Weekly Dvar Torah: One Day, One Soul, One G-d
Let me share a few stories with you.
- Early 19th century, Cantonist village, Russia.
Reb Mordechai was traveling and he desperately looked for a place to spend Yom Kippur. He came upon a village of Cantonists with a synagogue where he could spend Yom Kippur.
The Cantonists were Jews who as children were kidnapped by the vicious anti-Semite, Czar Nicholas the first,, and were conscripted for 25 years in the army, with the sole purpose of tearing them away from Judaism. Many of them resisted, and were punished and flogged mercilessly because they stubbornly stuck to practice their faint knowledge of Judaism.
After 25 years, they returned broken and devastated, without family, and not knowing where they came from. They kept to themselves living in their own villages, where they lived a lonely life with their fellow Cantonists.
They knew very little about Yiddishkeit, but they were fully committed to Judaism regardless.
Reb Mordechai offered to be their Chazan, which they happily accepted, but on condition that the prayer of Neila, they reserve for themselves, and one of them will be the Chazan.
When it came to Neila, one of them approached the Holy Ark, and R’ Mordechai watches in horror as he ripped off the shirt from his back, standing naked in front of the ark, with a well beaten up body full of scars.
He was about to run over and tell him that this is very disrespectful to do in front of the open ark, especially on this Holy Day, and the time of the holiest prayer.
Suddenly the man started crying; G-d Almighty, we are simple ignorant Jews, we don’t know how to read, we don’t know how to pray, and we don’t know how to be proper Jews. Being kidnapped and conscripted for 25 years in the army, we have nothing and nobody. We have no families, we have no children. We have only You G-d. One thing we do have to say, look at our backs and see how we were whipped and beaten just because we refused to give up on You. So now that we come to You to ask for a good New Year, please disregard our inferior status. If we haven’t earned it, please do it for Your sake to sanctify Your Holy Name. Give the Jewish people a good sweet year and send Moshiach just because of You, and You alone!
Stunned, R’ Mordechai realized that this was the best prayer to be uttered before G-d at this special Holy moment of Yom Kippur at Neila.
- 20th century, Siberia Russia.
The legendary Reb Mendel Futerfas was in the Gulag in Siberia, courtesy of Stalin. One Yom Kippur he snuck away from labor, and in hiding he secretly prayed from memory whatever he could remember. He started chanting the hymn “וכל מאמינים – and everybody believes.” He thought to himself, here I am in the Gulag for being a Jew, and many Jews have succumbed to communism and they don’t really believe, how can we say that all Jews believes, is this really so?
Suddenly someone came into the room where he was praying. Reb Mendel thought to himself, this is it, they have caught me praying and they will shoot me in no time. Trying to ignore the guy, he continued praying as much as could, until they would take him away.
The visitor did not leave, and Reb Mendel’s fear only intensified. But there is nothing that he could do but to count his minutes.
When he finished praying, the visitor turned to him and said, when I noticed that you were absent from work, I remembered that today was Yom Kippur, and I was sure that you are hiding and praying somewhere. I wanted to join you, so I went to look for you.
I was so overcome by the intensity of the day, that I wanted to pray just like you. But unfortunately, the only prayer I could remember, was a prayer that my mother said with me every morning: מוֹדֶה אֲנִי לְפָנֶיךָ מֶלֶךְ חַי וְקַיָּם, שֶׁהֶחֱזַרְתָּ בִּי נִשְׁמָתִי בְּחֶמְלָה. רַבָּה אֱמוּנָתֶךָ. – “I thank you, living and enduring king, for You have graciously returned my soul within me. Great is your faithfulness.” And I kept repeating this all day here next to you as you were praying.
Reb Mendel was astounded to get the answer to his question, does really every Jew believe? Here is a Jew who doesn’t know much, and I was thinking that he will betray me, and instead all he chooses to say is ‘great is Your faithfulness,’ expressing his full faith and belief in G-d.
- Rosh Hashana 2023, Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia.
Rabbi Itzik Gorelik, the indefatigable Shliach is standing ready to blow the Shofar on Rosh Hashana.
In a Shul packed with Jews who don’t even know how to pray, he sees in front of him wounded Jews, who thanks to 70 years of communism, were torn away from G-d and Judaism. Here they are following along with the full seriousness, repeating word for word, not understanding what those words mean.
“I think of thousands of years of exile, the trials and tribulations that our people have suffered. From the Romans to the Spanish inquisition, between the Nazis and the communists, all they had in common was to tear Jews away from G-d and Judaism.
“I thank G-d and the Rebbe for choosing me to be their Rabbi, and here my Jews are clinging to G-d, regardless of how ignorant they are about anything Jewish. But when Rosh Hashana comes, they are here wanting to be close to Him
“Without uttering a word, these wounded Jews are crying out to G-d, the time has come for You to relieve us from this exile that we have been subjected to. Please welcome us back into the fold, we are Jews and we want to be close to You.
“I saw the G-dly presence in the eyes of these wonderful souls, I felt G-d’s presence in our Shul thanks to these sweet simple Jews who came to hear Shofar, in spite of years of efforts to make them forget.
“After they all left, I can only thank G-d for this great privilege and honor to have been chosen be able to spend Rosh Hashanah with these Jews, and I pray that in their merit, I too will be inspired and my soul will ignite just like theirs.”
These blazing Jewish souls tell us what Yom Kippur is all about. It’s the Jewish soul flaring up and illuminating the world with its essence. The essence of the Jewish soul, lights up on Yom Kippur and connects with the essence of Hashem.
As we say in Davening: עשה למענך אם לא למעננו – Do for Your sake if not for ours.
“Dear Almighty, please end this Golus for Your sake.” And we add; G-d almighty, end this Golus for the sake of these holy souls who have never forgotten You!
Have a blazing Shabbos, and an illuminating Yom Kippur,
Gut Shabbos, Gut Yomtov, and have an easy fast
Rabbi Yosef Katzman
