As I mentioned, I was in Eretz Yisrael this past week and I heard many beautiful stories from many great rabbis.
We visited Yeshivat Birkat Ephraim, which is under the leadership of Rabbi Betzalel Pinchasi, and heard a class from Rabbi Meir Veisman, one of the rabbis from the Yeshiva who visits America, and is well known to the Yad Yosef Torah Center.
He met us at the Yeshiva later than we had planned, and explained why:
His brother has a very successful Sephardic Yeshiva in a town called Yesodot, with over a few hundred boys. The town where the yeshiva is located is home to many religious and irreligious Jews. Rabbi Veisman is friendly with a man from Yesodot, “Avraham,” who works for a wealthy man, “Jack.”
Aside from his other businesses, Jack recently acquired a very large warehouse in Yesodot, which will be very successful, as warehousing is a popular business now.
Not long ago, Jack’s father passed away, and he wanted to dedicate a Sefer Torah, in Yesodot, in his father’s memory. Someone told him about this Yeshiva there, and suggested that it would be a nice place to dedicate the Sefer Torah.
His worker, Avraham, reached out to Rabbi Veisman and his brother, and they discussed the idea. Jack went to see the yeshiva and was very impressed. The plan was to make a huge dedication, with a top of line dinner for the 400 students, with the highest kashrut standards for the meat, chicken, fruit and vegetables. This dinner would cost about $50-$60,000. He was also hosting a separate event for 600 of his friends, in his warehouse, which would be decorated like a wedding hall. That would be a $100,000 affair.
They prepared one invitation to both events, including the Hachnasat Sefer Torah for the yeshiva, and all the details were worked out. A few days before Lag B’Omer, the invitations were sent via email to all his friends, and the yeshiva got some hard copies. They noticed that on the bottom of the invitation, it said a famous Israeli singer (Rabbi Veisman would not mention who it was) would be singing after the ceremony and dinner, at about 11 o’clock. This singer was very famous, but not of the finest character.
When the Rosh Yeshiva saw the invitation, his mouth dropped, as did Avraham’s, who had helped arrange the whole thing. What would they do? How could they tell Jack that there was no way that the singer could sing there? Although it would be very uncomfortable, Avraham mustered up the courage to confront his boss, and told him the problem. They couldn’t have this singer on the same letterhead as the Yeshiva.
They met, discussed it with Rabbi Veisman, and decided to make it two separate events, with separate invitations.
The Rosh Yeshiva then asked Jack which party he would attend, the Yeshiva’s party, with the Sefer Torah, or the party with the singer?
That really hit Jack hard, so to say, and he decided that he would rather be at the Sefer Torah party. He canceled the singer.
Not only did he lose over $100,000 (this singer charges charges $80,000 an hour, and his band is an additional $20,00, all payed in advance) but he had to disinvite his 600 friends, which would be tremendously embarrassing. He is not a religious man, and they might taunt him, saying, “Who do you think you are? Have you lost your mind? Why are you listening to these rabbis?“
Before Jack made the decision, he called his uncle, also a wealthy man, to get his opinion. But his uncle told him he couldn’t tell him what to do, he had to decide on his own.
Once he made the decision, he called back his uncle, to let him know. His uncle replied, “I was really just testing you. I wanted to know what decision you would make, and I am really proud of you.“
When Rabbi Veisman heard about all of this, he was so impressed that he decided he had to attend the event, even if it was only for five minutes, despite the fact that people were coming from America to visit his yeshiva. He wanted to go give this man hizzuk and tell him how great he was for making that mesirut nefesh/self sacrifice.
That was why he came late to our event at his yeshiva. He had gone for 5 to 10 minutes Yesodot to wish Jack a Hazan u’baruch, and he told him the following D’var Torah:
The words Lech Lecha/ Leave are spoken twice to Avraham Avinu. The first is, “Lech Lecha M’Arsecha/ leave your land,” and the other is regarding Akedat Yitzhak, when Hashem told him, “Take your son, your only son, that you love, Yitzhak, and go to the land of Moriah.”
The Midrash asks which Lech Lecha is greater. But how can there be a question? One means slaughtering a son, and the other means leaving your father’s house.
But the answer is that leaving your father’s house means leaving your friends, and not giving in to social pressure. That is the equivalent of Akedat Yitzhak. The Rabbi told Jack, “ I want you to know that the act that you did was an act of Mesirut Nefesh, almost up there with Akedat Yitzhak. You should appreciate what you did.“ Jack replied, “Hashem tests people from time to time. I try to be a good boy.“
This is a simple man, with no sign of religion on him. But that is the greatness of the Jewish people. We have our Emuna, and we know what is right. We are here to make the right decisions. That is mesirut nefesh, and that is really what Avraham’s test were about. They were tests of Emuna and Bitachon. He would slaughter his son and yet see future generations. He would leave his father’s home, and yet acquire wealth, fame and children..
When you do what Hashem says, you don’t lose out.
We don’t always hear those immediate happy endings, but this is why we are here in life. To make the right decisions.
Sometimes we have to ask to find out what is right, but once we know what’s right, we make the decisions and let the chips fall where they may.
Have a wonderful day.