Weekly Story: When the Frost Doesn’t Affect You
by Rabbi Sholom Avtzon
Once on a bitter freezing wintery day, when Reb Aizik Homiler was travelling, he passed by an army base. He noticed an officer standing on guard outside the base, braving the biting frost, making sure no unauthorized person enters without permission.
To his astonishment he then saw a higher ranking officer come over to the guard and began whacking his feet mercilessly with a baton.
Witnessing such brutality, Reb Aizik couldn’t just ignore it and asked the high ranking officer, “Why are you whacking him like this? What did he do wrong?”
The official replied, “What kind of question are you asking, what infraction did he do? Don’t you see that while he was standing on guard, his feet became frostbitten from the cold!”
This really dumbfounded Reb Aizik and he said, “And so, what is bad with that. Isn’t the temperature outside a bitter frost and he obeyed the command to stand on watch in this place and not to move. Is it possible for ones feet not to become frostbitten under such circumstances?”
The official responded, “The fact that he is on guard and the fact that he is in the service of his majesty, the Czar, – that in itself should have kept him warm!! The act that he lacked this enthusiasm, borders on rebellion!”
When Reb Aizik related this incident to chassidim he said, There is a tremendous lesson to be learned from this saying. I davened with it for three months, until it became part of me. We are servants of the King of all Kings. Additionally, our service is an obligation we have, to Hashem. This in itself should keep us warm.
Dear Chassidim of the Rebbe:
The twenty-two years since Gimmel Tammuz have been a long freezing winter. The turbulent wind is blowing stronger than ever. However, we have to remember we are on a mission, a mission given to us by the Rebbe. By remaining focused on who we are – chassidim of the Rebbe, and what our mission is – to spread the teachings of Chassidus and bringing Jews closer to Hashem, His Torah and fulfilling His mitzvos, that has the power and ability to keep us warm, until we merit the coming of Moshiach may it be speedily in our days.
This thought is in memory of my dear brother-in-law, a true chossid of the Rebbe, Reb Menachem Meir ben Rav Chaim Moshe Yehudah HaCohen Blau, a”h, whose passion for every word of the Rebbe remained as strong as the day he heard it. As was evident in everything he did, especially as one heard the pain in his heart as he cried out AD MOSAI.
The author can be contacted at avtzonbooks@gmail.com, and is available to farbreng in your community.
48 yr in the hood
wow shalom ! what a gr8
story . our fathers davind with that typ of warmth ,
on 7 mile road
Milhouse
It is physically impossible for a sense of duty to keep someone warm. (Nor is it possible to grow fat from a feeling of pleasure, whether at saying omein yehei shmeih rabbo or at hearing that one has been elected emperor.) And it’s morally offensive to learn lessons from the brutality of the Czar’s army. It’s a shame that our ancestors lived in a society where such wickedness was taken for granted as right and just.
Hashem’s army is nothing like the Czar’s, and a soldier who is on guard in the cold is entitled to stamp his feet and move around to avoid frostbite, and if that’s insufficient then he’s entitled to demand shorter shifts, because his wellbeing is important.
Ezra
Other things that are physically impossible (let’s mark these as PI) and/or morally offensive (MO):
* PI: several million Hebrews living in Egypt, yet leaving hardly an archeological trace of their presence
* MO & PI: innocent Egyptian children dying of plagues, many of which cannot be explained by natural causes
* PI: the same several million Hebrews trekking through a desert and managing to have food and water (again, without leaving traces of their passing through)
* MO & PI: the mass slaughter of whole peoples, with hardly any archeological evidence of a massive population replacement in Canaan at that time
* PI: G-d descending on a mountaintop and speaking to people
We may therefore conclude that according to Milhouse the things labeled PI didn’t happen, and the ones labeled MO are something to be ashamed of. Where that leaves him Jewishly… is left as an exercise for the reader.
48 yr in the hood
mill house thanks 4 yr two cents .
but Reb izik homler was the greatest of the greatest
CHT
I would think that helps with blood circulation