Follow ChabadInfo & Never Miss an Update!

Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our WhatsApp status and broadcast Follow us on Tiktok Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on Google News Subscribe on YouTube

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

This week’s section describes the last moments of the Jews in Mitzriam (Egypt) before their birth as a nation.

This was to become the first Jewish holiday, Pesach …. Jewish Independence Day.

On Pesach the Jews became freed not just from Egyptian bondage but also from all limits of creation, (both spiritual as well as physical); they became G-d’s, the CREATOR’S, nation and His representatives in the world.

But just before leaving G-d commanded them to do a very strange thing; everyone had to kill and eat a roasted lamb (Koban Pesach).

What does roasted lamb have to do with this? And what does it mean to us today when we have no such commandment?

I would like to answer with a story.

A very talented Chabad Rabbi, Rabbi Shochet, once received an invitation from an organization in Buffalo New York to speak before a crowd of intellectuals, among which were soon-to-be priests, on the topic of charity.

He had his reservations about speaking to such a crowd; on one hand he wanted to educate, but on the other hand he wanted to avoid interfaith debates, so he called the office of the Lubavitch Rebbe and requested from one of the secretaries to ask the Rebbe what to do.

The answer came immediately, The Rebbe said that he should accept the offer, and to be sure to end his lecture with the story of the ‘Rich Miser of Krakow’.

Rabbi Shochet threw himself into the task, (although the Rebbe’s insistence on that particular story seemed a bit unusual) and when the date arrived, he flew to Buffalo and gave a fascinating two hour-long speech describing the uniqueness of the Torah approach to ‘Tzadaka’ (from the word ‘Tzedik’ ‘Justice’; we give G-d’s money not our own) and he concluded with the story the Rebbe had mentioned.

“Once in the city of Krakow almost four hundred years ago lived a rich Jew named Yisroel. No one knew his last name and no one even cared, because he was an unfriendly person. He lived in a large, plush home and was very rich, but he was a hardhearted miser and everyone avoided him. If ever an unsuspecting money collector would knock on his door, he would receive an abrupt ‘No money!’ and a door slammed in his face.

“Now, although it is forbidden to call people derogatory names, this old man was so stingy that eventually everyone began calling him ‘Yisroel Goy’ (gentile) saying that only a non-Jew could be so callous to other Jews, and unfortunately the name stuck.

“So it continued for many years, in fact everyone completely forgot about the old skinflint, until one day the burial society (Chevre Kadisha) received a message to come to his bedside.

“‘Here is two thousand dollars, you’re not going to get another penny from me so don’t ask,’ He announced to them. ‘I want you to bury me in a good spot, not near the fence or the garbage dump, and write on my tombstone: ‘Yisroel Goy’’. He then said the ‘Shma Yisroel’ prayer, closed his eyes and passed away.

“No one knew exactly how old he was, maybe ninety, maybe more, but one thing for sure; no one wept at his funeral, in fact only the mandatory ten  people attended, and they also didn’t bury him exactly where he wanted. Rather they gave the money he paid to the poor.

But they did write what he wanted on his tombstone: ‘YISROEL GOY’. And that was the end of a sad episode in the history of Krakow. Or so they thought.

“One afternoon, about one week later, the Rav of the city, Rabbi Yom-Tov Lipman Heller (author of ‘Tosfos Yom Tov’ on Mishna) heard a knock on his door and when he opened it about fifty hungry faces greeted him. ‘Yes, can I help you?’ he asked incredulously, ‘Where are you all from?’ “‘We are from here, from here! From Krakow.’ One of them cried out, ‘and we are hungry, we haven’t eaten anything all day.’

“The Rav didn’t understand what was going on but he invited them all in, found them all places to sit and while his wife was preparing something for them to eat, he heard theirs story.

It seems that these poor people had been going to the grocery store every day for as long as they could remember and taking what they needed, they only had to sign, and that was it. But since yesterday the grocery owner refused to give them anything, so they were all hungry.

“‘Very strange’ thought the Rav to himself. ‘So many hungry people, and all from Krakow? Could it be that they are lying? I must get to the bottom of this.’

“He waited for them to finish eating and told them to come again tomorrow morning. Then he put on his overcoat, told his wife that he would return shortly and walked out the door in the direction to the home of the town treasurer. From far away he could see that there was a crowd of people gathered there as well, and as he approached he could hear the treasurer trying to make some order of the chaos that was prevailing. ‘Oy!! Am I glad you are here!’ He shouted out when he saw the Rav. ‘Look inside, my house is filled too, there must be three hundred people here, and this is the second shift, a big group just left!! They say they the grocery store used to give them free food.

“‘I know, the Rav answered, they came to me also, different people that is, but hungry and all of them gave the same story. I simply don’t understand it.’

“After everyone had been fed and the treasurer distributed money for tomorrow’s meals, both he and the Rav walked to the Grocery store. “‘Sure,’ the owner answered, ‘I used to give everyone food. They would sign and I’d give the bill at the end of each week to that old rich guy that just died, the one they called Yisroel Goy. I mean, it’s been going on for, I’d say forty years, maybe more, even before I owned the store. I mean he was my best customer that old man. But what… he kept warning me not to tell anyone, even my wife. Every time he would pay he said if he heard that people knew he was paying, he’d stop. I don’t know why he didn’t want me to tell.

