Chevra Kadisha ז' אדר Dinner - Hitler, Haman, and the Dignity of Death

this Torah class is brought to you by Torah anytime.com good evening everyone it's truly an honor to be here tonight for me personally Young Israel of kugar Hills is my old stomping ground actually I had the privilege and continue to have the privilege to have been teaching here since 2010 2011 when Rabbi Fabian shonfeld hired me to give the she the retirees year at the time in the Heyday of this year we had about 20 25 individuals a number of times a week and that year continued for over a decade and have many dear and close friends Associates that I've been learning with ever since so with the permission of your esteemed Ren Ritson I would like to share with you this evening a subject that is very dear to my heart tonight I am here to pay tribute really to the heroes of the Jewish people people who stand ready day and night to preserve the Dignity of the living and the dead and the reason why this subject is very dear to my heart is my own grandfather was speaking with the r about him a few moments ago who passed away somewhat recently at 16 years old he was a holocaust Survivor he was from Warsaw he was a one of the primary Disciples of rabam zba ram zba was one of the leading Torah Minds in pre-war Poland my grandfather used to study with him and my grandfather was energetic and sprightly even in his oldest years well over 90 my grandfather would say you know the hardest part of turning 90 is reading the Rashi letter in the gamarra that's the hardest part of turning 90 if anybody never saw my grandfather get called up for an alyah at 96 997 98 years old where he would rise with spiritual might and make a on the T one never saw real G and we always used to ask my grandfather the following question and my grandfather had selected Ing and for somehow this question never registered we would say Z why did you Merit to live so long and somehow that question he never heard that question and one of the last PMS of his life actually my grandfather's name was M his Brisa was on T and we always viewed him like m one of the Great Heroes of the Jewish people and my grandmother herself was a Survivor and we didn't quite know their birthday so he always celebrated their birthday on purm he never heard this question he didn't want to deal with this question and then finally it came one of the last perms of his life and I had the courage I mustered up the guts I said zi you know it was at a time when he was B he was in a very joyous mood said what was your Merit to live so long and he was ready to answer the question he said M Mitzvah said what M Mitzvah was what did you mean by Ma Mitzvah my grandfather was a RV sori New Yorkers in the city of Champions in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania he was a rabbi for over 70 years that's a very long time to be a rabbi let me tell you and we thought what he meant was Not only was he the rabbi in Pittsburgh he was also the chief chaplain of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania so any time a Jew would die in Pennsylvania not only in Pennsylvania in Ohio in Virginia in Kentucky and this Jew did not have Arrangements if this Jew did not have a plan did not have a Kev this would always fall in into in my grandfather's lap and my grandfather made it his holy obligation to make sure that every single Jew in that area was given a dignified Jewish burial that he had a minion to be at his burial my grandfather would go to The coel Round Up 10 boys bring them to the cemetery to be able to say Kadesh for this individual so he said zi was it because you made sure that every Jew in Pennsylvania and Ohio and Kentucky and Virginia was given Jewish burial and my grandfather said no that's not what I'm talking about I'm talking about 1943 1944 1945 when there were bodies strewn in the camps nobody would go near them they were infested with typhus just to be in their vicinity you were risking their your life and my grandfather said with abandon he would go from body to body and with his own hands he would dig holes in the ground sometimes he would have help other times not and with abandoned he risked his life to give people the Dignity of a Jewish burial in my opinion my grandfather said maybe that's why I lived long and I was very moved by this story because shortly after I had the privilege to be at a Shear of rash Weiss one of the leading pisum today who is speaking at his own father's passing and his father was asked why do you think you you merited to have a son like rash he has another brother who's one of the leading pisum in Montreal and rasha's father said that after the war in 1945 together with the kenberg Reba they would go from body to body from one tyus ridden body to the next and they would make sure that every Jew was given a dignified respectable Jewish burial so for [Music] all of the dedicated men and women who are part of this KRA who dedicate their time and their services to ensure the of the you have to understand this is not a