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By Rabbi Tuvia Bolton, Yeshiva Ohr Tmimim, Kfar Chabad, Israel

Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the Jewish year.

It is the day the High Priest; the holiest man in the world, entered the Holy of Holies in the Holy Temple; on the Holy Mountain in the Holy city of Jerusalem, capital of the Holy Land.

The Jews are also called Holy; Am Kadosh!

But what exactly does ‘Holy’ mean? How can a day or a city be holy?

Also, at the very end of Yom Kippur it is customary to sound a Shofar with one long blast. Does this have anything to do with holiness?

To understand this here is a story I heard years ago from Rabbi Shabtai Slavatitski the Rebbe’s Shliach (Representative) in Antwerp Belgium.

One Rabbi (It could have been Rabbi Slavatitski himself) had a large congregation many of whom were holocaust survivors. Each with their own traumatic memories and problems but all of them learned to pretty much cope.

One of them was Mr. Grois (fictitious name). He had become a successful good businessman and had a healthy sense of humor a generous heart and a keen mind.

But for some reason he never remained with everyone else in the Synagogue for the ‘Priestly’ Blessing of the Cohanim on the holidays. (The Cohanim are direct decedents from the Priests in the days of the Temple and they are commanded to bless the congregation with a fifteen-word blessing as prescribed in Num. 6:24-26. Outside of Israel the blessing is usually made only three times a year; on the holidays in the morning ‘Musaf’ prayer.)

The Rabbi was always a bit apprehensive about asking Mr. Grois for an explanation but his curiosity became so great that he finally concocted a plan. He invited him to his home for a meal and after they had eaten well, sang a few songs and made a few ‘l’chaims’ he asked.

“Tell me Mr. Grois, I’ve noticed that you don’t stay for the blessing of the Cohanim. Is there some reason? Is something wrong? I mean, it’s not that important. It’s just something I noticed. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. I just wondered. Am I right?”

Mr. Grois became silent and it seemed that his eyes became glossy with some past vision, or perhaps with tears.

“Well, Rabbi” he began after almost a minute, “You are right. I don’t stay in Shul for the blessing. It’s like this….

“I was in Auschwitz. I can’t explain what happened there, I think it’s even forbidden to remember such things. But there was one person; we called him ‘The Rabbi’. No one knew his name, but he was different than all of us. I’m sure he lost his family and everything just like the rest of us but he never showed it. Not only that but he used to keep everyone’s spirits up.

“If he saw someone depressed, he would say a good word. If you ever wanted to talk, he would listen. He could listen forever. He always had a hand for a bent shoulder and a shoulder for someone to weep on and a hug for a broken heart and even a joke to break the sadness.

“Anyway, once it was getting close to Passover and one night, before we went to sleep after a terrible day of hard labor, he announced that we had to figure out a way to get Matzot. There were hundreds of us crowded in that big barracks. Everyone just wanted to sleep for a few hours, or just drop dead and he made us think of Matzot.

In any case, it worked. A few days later someone noticed on the way to where they took us to work a few crumbs of Matzos on the ground!

“It took a few days but finally the Rabbi found out that one of us prisoners had a job cleaning the house of one of the Nazi officers and this Jew risked his life and made a matzo for himself when the officer wasn’t at home. If he got caught he would have been killed for sure. Anyway a few crumbs must have fallen there near the road and that’s how we found out. It was a real miracle.

“The Rabbi had a talk with this fellow and at first he said it was impossible; too dangerous. But finally, he agreed … and he somehow succeeded in making two or three more Matzos. It was another miracle.

“It doesn’t matter that we were about five hundred Jews in that bunker. Do you hear? Five hundred! Maybe more. A lot of those Jews weren’t religious, everyone was on the verge of death. The only time we were free of misery was when we were asleep. And we needed every minute of sleep to be able to work in the morning. But that Passover night everyone was actually happy when the Rabbi woke us up as soon as the guards left, and showed us those Matzos.

“He broke them into pieces and handed them out, then each of us broke them into smaller pieces until each of us had a piece.

“Each person held it in his hand while the Rabbi recited what he remembered from the Passover Haggada by heart and we repeated after him. Finally, he made the blessing and ate and so did we. Each one made a blessing and ate his crumb of Matzo. At first, we were quiet, whispering so those German snakes wouldn’t hear us but after we ate, the Rabbi says like this; He says,

‘Listen Jews! Listen my friends and my brothers. We just left Egypt! See! No one can break our spirit! No one! We are free!!” And he began to sing a song. And dance. He danced! And we all danced.

