This Hamas Hostage Risked His Life To Save Fellow Jews

Where did this come from? Where does Omar Shamto and countless other simple Jews we've read about, we've heard about that are willing and were sacrificing their life? Where do they get this strength from? The Jewish soul, if somebody has a real Jewish soul, is unlike anything else in the world. And we see that from the stories of self-sacrifice that Jews were willing to make in order for them to not cross the line. There was a story that's uh been uh publicized in recent days about one of the hostages guy by the name of Omar Shtov who was a hostage in Gaza and uh the terrorist told him that uh he could save his own life by waiting in the cave for the Israeli soldiers to come in and as soon as they come in to blow up the cave. And that's how he's going to save his life. And if he doesn't do it, they'll kill him. Now I don't know if knows about the three cardinal sins where it, you know, it's best a person die or they have to die and and not make those sins. One of them being hashem the uh to to by uh you know serving an idol, one of them being the uh immorality and the third one being murder. You're not allowed to kill somebody in order to save your life. Now, I don't know if Omar Shtov knew this, but his Jewish certainly knew it. And he told the terrorists that under no condition is he willing to kill his fellow Jews that are going to be coming into the cave, even if that means that he's going to die right there and then. And of course, when these terrorists were threatening to kill, they weren't joking. But his life was spared and he was able to live to tell the story. In a world where a person dedicates all of their life to Hashem and and to learning his Torah and somebody sacrifices their life for it, you're going to understand why they did it because they lived their whole life doing that. But when you have people that are not exactly Shabbat, they're not exactly religious, they don't really know much about the Torah or Hashem, but they're willing to do the same sacrifice, not just to save their fellow Jews, but even to save their faith in Hashem. However small or big it is, it shows you that there's something beyond what you're able to see. This is the reason why when I speak to people that ask me about how to uh help people do chuva, how to rebuke family members, friends, and so on or or if they have issues with different people that are currently not observing Torah, I always tell people that it's best for them to send them my lectures than to speak to them because many times people do not know how to speak. Not because they don't know how to speak the language, but simply they don't have communication skills. So their uh rebuke sounds more like attacking, judging, hatred. Uh and many times it uh people uh do chuva and build this chip on their shoulder, start to hate all of their old family friends, which is the exact opposite of what they're supposed to do. They're supposed to help their family and friends, not uh hate them. Uh but unfortunately, this is a common thing. And one of the things that you have to acquire in your life if you want to serve Hashem properly and if you want certainly if you want to help people do chuva is you have to love Jews. You have to love is now a person says well but this person doesn't keep Shabbat. This person is uh you know committing immorality. Sure he's sinning. But is he an enemy of God intentionally or out of ignorance? And there's a very big difference. Either way, a person, you know, if he dies that way, certainly he's going to get punished. There's no question about that. And those that say otherwise are simply lying to you and to themselves. But, uh, if a person wants to help somebody, they have to know the essence of what's behind their lack of observance. What's what's behind their lack of interest in the Torah? Is it simply addiction to to to sins, to to immorality, or is it actual heresy where they hate the Torah? They are enemies of the Torah in a sephil calledadesh by a rahua uh ibashitz on page 22. He has a story um that one of the survivors from the Holocaust told about their friend, their beloved, a man by the name of Yel Machek. Now, Machek wasn't really his last name. He that was just his nickname. They called him Machek. But, uh they said that Machek was Kadosh. Why was Mach Kadosh? Because after they escaped the concentration camps, they couldn't go very far. They would hide in the woods, in the forests. And the evil Nazis, imam, were relentless in trying to find these what they considered rebels, these Jewish survivors. And one of those times they called they caught Machek but didn't want to kill him. They wanted him to disclose where are the rest of the Jews hiding in the forests. If you tell us we'll spare your life. and Machik who before the Holocaust was a simple Jew driving a truck, wasn't a huge Torah scholar, wasn't known as a big sadic, wasn't known as a Mikubal, but by his friends in this story, he was known as Kadosh. Why? Because Machek knew exactly where his fellow Jews were hiding in the forest. But no matter how much torture and torment the Nazis put upon him, he refused to tell them where it is. And he ended up dying from the torture, dying on Kadushm, saving his fellow Jews. Now again if Machek was a prophet, if Machek was an extraordinary sadik mikubal willing to die on Kadushem, it would be understandable. You lived your whole life serving Hashem. You're close to Hashem. You're understanding the purpose of life. You understand that there's an afterlife, a reward for the righteous, a punishment for the wicked. So therefore to die over here by these evil monsters it's not a big deal. Well theoretically speaking it's always a big deal. But point is there is the understanding that there's life doesn't end here. This is just a chapter. But Machik wasn't that. Machik was a simple Jew, but a simple Jew that endured endless suffering and torture from the Nazism just to save his fellow Jews from the same death that ended up taking him out of this world. Where did this come from? Where does Omar Shamto and Machek and countless other simple Jews we've read about, we've heard about that are willing and were sacrificing their life? Where do they get this strength from? We are meant to be a light unto the nations, not to follow their misguided practices. Remember, every Jew has to remember that he's a Jew and she's a Jew. We don't celebrate non-Jewish holidays, even if they seem harmless.