Eternal Connections

“You may take one small suitcase with essentials. Nothing else will be allowed on the train.” Terror gripped the townspeople as they were ordered by Nazi soldiers to assemble in the town square within two hours for “relocation.” They did not know that as the moment they would step off the trains, everything they brought with them would be taken away. Meanwhile, they busied themselves with gathering food, basic clothing, sweaters and toiletries. 

This winter I had an “aha moment.” It’s always more powerful when you come to an understanding on your own than when you hear the idea from others.   

Grab and Eat, Grab and Drink  The famed maggid, Rav Yaakov Galinsky, would relate that as a young child he was quite rambunctious. His father decided to send him away to the Novardok yeshivah in Bialystok, which was well-known for its emphasis on character improvement.  

One day, the secretary in the office of P’eylim/Lev L’Achim fielded an unusual call. The man on the line was asking that his monthly donation of ten shekels be increased to fourteen. Rabbi Uri Zohar, who was in the office at the time, was intrigued. Four shekels is equivalent to a little over $1. Rabbi Zohar called the man back, thanked him for his monthly donation, and then gently asked him to explain the reason for increasing his donation.

What was Holding Him Back? As the men hurried home to make havdalah, a powerful blast rocked the Bais Yisrael neighborhood in Yerushalayim. It was Motzei Shabbos Parshas Ki Sisa, 2002, and a devastating terrorist attack had occurred, leaving many innocent victims dead in its wake. One of them was Shauli Nechmad, H”yd, a fifteen-year-old bachur from Bnei Brak, who had been in Yerushalayim for a family bar mitzvah.

A Journey Worth Taking Each time a new baby was born into the Bloch family, Rav Yosef Leib Bloch, Rav and Rosh Yeshivah of Telshe in Europe, would bring his other children into the room where his wife was recuperating. He would lift the newborn into his arms and speak straight to the child, “Yingele, yingele” or, “Maidele, maidele, your neshamah just traveled all the way from the Kisei Hakavod. You should know that your purpose in this world is to be mekadeish shem Shamayim. If you live by this principle, your trip to this world will have been worthwhile. If not, your trip will have been in vain.”