refused it. However, my children did not ask any questions. They said Naaseh Venishma and accepted it.” The Beis remained quiet and retreated. However, our Holy and loving Shepherd, Moshe Rabbeinu, unlike Avraham Avinu, requested that the Song and all the letters to testify., he actually forced them by using the Hashem’s name of 42 letters and hinted it by writing 42 verses. Thus, they must tell the full story, not only the bad. They must relate the suffering and the acts of bravery of our Saints that gave their life instead of defiling the name of Hashem. Unquestionably the miseries and abuses will tip the scale in our favor. Let Hashem be the Judge as stated in the Verse: “The Rock, His deeds are perfect, all His ways are just; A faithful God, never false, True and upright is He.” (Deut. 32:4). This story appears in the introduction to a Responsa Sefer called Shaylos Uteshuvos Mekadshei HaShem written by Rav Tzvi Hirsch Meislish, who lived his later years in Chicago, and who spent the war years in several Concentration Camps. He was known as the Weitzener Rav. Rav Meislish relates about one Rosh Hashanah in Auschwitz. There were a few young Yeshiva students who were about to be cremated alive. They found out that he had smuggled in a Shofar. It was the first day of Rosh Hashanah toward the end of the day. They bitterly begged that him come to their barrack and blo w the 100 blasts for them, so that they might fulfill this mitzvah one last time before their life ends brutally in the hands of the cursed nazis. Rabbi Meislish describes that he was deeply troubled. He did not know what to do, as such an act of defiance would certainly endanger his life if he were caught by the nazis. To compound the dilemma, his young son Zalman Leib was begging him to please NOT risk his life by doing this, begging that he should not become an orphan because of his father’s foolhardy action. Rav Meislish recounts that the youngsters’ plea overwhelmed him as they were living their last hours and all they had in mind was to hear the Shofar one last time. He decided, despite the danger, to comply with their request to enable them to perform the Mitzva of Shofar, come what may. He knew that in accordance with the halacha it was not the correct decision, as it forbids even possible martyrdom for the sake of performing a positive commandment such as blowing the Shofar. Thus, his chances of remaining alive in this hell were truly very slim, and therefore under those circumstances perhaps normative Halacha prohibiting martyrdom did not fully apply. He arrived in their Barrack and prepared to blow the Shofar, but the boys begged, “Rabbi, Rabbi have mercy. Please tell us first a few words of spiritual arousal before blowing the shofar as it is the custom.” Let us imagine this! These are young boys who are about to die in a matter of hours, and they insisted on hearing a “schmooze” before Shofar Blowing in Auschwitz! Rabbi Meislish explained the Verse: “Blow shofar on the new month, at the ‘time of hiding’ on the day of our holiday” [Tehilim 81:4]. The simple interpretation of ‘time of hiding’ refers to the fact that the moon is hidden at the start of the month of Tishrei to confuse Satan. But he homiletically interpreted that they were in a time when Hashem’s Providence was hidden, they could not figure out why all this was happening to them. Nevertheless, he told them, “we need to have faith”. He completed his “schmooze” and then he blew the Shofar. Right before they were taken out to the crematorium, as Rabbi Meislish was about to leave their cellblock, one of the young men stood up and addressed his comrades: “The Rabbi gave us strength and taught us to never give up hope and to always hope for the best; though we must also be prepared for the worst. For Hashem’s sake, dear brothers, let us not become confused and forget to cry out with great devotion and intensity at the last moment of our lives: Shema Yisrael!” They then all called out with great devotion and intensity “Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad.” Then another student got up and said “Let us all acknowledge the great self – sacrifice of the Rabbi for coming here to blow the Shofar for us. Let us all give him a blessing that in the merit of his action he should be spared, make it out of here alive and well and go on to have a long, good and healthy life.” Everyone shouted out at the top of their lungs “Amen veAmen”. Rav Meilish concluded, that the purpose of him writing this story was for the world to know forever the great mesiras nefesh [sacrifice for Mitzvas] these young men demonstrated! Therefore, Moshe turned this Poem into a witness, to testify that even at the gates of death Jews have not forgotten Hashem. The merit of these youngsters and the alike through the generations. There were thousands upon thousands that have sacrificed their lives for Hashem. In the merit of these Kedoshim [saints], Hashem should grant his children a year of Life and Health and bring the final redemption.

By Rabbi Fridmann * [email protected] * 305.985.3461

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