Stories Of Greatness

A religious Jew by the name of David Gellis was on a business trip to Chicago. He spent an entire week immersed in work, and upon its conclusion, he grabbed a Friday afternoon flight back to New York. Shabbos was late, and he figured he had enough time to make it home after landing, before the z’man.

A few weeks after the Six-Day War, the Maggid of Jerusalem, HaGaon R’ Shabsi Yudelevitz zt”l, was approached by a young, resourceful man who served as a liaison to the officers and soldiers of the Israeli army.

Someone once asked R’ Chaim Pinchos Scheinberg zt”l why he had such extraordinary self-sacrifice for the mitzvah of tzitzis. He answered very simply, “Chacham lev yikach mitzvos” – the wise of heart will seize good deeds (Mishlei 10:8). He would often cite the Gemara, “Grab and eat, grab and drink, for the world which we are leaving is like a wedding” (Eruvin 54a). He wanted to chap as many mitzvos as he could. When he was asked how he could wear so many pairs when they were so heavy, he would respond, “Would you have such a question if you were carrying gold?” To him, his layers of tzitzis were layers of pure gold.

What is true heroism? How does one make a real kiddush Hashem in this world? There are many stories of people who acted admirably during the Holocaust to rescue others and help the survivors. This is the story of the tzaddik, R’ Tzvi Yechezkel Michelson zt”l Hy”d, one of Warsaw’s oldest rabbanim, a member of its Vaad HaRabbanim, and author of Sefer Tirosh V’yitzhar, who at the age of 79 became one of the 700,000 Jews killed in the death camp of Treblinka.

The following story was brought to light by Rabbi Yerachmiel Tilles, associate director of Ascent-of-Safed, who received it from Chaim Berkowitz of Tzefas, who heard it from Yosef Hurwitz of Miami, who got it from the protagonist’s family.

The mitzvah of kiddush Shem Shamayim is one that is ingrained in the heart and mind of every Jew. But as the Rabbinic saying goes, “It is often easier to die al kiddush Hashem than to live al kiddush Hashem.”