Rise to Our Calling | Rabbi Mordechai Stern

The Gaon Rav Michoel Ber Weissmandl זכרונו לברכה, the Nitra Rosh Yeshiva, had lost his wife and five children, tragically, during the Milchama. He had miraculously survived and fought to rescue as many Yidden as possible. Heroic Hatzolah efforts. Following the war, he made his way to America. He rebuilt the Nitra Yeshiva and a Kehillah in Mount Kisco. He eventually remarried and he had five children. And at the Bris of his fifth son, he was extremely emotional. And he spoke at the Bris about the words of the פייטן in Parshas Para, the Yotzer for Parshas Para. It says, Everything that exists in Shomayim exists down here in this world. And it says there are And Rav Weissmandl cried out with tremendous emotion and he said, I have five children, Kedoshim, they gave their lives Al Kiddush Hashem. These Neshamos are Kedoshim in Shomayim. But כל אשר יש למעלה יש למטה, בנים מול בנים. Now at this Bris of my fifth child, we have the opportunity to have קדושים מול קדושים. Following the פיוט, we say Kedushah, We should be Mekadesh the Shem Shomayim BaOlam, in this world, just like they’re מקדש שם שמיים בשמי מרום and it's our Tefillah that the same way that the Neshamos of their brothers and sisters are Mekadesh Shem Shomayim by going למעלה Al Kiddush Hashem, my children and all of us should be zoche נקדש את שמך בעולם to be Mekadesh Shem Shomayim, to live Al Kiddush Hashem. Recently, I had the opportunity to travel with a number of the Chevra to Poland. We went to many Mekomos HaKedoshim. One of the perhaps most profoundly moving and painful experiences was at one of the Mekomos shel Kedoshim, when we stood by the ruins of the crematoria in Auschwitz-Birkenau. And I said over what Rav Weissmandl said. And I said, If we could try to imagine, if we could try to hear the voices of a million Neshamos that went Al Kiddush Hashem, what would they say to us? What would be their message? What would their charge to us be? We have to understand that just like there's a mission and a message to every Yid, to be Mekadesh Shem Shomayim, we're called upon to bring that mission, that charge, that Avodah into our lives every single day. מוריי ורבותיי, Vayimaen Yidden, nobody is passed over in the call of נקדש את שמך בעולם. Each and every one of us, the בנים מול בנים, the מקדישים מול מקדישים, we hear the call each and every day, in the small moments, in the quiet moments, in the impactful moments, in the moments that make Kiddush Hashem in this world, in the moments that reverberate in Shomayim, the private moments of נקדש את שמך בעולם. Let us accept the charge and rise to our calling to be מקדישים מול מקדישים, נקדש את שמך בעולם.