Sons of Yitzchak | Avi Schnall

It was the last Rosh Hashanah in the Auschwitz concentration camp, and the Veitzener Rov had a Shofar. And there were many details of how he was able to go from one bunker to the next, blowing Shofar. There was one last bunker, and that bunker had inside of it 400 Yeshiva Bochurim. By the time the rabbi got to this last bunker, the day was almost ending and everyone was afraid that the soldiers were about to come back to the camp. There was a cry coming from the bunker. Rebbe! Don't forget about us. We also want to hear Shofar. There was a lot of back and forth. The rabbi quickly went into the bunker, went into the center, and was about to blow Shofar. Before he began, one of his disciples from his town of Vác, said: Rebbe, every year in Vác, the Rebbe would talk words of inspiration before the blowing of the Shofar. We don't want to miss out on the Rebbe’s Shofar-blowing inspirational talk. Give us one last inspirational talk. The Rebbe is overwhelmed, the clock is ticking, the time is short, but he can't refuse the request. He quickly begins to give them an inspirational talk, never to give up. Even when a sword is hanging over his neck, even in the last moment, always have hope. He takes the Shofar, he makes the blessings, he blows the Shofar blasts and he's about to leave the bunker. As he's leaving, he hears a voice from the back. And one of the boys was standing and begins to scream out. And I'm going to read you how the rabbi himself documented it in his Sefer, Mekadshei Hashem. This boy says: Dear friends, We could hope for the best. We have to be ready for the worst. For Hashem’s sake, brothers, let's make sure not to forget in the last minute to scream with devotion, Hear, O Israel, Hashem is our God, Hashem is One. And all 400 of those boys began to scream and began to cry, Hear, O Israel, Hashem is our God, Hashem is One. Almost every one of those boys survived. And the rabbi writes in his Sefer, that when he walked out, he wondered to himself, Where did they get the strength from? Where did they get the strength from that in this moment, to remember Shema Yisroel? And the rabbi writes at length, that each and every Yid in Klal Yisroel, we are all children of Yitzchak Avinu, who was ready to sacrifice the ultimate sacrifice, by the Akeidas Yitzchak. And we have in our DNA that level and that readiness and that ability to demonstrate self-sacrifice completely. We just have to know that it's there. Sometimes the hardest thing that we have when we're faced with a challenge is, It's too big. I can't overcome it. I'm not strong enough. I don't have what it takes. But really, each and every one of us are as strong and have that same power that every one of those boys in that bunker has. There's no temptation, there's no challenge, there's no hurdle that's too big for us to overcome, because we are all sons of Yitzchak.