Today I’d like to share with you a story about the Chafetz Chaim, and a personal story as well. Very often, stories help get the message across.
Once, on Erev Rosh Hashanah, a group of men from a small town near Radin, where the Chafetz Chaim lived, went to ask him a question.
They didn’t have rabbi all year round, but there was a Bachur/a young boy in the Yeshiva who was a good orator, and they wanted him to come to their town to give the derasha/sermon before the shofar was blown. As much as they tried to convince this boy to come, he refused. Although he was not wealthy, he declined all their offers of a high salary. How could he not be in the shadow of the Chafetz Chaim during the high holidays, he wondered.
The men wanted the Chafetz Chaim to convince to the boy.
The Chafetz Chaim called the boy in, and asked him why he wasn’t going. He asked, “How can I leave the Yeshiva, and my great Rabbi during these high, holy days?”
In his sweet voice, the Chafetz Chaim replied, “You have to remember that a person was not created for himself. A person was created to help his fellow.” Obviously, after he heard that, the boy changed his mind, and took the job.
This is an important concept. We always have to weigh these things. On one hand, we want to be good Jews doing the right thing. But on the other hand, we have to deal with the people around us.
About thirty years ago, when I lived in Israel, there was a rabbi, Rabbi Schuster, who would find unaffiliated people at the Kotel, and send them to religious homes for Shabbat meals (as detailed in the book, A Tap on the Shoulder). We were on his list. We were about a 10 minute walk from the Kotel, and people would come to our house on Friday nights, to have a nice, Jewish meal. These were irreligious Jews, with no background. We would speak to them about their interests, and maybe say a dvar Torah or two, but it was not a high level of holy conversation.
They once wanted to send us some guests for Rosh Hashanah.
Now, Rosh Hashanah is the high holidays, when you want to be a little more somber and serious. I didn’t know what to do. On one hand I wanted to have the guests, but on the other hand, it was the high holidays and I wanted to be more serious.
I went to ask Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, who was a Gadol b’Yisrael. He told me that if they wanted to come for two full days, and as a result, we wouldn’t be able to spend any time on Rosh Hashanah being serious, he could understand saying no. But, he said, we’d have our time in shul, when we could give it our all, so why not give to somebody else during the meal time? That was how he looked at it.
I was young, and probably immature, and it was an important lesson.
You have to weigh these things.
Even if it’s the high holidays, if grandma wants to talk to you for an hour, that’s also important.
Have a wonderful day.