Say the Word | Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky

Baruch Dovi was an 8-year-old boy who went with his class to one of those rock climbing amusement centers. You know, the ones with the big wall and all those rocks embedded inside. You put on a harness and you climb up there and you get to the top and you go one step at a time, one step at a time. And all the kids are climbing up on this great big wall. And he's, Baruch Dovi is working hard and he's not looking behind him, going and going and going, and it took him a while. And as he's reaching the top, Rebbe is basically saying, Okay, boys, it's time to go. Well, Baruch Dovi didn't hear them. So he's higher and higher and finally he gets to the top, oblivious to what's going on. He's savoring the moment, a little bit scared to turn around and look, but when he finally does, he sees that there's nobody left in the room. Meanwhile, the boys are loading onto the bus and the Rebbe realizes that Baruch Dovi is missing. The only way to get down from those walls is when the fellow, who was a teenager, lowers the harness and you slowly come down. So Baruch Dovi, seeing nobody in the room, says, Could you get me down? And that teenage boy says to him, I'll let you down, on one condition. Say this word. And the teenager says a word that I certainly can't say on this video. Baruch Dovi’s an 8-year-old boy, stuck about 30 feet off the ground, looking down, and this teenager's saying, Say the word. Baruch Dovi says: No. And the teenager says: Say the word, I'll let you down. And Baruch Dovi says, I am not saying that word. I can stay here forever. He begins to cry. Luckily, the Rebbe chapped. He runs in, he looks around. He doesn't see him. Suddenly he spots him up on the top of the wall. Dovi, what are you doing there? The teenager's face turns a little red and he lets him down. You know, an 8-year-old boy is easily persuaded to do something, especially when he's in a very difficult, almost, to him, life threatening situation. But where did he get that strength from? Yosef Hatzaddik, Chazal tell us, was this close to falling into the trap of Eishes Potiphar. But what happened? He saw the דמות דיוקנו of Yaakov Avinu. He saw his father's face. Baruch Dovi knew he was named for a Baruch Ber, a Yid, a Tzaddik, who clearly would never say a word or even think a word that was improper. But it was that type of Mesorah and that type of Zehirus that was inculcated in him from his family. You bear that name. He remembered that. He knew where he came from. He saw the דמות דיוקנו of R’ Baruch Ber and he said no. It's our responsibility to teach our children when to say, No. When to be a true Vayimaen.