small thing this is the most important task in the whole world I want to share with you from my grandfather's personal memo my grandfather wrote about some of his experiences in the war Soto he writes about a rabbi this rabbi's name is pretty much forgotten but this was a historic figure of the chief Rabbi in Warsaw Rabbi Canal the senior R in warsa most people never heard of him you know says for this every Pious person should pray for a time of need it's an incredible P King David is saying that even though in life you need to pray for everything I remember when I was a B I grew up in Flatbush you know Flatbush is in the country of Brooklyn it's one of the states in the country of Brooklyn I was just in London so in London I say I come from the continent of New York and the country of Brooklyn I grew up in Flatbush On Em and 31st so as a B I had a good sense I used to walk from M 31st to RN Ocean Parkway I used to walk to the SCH of har Miller it was about a 50-minute walk and I remember if Miller would say you know in life you have to pray for everything there's nothing in this world that comes without prayer even the world to come even the world to come we pray there's nothing in this world that comes without prayer but even pray for this meaning of everything in this world the following is the most important thing to pray for and the gar brings various opinions doesn't mean to pray for a spouse doesn't mean to pray for a livelihood and the gamarra brings an opinion to pray for Jewish burial and rabak Canal senior R OFA was in a very terrible predicament he knew if he would be sent to the crematoria he would never Merit Jewish burial so he made a very daring move he darted at the Nazi to try to kill the Nazi obviously in exercise and futility because he was giving up his own life but he knew that he would be shot and then he would be given Jewish burial so in order to avoid going to the crator he darted at the Nazi to Merit kavas Isel that's the significance of Jewish burial that was his halakic decision you know it's very interesting we're going to read in the Milla Saturday night that H tried to accomplish four things what are these four terrible plots of ham says he wanted to kill us he wanted us to lose our soul that we can't fulfill T mitz anymore but what does it mean what more did he want from us what more did that Wicked humon want than to kill us and take away our soul says a villain going La he wanted to desecrate the Jewish body La he wanted to take away from the Jew what every Jew hopes for K you know and it's amazing in recent times we read about another hamon who had the same diabolical plot it wasn't enough to kill the Jew it wasn't enough to take away Tyro mitv he wanted to Ure that a Jew would not be given is to put the Jew in the crator why did Hitler want laid and this is a fundamental lesson unfortunately a Jew today doesn't even have the understanding of our role in the world that Hitler had if you want to understand the mission statement of a Jew what a Jew represents in this world what our mission in this world is you need to be familiar with a good chunk of a terrible book called mine comp because Hitler understood the role of a Jew in history in a way more than we understand it you know Hitler wrote in MC that the Jew attempted to inflict on societ two defects a defect of the body and a defect of the personality the defect of the body was circumcision the defect of the personality was conscience for Hitler it wasn't enough to kill the Jew because as long as the Jewish body is exent the body of the Jew represents to the world morality dignity that man was created in the image of God so for the for Hitler it wasn't enough lmid wasn't enough L he wanted LA to desecrate the Jewish body to defile the Brisa Hitler said we Germans were barbarians and as soon as we eradicate the Jewish people we will revert back to being the barbarians that we are you know I always wondered we say [Music] on is what why is purm a celebration of Brisa ham wasn't trying to abolish Brisa yeah he was Hammon was following the same plot as Hitler his go goal was to desecrate the Jewish body because the body of the Jew represents morality to the world represents ethics to the world that man is not a barbarian you know I always wondered about this there's this you know catchphrase that we like to say but I don't think we exactly know what it means you know we always hear this phrase the Jewish people are God's ambassadors in the world our mission in this world is to be a light unto the Nations you ever hear that expression our job is to be what exactly does that mean how are we supposed to be a light onto the Nations I read an article that of herak wrot that he heard from salv that the definition and the mission statement of the Jew to be a light onto the Nations means that our role in the world is to teach all the nations of the world that man was created in the image of Hashem that we are the handiwork of God that's what it means to be a light onto the nation and how do we teach