Stories Of Greatness

The early 1950s was an especially terrible time for Jews in the Soviet Union, a period filled with terror and dread. With a maniacal tyrant leading the country, Joseph Stalin’s infamous “Doctors’ Plot” was at its peak, and Russia’s Jewish physicians were disappearing rapidly. People were being purged left and right, never to be heard from again. Around the world, Jews wept and pleaded for Divine salvation, but there was none yet in sight.

In the early part of the 20^th Century, a young girl stood near her father on the dock of a Polish harbor, a steamer trunk at her feet. Out of her nine siblings, 12-year-old Rose was the child chosen to be sent to the “golden land,” America. Life in Poland was hard, hunger a constant visitor in her home. After much scraping and pinching, her family saved enough for a single one-way ticket to the United States. And Rose, the youngest of the nine, was the lucky one chosen to go.

Parshas VaYikra introduces the concept of Korbanos, which is meant to atone for our sins. The worst of all punishments consists of “riches hoarded by their owner to his misfortune” (Koheles 5:12). When Hashem wants to inflict a particularly severe punishment upon someone, He first lets him rise in social status. He allows him to live a pleasure-filled life in the midst of a society that reflects his own values. At that point, once he has grown accustomed to leading a life of luxury and has become known in “high society,” Hashem takes away his wealth. This principle (that the bestowal of wealth may end up being a punishment) is applicable in every area. “Wealth” does not necessarily mean money, but may include honor, abilities, and children. Indeed, everything that a person benefits from may constitute “wealth” that may be to the detriment of its owner. We must always remember that if we do not possess a certain kind of “wealth,” it is because His will is not to give it to us. It is not because He does not love us. On the contrary, it is precisely because Hashem does love us that He doesn’t give us benefits in excess. His will is motivated by His love and desire to help us.

In the holy city of Jerusalem, one of the pillars of the Sephardic Torah community is the famous Porat Yosef Yeshivah, which was founded close to 100 years ago (1914) to preserve Sephardic Jewry and produce outstanding Torah scholars who would perpetuate Sephardic teachings and tradition. A philanthropist from Calcutta, India, Yosef Avraham Shalom, played a major role in the founding of the yeshivah. This Jew from India had a big heart and, after learning of the diseases that were rampant in Jerusalem and its environs, he wished to build a hospital in the Holy Land to see to the people’s physical needs. He wrote a letter to the Gadol HaDor, Chacham Yosef Chayim zt”l of Baghdad, the Ben Ish Chai, and informed him of his plans. The Ben Ish Chai wrote back with the following response: “Open a yeshivah, not a hospital. Although it is important to build a hospital in Yerushalayim, many people will be eager to grab that mitzvah, while very few appreciate the value of Torah study, which is sorely needed.” Avraham Shalom heeded the Ben Ish Chai’s advice and contributed a vast sum of money for the founding of Porat Yosef in the Old City of Jerusalem.

With great effort and perseverance, while sanctifying and purifying himself and abstaining absolutely from the pleasures of the world, the holy tzadik, Chacham Rabbeinu Yaakov Abuchatzeira zt”l, became so immersed in the revealed and hidden aspects of the Torah, that “no secret was hidden from him.” (Daniel 4-6) With great purity and depth, he studied Kabbalah until he was as familiar with the paths of the hidden Torah as he was with the streets of his hometown, Tafilalet, Morocco. He developed many disciples, both his very close students in his renowned yeshivah, as well as the masses who flocked to hear the word of Hashem, receive blessings and advice, and to have their cases judged before him.

The Kohen Gadol wore a meil, a robe that was adorned with golden bells, which rang with a musical tinkle whenever he walked. The Gemara in Erchin discusses how each of the Kohen Gadol’s vestments atoned for a particular sin; the meil atoned for the sin of lashon harah. As Chazal say, the meil, which made a loud kol (sound) should atone for lashon harah, which makes a loud kol. Additionally, the bells were made from pure gold and the word zahav (gold) has threee letters in Hebrew, which hints at the three people who are literally destroyed by evil slander: the speaker, the listener, and the one it is about.