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The Other Side of the Prayerbook
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Simon Wiesenthal, the famous Nazi-hunter, once spoke at a conference of European rabbis in Bratislava, Slovakia. The rabbis presented the 91-year-old Wiesenthal with an award, and he, visibly moved, told them the following story.
It was in Mauthausen, shortly after liberation. The camp was visited by Rabbi Eliezer Silver, head of Agudat Harabbanim (Union of Orthodox Rabbis of North America), on a mission to offer aid and comfort to the survivors. Rabbi Silver also organized a special service, and he invited Wiesenthal to join the other survivors in prayer. Wiesenthal declined, and explained why.
“In the camp,” Wiesenthal said to Rabbi Silver, “there was one religious man who somehow managed to smuggle in a siddur (prayerbook). At first, I greatly admired the man for his courage—that he’d risked his life in order to bring the siddur in. But the next day I realized, to my horror, that this man was ‘renting out’ this siddur to people in exchange for food. People were giving him their last piece of bread for a few minutes with the prayerbook. This man, who was very thin and emaciated when the whole thing started, was soon eating so much that he died before everyone else—his system couldn’t handle it.”
He continued: “If this is how religious Jews behave, I’m not going to have anything to do with a prayerbook.”
As Wiesenthal turned to walk away, Rabbi Silver touched him on the shoulder and gently said in Yiddish, “Du dummer (you silly man). Why do you look at the Jew who used his siddur to take food out of starving people’s mouths? Why don’t you look at the many Jews who gave up their last piece of bread in order to be able to use a siddur? That’s faith. That’s the true power of the siddur.” Rabbi Silver then embraced him.
“I went to the services the next day,” said Wiesenthal.
By Yerachmiel Tilles
A master storyteller with hundreds of published stories to his credit, Rabbi Yerachmiel Tilles is co-founder of Ascent of Safed, and managing editor of the Ascent and Kabbalah Online websites.
The content on this page is copyrighted by the author, publisher and/or Chabad.org, and is produced by Chabad.org.
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There's a joke where the radio says to evacuate a town because a flood is coming. One guy stays behind, sure that G-d will save him. When the first floor of his house floods, he goes to the second floor to pray and sees a rowboat, but does not get in it, because he wants to be saved by G-d, not by a boat. Eventually, the house is submerged and he is sitting on top of the chimney, praying, when a helicopter comes. He continues to refuse rescue, drowns, and asks G-d "Why didn't you do anything to save me?" G-d says "I sent you a warning on the radio, then a rowboat, and finally a helicopter. What more did you want from me? For the sea to split?"
The Torah says Noah survived because he found favor with G-d and was warned. But he also built the ark. If he had just trusted that a miracle would save him, he would have drowned.
Doing nothing to help G-d save us is suicide.
Faith is believing that IF we do what we can to save ourselves THEN G-d will do the rest.
Camarillo, CA
chabadcamarillo.com
I once had the honour of listening to Mr Wiesenthal speak in London. He inspired me a deeper faith, (that sometimes strays), and I am eternally grateful that I was briefly in his company.
Wellington, Select a state/province
Those Jews giving away their last morsel in exchange for the use of the siddur knew they will be getting spiritual nourishment. They trust the Most High that "Not by bread alone does man live, but from all that comes out of the Lord's mouth does man live" (Dt 8:3). And they were sustained. The one binging on their bread died. THAT is faith: knowing that Hashem is the true sustainer, and relying on Him.
Likewise, those suffering persecution in yore days realized that the Jewish nation was facing extermination, so they underwent an outward conversion, knowing that Hashem will deliver, that Hashem always delivers, and that, sooner than later, the Jews, every Jew, will be free, to live as free Jews under a free sky. That is faith.
And, unless your family never left the land of Israel before 1949, at some point they too had to conceal or even outright deny their Jewishness. They chose to live: you are here. They had faith! Baruch Hashem!
New York, NY
During times of extraordinary persecution, it is acceptable to die through inaction, rather than do what the persecuting government wants. Be executed rather than convert, for example. Even then, actively doing something that will be fatal is still considered suicide and prohibited under all circumstances.
The Holocaust was unique in that the persecutors desired that everyone of Jewish ancestry die. The commandment not to die was the one commandment that they wanted to be violated, and was therefore the most important commandment to keep.
Trading one's last bit for food for the opportunity to hold something, and then starving to death as a result, may be faith, but it's not Judaism.
There's the problem: Faith causes us to cherish rituals and objects, but abandon our basic principles.
Camarillo, CA
chabadcamarillo.com
mesa
New York, NY
mesa
New Orleans, Louisiana
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Albany, NY/USA