Torah

The Six-Day War was a defining moment for the State of Israel and the Jewish People. In six lightning days, Israel vanquished all her foes and saw her enemies flee before her. The stories of the many miracles that took place in those days are legion, and all have yet to be recorded in the annals of history. But for those who lived through that time, they will undoubtedly recall the anxiety and fear that gripped the nation and Jews all over the world.

A tourist once found himself lost in the city of Be’er Sheva. He tapped a man on the shoulder and asked, “Is there a kosher restaurant around here?” The man he had tapped happened to be R’ Natan Chayim Einfeld shlit’a, Rosh Yeshivat Be’er Sheva. Instead of directing the tourist to a restaurant, R’ Natan took him to the yeshivah dining room and served him a sumptuous meal. The man offered to pay for the meal, thinking he was in a restaurant, but the Rav refused to accept any payment. “This is the restaurant of Avraham Avinu,” he said with a broad smile. “You can eat here for free.”

Pharaoh warned Moshe that “evil faces you”—a star by the name of רעה (evil) that he saw through his astrological predictions, was ascending to meet the Jews in the wilderness, bringing with it an omen of blood and death. What he did not know was that Hashem transformed the blood which Pharaoh had interpreted as killing and death, into the blood of circumcision, which proved to be a merit and protection for the nation, rather than a harbinger of evil and disaster.

One day, a number of summers ago, a rebbi in a prominent Brooklyn yeshivah by the name of Rabbi Plutchok found himself learning in a Beis Medrash at a camp in the Catskill Mountains, when he noticed a man sitting nearby learning intently from an English translation of the Gemara. Rabbi Plutchok befriended the man and was taken by surprise when the man confided in him that he had an advanced stage of liver cancer. Rabbi Plutchok tried to comfort him, saying, “It’s amazing that you have this terrible illness, yet you come here every day and are so upbeat about your learning.”

A tourist once found himself lost in the city of Be’er Sheva. He tapped a man on the shoulder and asked, “Is there a kosher restaurant around here?” The man he had tapped happened to be R’ Natan Chayim Einfeld shlit’a, Rosh Yeshivat Be’er Sheva. Instead of directing the tourist to a restaurant, R’ Natan took him to the yeshivah dining room and served him a sumptuous meal. The man offered to pay for the meal, thinking he was in a restaurant, but the Rav refused to accept any payment. “This is the restaurant of Avraham Avinu,” he said with a broad smile. “You can eat here for free.”

The Chazon Ish zt”l is quoted as saying: “The generation that became non-religious came from parents who were religious. These religious parents saw what was happening with their children but, for whatever reason, could not stop them. They cried lonely, bitter tears, they prayed, they fasted, but it was too late to stem the tide. But Hashem does not forget a Jewish tear. If those tears of sincerity did not help to save their own children, they have helped for the grandchildren and, in some cases, great-grandchildren. That’s the reason why these children come back to Yiddishkeit today—because Hashem doesn’t forget Jewish tears.”