Did you see at his funeral? I was there, it was terrible; he almost didn’t have a minyan (ten people)! I guess he only cared about those poor people. But now that he’s not around well, what can I do? I can’t give food for free! I mean I have a wife and family too. Maybe I can give something, but he used to give thousands each week! I can’t give thousands like him. I hope that’s not the reason that you came to my house. I’m sure willing to help, but what can I do?’

“When the Rav and the treasurer heard these words, they looked at each other and began weeping. They had made a terrible error in judgment. The Rav declared a day of fasting and prayer for the next day.

“The word spread like wildfire and everyone gathered at the Shul to say Psalms, they realized that they had made a big mistake. After several hours the Rav stood at the podium and announced that they were all going to the graveyard.

“It was a strange site to see so many people walking somberly, like a funeral with no coffin. The Rabbi led them into the graveyard until they were gathered around the grave. For some reason the tombstone was covered with a large cloth but everyone’s attention focused on the Rav as he stepped from the crowd, stood at the foot of the grave, and began to speak.

“‘Yisroel, Yisroel! We’ve come here today to say we are sorry.’ He paused; the silence was broken by some muffled weeping from the crowd. ‘I know you don’t need our apologies but we are sorry! We’re sorry that we were so cruel, crueler than we accused you of being. And we’re sorry that no one was your friend and that no one really cared.’ Now the cries were louder, almost everyone was sobbing. The Rav waited for silence, dried his eyes and continued.

“‘I know you wanted the words ‘Yisroel Goy’ written on your tombstone. Well, we did as you asked but I’ve done something that I hope you won’t mind … I had the stonecutter add a word’. With this, the Rav pulled away the cloth and in place of Yisroel Goy the inscription now read:

‘YISROEL GOY… KADOSH’ (Israel, a Holy Nation.)”

With this Rav Shochet finished his lecture and the crowd showed their satisfaction with rounds of applause. After he had finished shaking hands and was making his way out the door one of the young men studying for the priesthood approached him and asked if it was possible to see him alone later.

There was something strangely sincere in the young man’s eyes and Rav Shochet set an appointment for the next afternoon in his hotel room. The young man appeared at the time they set and after sitting down requested that the Rabbi repeat the story he told, and then requested explaination on several points. He listened deeply to the answers and when they finished, they shook hands and parted.

Years later Rav Shochet, on a visit to Israel, was praying at the Kotel (Wailing Wall) when a young, religious, bearded Jew approached him and shook his hand warmly. “Do you recognize me?” he asked, “I am the priest that visited you years ago in your hotel room.”

Rav Shochet recognized him and was so astounded he couldn’t speak.

“Yes, you don’t know what that story you told about the miser did to me” the young man continued. “You see, my mother was Jewish but she kept it a secret. She escaped to America from Poland in the war and there she married a devout Catholic, gave birth to me and I was raised as a gentile. You see, it wasn’t so easy being a Jew in those times. Just before she died she told me that we are Jews, are related to a holy generous Jew that lived in Krakow hundreds of years ago, and told me that story.”
“But it meant little to me then. But just now when you told that same story it woke something that was sleeping in my soul and I’ve returned to my true self.
It took several years, but Rabbi Shochet now understood why the Lubavitcher Rebbe insisted on that particular story.

With this we can understand the Pesach Offering.

The ‘Paschal Lamb’ was the first time in history that people became holy through eating, and eating meat no less.

Usually if one wants to become spiritual it is though fasting and abstinence. But here G-d demanded from an entire nation to slaughter, roast and eat sheep and goats in order to free themselves and attain a new type of Holiness; The physical became higher than the spiritual!

In other words; G-d Himself chose a nation of people that would reveal that the Torah is G-d’s will, and the entire PHYSICAL creation if used according to the Torah can be made holy; even higher than ‘heaven’! Revealing the Oneness of G-d IN THE WORLD.

Something like our Yisroel Goy. He shunned fame and favor and earned the title “Kadosh” ‘Holy’ because he devoted himself and his riches totally to the physical act of giving charity.
Or like the young priest when he heard the Rabbi tell the story of the miser, he left the pristine boundaries (Mitzriam) of spiritual selfishness to cling to the true will of the Creator; to elevate the world rather than reject it.

THAT is called ‘Leaving Egypt’.

And just as the leaving from Egypt back then needed a redeemer; Moses, so also (like the priest in our story) our generation will be redeemed by the Lubavitcher Rebbe; the Moshiach of our generation.

It all depends on us.

We are standing on the merits of thousands of years of Jewish hopes, prayers and suffering. Now it could be that just one more good deed, word or even thought will bring ……  

Moshiach NOW!!

By Rabbi Tuvia Bolton
Yeshiva Ohr Tmimim
Kfar Chabad, Israel

27