the world the Dignity of man how do we teach the world that we're created in the image of Hashem how do we go about doing that by teaching the world the Dignity of the living and the Dignity of the Dead by preserving the of every Jew by ensuring that every Jew is given K is that every Jew who would like to be buried in a Jewish cemetery is given a k and he's given tahara and his family Mourns for him that is the most important task that a Jew has in this world as ambassadors of God it is our most sacred task to ensure K so there's a man he has to be in Albany problem is you know back in the day they had holiday in Hampton in there were no holiday in there were no Hampton in he needed a place to spend the night so he calls up his friend his friend says look I have a great idea there no motels in Albany but I have a friend who has a nursing home in Albany why don't you call him up maybe he has an extra bed say you're out of your mind I'm going to sleep in a nursing home why would I sleep in a nursing home I mean that's it's creepy said well it's better than sleeping in your car why don't you give it a shot so he calls up the nursing home owner he says are you out of your mind there I'm not a hotel there's not a Hilton I'm a nursing home but he says actually somebody just died 10 minutes ago you could take his bed for the night it's available I mean we don't have new linen we don't have Fresh Linen but if you don't mind sleeping in a dead guy's bed not a problem so the guy was a little you know creeped out by that he said I'll let you know but all of a sudden it started pouring and he couldn't stay in his car so a few minutes later he finds himself in a nursing home in Albany in the bed of a man who had died 10 minutes earlier finally he falls asleep I'm sure he had very pleasant dreams and all of a sudden he sees the nursing home owner coming in he's rattl rattling around the papers he's trying to collect the belongings he said what's going on am I alive am I dead where am I said no don't worry I'm just trying to take care of this man's belongings he says by the way in whose Bed am I and then he looks on the door and on the door was the name David Schwarz said what is a Jewish man doing in this nursing home the nursing home owner said actually I don't know he ended up over here so this guy says well where is David Schwarz going to be buried he says well there's a cemetery connected to this nursing home tomorrow morning he's going to be buried in the Christian Cemetery of this nursing home so this guy sleeping in the Dead Man's bed gets on the phone he calls his friend back in the city he said I don't know what to do I have a mace Mitzvah over here he's going to be buried in a Christian Cemetery what should we do he said actually you know I heard that the kadisha of Washington Heights has 10 extra plots for M Mitzvah why don't you call up the head of thead waston maybe he could help out this guy it's a big Mitzvah so he calls up the head of the kadisha Washington Heights sure enough they have a bunch of spots left by the next day do Schwarz is in is getting tahara from the KRA kadish of Washington Heights the head of the KRA pulls up the blanket to see who exactly is this individual and he almost faints doid Schwarz that doid Schwarz so the guy said who which doid Schwarz is this this is a David Schwarz who was a beggar in Washington Heights for many years and a few years ago he came to me and he asked me what is the fate of someone who never made final preparations who doesn't have a plot who doesn't have a Kev who doesn't have a KRA who doesn't have family what is their fate and I said I'm sorry to tell you the fate of such a person is they won't be given there's nothing that anybody could do he has no family he has no plot David Schwarz says what a terrible fate David Schwarz then took his life savings that he collected over many years he gave it to the head of the kevra of Washington Heights he purchased 10 spots that in the future if any mace Mitzvah needs a place to be buried they'll be buried in the Washington Heights K kadisha cemetery and sure enough who was the first person to be buried in these 10 spots Dage Schwartz the benefactor of this of these plots friends what goes around comes around ultimately those Heroes of the Jewish people who are dedicated to ensuring the and the Dignity of the and the you are the ones who will ultimately benefit because whatever we do in this world whatever Good Deeds we do in this world ultimately it is we who are Sanctified it is we who are elevated it is we who will be the ultimate beneficiary in this world and in and in the world to come so we pay tribute to the kadish of kugar Hills I also pay my respects to haran shonfeld who hired me 15 years ago to yeld who had the to work under his opes for over a decade and to your very esteemed R rabbitson who are taking the sh to Greater Heights thank you very much for your kind attention I wish everyone thank you you've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by Torah anytime.com