Saturday, December 22, 2012
Fearless Leadership
10:57 AM | 
Posted by
Rabbi Chaim Coffman |
By Rav Moshe Sternbuch
bayomim hohem bazman haze
At the
beginning of World War II there was a very real threat that the Germans would
invade England just like they had already managed to overrun most of
continental Western Europe. Against this background, the English government
decided that every able-bodied male without exception had to be recruited to
the army or sent to work to contribute to the war effort. This applied
especially to foreign nationals, such as the Polish Jewish refugees.
One day a
government official appeared at Rav Schneider’s yeshiva in London and informed
the Rosh Yeshiva of the new regulations. Rav Schneider responded by saying that
he could not agree to comply with it. The official pointed out that this was no
laughing matter and that it would not be possible to circumvent the new
requirements which were essential in light of the serious security situation.
At a meeting
with Chief Rabbi Hertz the following day Rabbi Hertz told the Rosh Yeshiva that
if he would agree to three boys joining the army he would use his connections
with the government to obtain an exemption for all the other boys in the
yeshiva. Rav Schneider was not tempted by this proposal and responded that he
could not agree to even one boy being sent to the army or to work. The Chief
Rabbi responded that he was not being realistic.
The committee
in charge of implementing the new regulations heard about Rav Schneider’s
attitude and decided that he would have to be expelled from London (they would
have deported him altogether from the country had the political situation
allowed them to do so). Since any further dialogue with Rav Schneider was
deemed to be pointless, they decided to approach the students of the yeshiva
directly.
The first
interviewee was a Polish refugee. "Are you aware of the fact that there's
a good chance that your parents may not survive this war?” was the first
question posed by the committee member.
"Yes".
"Do you
realize that if you join the army that would increase the chances of the
chances of your parents remaining alive?” the official tried again.
“I believe
that by learning Torah here in this institution I am protecting my parents by
increasing their merits and helping them to remain alive”, the talmid
responded undaunted.
The official
started showing some signs of frustration, but persevered.
"Well,
let's face it, if your parents won’t survive this war, you will be left here
all alone with no one to support you. How are you going to make a living?
Surely it would make sense for you to join one of our factories. That way you
could support yourself. What do you say?
“I say that by
learning Torah I am helping myself to make a living!”
By this stage
the official no longer attempted to hide his frustration, but he was not one to
give in easily. He tried once more:
“Let's say that
you are entitled to hold on to your idiosyncratic views, but what if everybody
shared your opinion? Who would fight our wars and how would anyone make a
living, in fact, how could we run this country at all?”
The bochur
was not taken aback and replied calmly: “There was such a period during our
time in the wilderness. Nobody worked, and the whole nation was sustained by
manna from Heaven. G-d is perfectly capable of sustaining me in any way he
deems fit. As for your question about fighting wars and national economies,
this does not worry me. There will never be a shortage of people willing and
able to work and fight wars”.
It was now
becoming clear that no further progress could be made with this particular boy,
and so they called in the next interviewee.
“You heard
your friend, what do you have to say for yourself?”
"I agree
with every word he said”.
The official
had had enough. "You’re all barmy [British slang equivalent of
"nuts"]!” he exclaimed irately and left the room unceremoniously.
The following
day Rav Schneider ordained a fast in the yeshiva. Everybody was convinced that
Rav Schneider would indeed be expelled from London, and that the yeshiva would
have to close down since all the boys would either be recruited to the army or
sent to work. However, against all the odds, it was announced that all the
students would be exempt from the army or from going to work, since they were
all mentally imbalanced, and Rav Schneider could remain with them as the head
of this "lunatic asylum"! That was how Yeshivas Toras Emes continued
to function throughout the war undisturbed.
The lesson to
be derived from this surrealistic series of events is obvious. If we remain
steadfast to our principles, Hashem will help. In the time of Chanuka the many
were delivered into the hands of the few, and the same has happened throughout
history whenever we have adhered strictly to the Torah. During the time of the
Greeks many of our coreligionists argued that it made sense to reach some
compromise with the Greeks. After all, they were not interested in our physical
destruction, and were in fact full of admiration for those rational principles
and laws in the Torah, which accorded with their sense of reason and
aesthetics. "Let’s not antagonize them, we are a small defenseless
minority, surely we can agree to meet some of their demands”, argued the Jewish
"pragmatists".
Similar “pragmatic”
arguments can be heard nowadays with regard to the army issue.
It is only
because of the wishy-washy approach adopted by some circles that we are
currently facing problems. The legal situation of the Arab Moslem minority is
identical to that of yeshiva bochurim. In theory they are also subject
to the draft, and yet no one dreams of implementing this dead letter of the
law, because of the resistance they would meet should they ever attempt to do
so. Imagine the uproar if some Arabs would be "drafted" and subjected
to the same procedures that yeshiva bochurim are currently experiencing
at recruitment offices.