“There were all sorts of Jews there a lot of them were atheists… but everyone danced. For one minute we sang and danced! We were free!

“But then the door burst open, a gunshot rang out and the spell was broken. A Nazi officer, pistol in hand, ten soldiers spread out behind him like mad dogs.

“‘What is this?!’ He screamed, red with anger. ‘SINGING??’ He screamed even louder. ‘In Auschwitz you cry, you don’t sing!”

He put his pistol to the head of one of the prisoners and said “Tell me who is responsible or I’ll kill you. We will kill all of you out one by one! WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS!!?”

“The Rabbi stepped forward and said in a loud, calm voice. “I am. I’m responsible. You can kill me. ”

“The officer motioned to his soldiers to grab the Rabbi, lowered his pistol, put it in its holster and said, “You won’t die so fast, Jew. You will die in the morning, in public by hanging. Tonight, no one sleeps! Tomorrow everyone watches.”

“They took the Rabbi away and a few hours later, before dawn they herded us out into the camp yard. There were several thousand prisoners, the entire camp, and armed Nazi guards everywhere, all around us and on the buildings with pointed rifles. There in the middle on a podium between the officer and two huge Gestapo guards stood the Rabbi, hands tied behind his back and a noose attached to a scaffold, around his neck.

“The officer standing erect, chest jutting out yelled. ‘Now, Jews, you will see what happens to someone who is happy in Auschwitz. Everyone will watch! Do you understand?! Everyone! Anyone that does not watch will be killed on the spot. ON THE SPOT!’

“But as they were tightening the noose around the Rabbi’s neck he turned to the officer and said in a clear voice for all to hear. “I demand my last wish! Doesn’t a dying man get a last wish?! ‘Where is your honor? Are you afraid to give me my last wish”’

“The commander hesitated, smiled as though amused and said,

“‘Last wish is it? Alright Jew….. What is your last wish?”

“I am a Cohen” he answered “And I want to raise my hands and bless the crowd.”

“‘Bless? Heh! And how long will this take?”

“It will take at most one minute, perhaps less” he replied. “But I want you to remove the noose and free my hands from behind my back.

The officer thought for a moment and said, “Very good! But if you try anything I will have you tortured! Do you hear me? Tortured for hours!” He motioned for one of the soldiers to remove the noose, made a motion to the other to untie his hands from behind him and tie them before him. Then looked at the watch on his wrist and said,

“You have thirty seconds.”

“The Rabbi stood proudly straight, closed his eyes, raised his hands and, like a voice from heaven, the fifteen words of the blessing rang out clearly. ‘Y’vorechechaw, HaShem, V’yishmorechaw,” We all burst out crying like babies and when he finished ….. they returned the noose and …. it was over.”

Mr. Grois dried his eyes. Cleared his throat and continued.

“That blessing that I heard that night is what kept me alive through the rest of the war and to this very day. It rings in my mind when there is no hope and shines in the darkness when all is lost. I never want to hear another Cohan’s blessing or forget that pure blessing. That is why I leave the Shul.”

This answers our question about ‘Holiness and the Shofar.

Holy means that which reveals G-d. Like the Rabbi’s timeless blessing in our story; it means ‘Ultra-Alive’; the SOURCE of life; Above and beyond all pain, death and suffering.
And why the Holy Temple provided Joy to all those who went there three times a year: ‘Moadim L’Simcha’.

Indeed, the Mishna says one of the two happiest days of the Jewish year is Yom Kippur (Taanit 4:8) because Yom Kippur gives us a taste of the future redemption that erases all sins and confusion.

That is why we sound the Shofar at the end of Yom Kippur.

The Shofar is like the voice from heaven in our story; the call of Moshiach, the preparation for the “Great Shofar” we pray for thrice daily.
It is the voice of the essence of G-d; of Joy, hope, meaning and blessing that will guide the lost, support the stumbling (Ovdim B’Aretz Ashur v’Nidachim B’Aretz Mitzriam) Jews and even enliven the dead.

And not much is lacking to make it happen. Today we are standing on the merits of thousands of years of Jewish suffering, prayers and self-sacrifice. Now it could be that just one more good deed, word, or even thought can change the world and bring the Geula.

Wishing all our readers a Gmar Ktiva V’Chatima Tova! A Happy healthy successful sweet NEW year with …… Moshiach NOW!

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