The truth is
that even the original situation was nothing short of miraculous. Ben-Gurion
only agreed to the deferment of the small handful of yeshiva students at the
time after being convinced that they would be no more than a “museum”
commemorating the Torah world of pre-war Europe. "These people contributed
nothing before the war, and will die out very quickly anyway", he
reasoned. Towards the end of his life he commented that this step had been the
worst mistake of his life, because so far from dying out their numbers had only
increased to an extent not imagined by anybody at the time, and, as we know,
our numbers have continued to increase since his death. We must not lose heart
and learn from history not to waiver from our resolute approach. If we remain
consistent and resolute Hashem will protect us and our erring brethren will
leave us alone.
Leadership qualities
“And they
called out before him, "[This is] the king's patron [avrech]"
appointing him over the entire land of Egypt” (41:43) Rashi: Rabi Yehuda expounded:
avrech refers to Yoseph, who was a father [ov] in wisdom, and
tender [rach] in years. Rabi Yossi ben Durmaskit said to him… avrech is
only a term denoting knees [birkayim], for all would enter and exit
under his hand”
Rabi Yehuda is
of the opinion that if a leader is seen to be wise that is sufficient even if
he is young, because he will be respected just for his wisdom. Rabi Yossi ben Durmaskit,
on the other hand, responds that wisdom on its own is not sufficient for leadership
purposes, and only if a leader is also strong-minded and sticks to his
principles will he be respected and obeyed.
Yosef was
great in wisdom, but he also stubbornly refused to diverge from his religious principles
even one iota and led the nation in accordance with his plan without vacillating.
Such are the qualities of a genuine leader.
A talmid
chachom too must not be swayed by public opinion and fearlessly maintain
strict halachik standards. When choosing a rov or leader it is of course
preferable to look for a big talmid chachom, but he must also possess
the ability of getting his congregants to become subservient to him. That is an
indispensable requirement for any true Jewish leader, because only persons with
a forceful character are capable of ignoring public opinion. Such people will
enjoy success and siyata dishmaya.
living in the present
“Yosef
named the first-born, Menasheh, "For G-d has made me forget all my
trouble, and all my father's house” (41:51)
We would think
that Yosef’s father's house should have been in his mind constantly. Why did
Yosef praise Hashem for making him forget his father's house and commemorate this fact in his son's
name?
The Netziv says
that had Yosef not forgotten his father's house he would have constantly had
yearnings for his father and would not have been able to lead the nation
properly. In a similar vein, the
Brisker Rov explains an enigmatic gemoro
which states: "what should a person do who wants to live, let him kill
himself” (Masseches Tomid 30a) as
follows: if a person is suffering from painful experiences in the past or
present he must overcome his emotions ("kill" them) and be ruled just
by his mind in order to live joyfully in the present. The Brisker Rov himself
lost his wife and three children in the Holocaust and had to witness the anti-religious
activities in Eretz Yisroel in the years following the founding of the Jewish
state. It was extremely difficult for anyone with emotion to live through those
years. This gemoro addresses those who have suffered from painful events
and encourages them to refuse to succumb
to feelings of despondency or despair.
We find that
the same Amora Rabi Yochonon, who lost ten sons during his lifetime and
comforted and inspired others with his heroic reaction to misfortune, stated
that although he wanted to witness the coming of moshiach, he was
unwilling to bear the birth pangs preceding his coming. How could it be that
someone who had faced the death of ten of his own children with such fortitude
would be afraid of this period? Rav Elya Lopian zt”l answers that Rabi Yochonon was aware of his own character and knew
that he would not be able to endure the terrible chilul Hashem when so
many of Hashem's nation would be slaughtered, and to subsequently have to witness
the deeds of erring brethren in His country.
Yosef realized
throughout all those years in Egypt how much his father must be suffering, but
instead of dwelling on that and on his own anguish at being forcibly separated
from his home, and from the lifestyle of a nozir for which his father
had groomed him, he chose to overcome his feelings, knowing that he had to
fulfill Paroh’s dream and bring all his family to Egypt, in order to initiate
the beginning of the Egyptian exile that was to lead eventually to the giving
of the Torah and the conquest of Eretz Yisroel. With this attitude he
managed to lead the Egyptian nation successfully with wisdom. He would not let
his spirits fall, and in gratitude to Hashem for this called his son Menashe in
the hope that he would continue to be able to forget his father's house for the
time being, and perform the tasks which Hashem expected him to fulfill until
the opportunity would present itself to meet his father again.
On a related
note, any baal teshuva who wants to succeed must first completely forget
his past, and think only about the future and building up a Jewish home full of
Torah and mitzvos, because thinking about past misdemeanors would make
it very difficult for him to live joyfully in the present. Part of the mitzvah
of teshuva consists in forgetting about the past and living exclusively
in the present. Only subsequently, once he has become totally accustomed to
living a Torah lifestyle, should he contemplate gradually atoning for past
transgressions.
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1 comments:
But the other yeshivos in England (Gateshead, Liverpool, Glasgow, Manchester and Etz Chaim) also kept functioning during WW2, as did the United Synagogue's Jews College. So this story is not historically accurate, though it is probably based on a real event. It certainly shows the attitude and strong of Harav Hatzaddik Rav Moshe Schneider
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