Weekly Chasidic Story #1223 ( (s5781-35) 7 Sivan 5781 /May 18, 2021)

"The Incomparable Blessing"

"Sir, please tell me, why on every Festival day do you always leave before Birchat Kohanim ('The Priestly Blessing')?"

Connection--Weekly Reading of Naso:The source of the “Blessing of the Kohanim” text is in the middle of this parasha (Num. 6:22-27).

Story in PDF format for more convenient printing.

The Incomparable Blessing

It was one of the festival days of Passover at a synagogue in Westchester County, NY. The rabbi of the shul, a Chabad emissary, was standing near the front door, warmly greeting each arriving member of the congregation.

He looks at his watch. It's 9.30, and everyone is still waiting for a tenth to complete the minyan -- a familiar story for Chabad houses across the world.

Finally, a man of about 80 years walks into the shul. The Rabbi is overjoyed to see him. The man is a regular, and every Yom Tov it is the same story: although he is often the 10th, yet he always leaves before the blessing of the Kohanim at the end of the Musaf service.[1]

The rabbi is each time puzzled by this man's strange behavior.

This time he determines to question him about it. "Sir, can we have a chat before the prayers start - that is, if you don't mind. Please tell me, why do you always leave before Birchat Kohanim?"

The man obliges. He first rolls up his sleeve to reveal a tattooed number on his arm, and then proceeds to tell his story:

The year was approximately 1942. The setting was in one of the barracks in Auschwitz.

In the middle of the night, a group gathers together. An elderly Jew everyone referred to as 'The Rabbi' beckons everyone closer.

Everyone huddles around. He whispers, "Friends, we need to experience going our going out of Egypt this year, our very own Pesach Seder in Auschwitz!"

Everyone was thinking the same thing, "Has the Rabbi finally snapped?"

"Look," he continued, "we don't need 'marror' ('the bitter')[2], this place is full of bitterness. But if we could at least get matzah…. Yankel, do you think you can manage to get two kilos of flour?"

Yankel somehow gets the flour. 'The Rabbi' meticulously watches over the first matzah ever made in Auschwitz. It's Erev Pesach afternoon, only a few hours till Seder night. Everyone is looking forward to being part of a unique Seder.

When night falls, Chayim, who is keeping watch, makes sure nobody is around before he gives the all-clear.

Jews from the surrounding barracks quickly scurry in to crowd around 'The Rabbi,' who makes the blessings over the matzah. Everyone receives a small piece to nibble and quickly swallow. Then they take turns reciting the Hagadah, as much as they can recall by heart.

Suddenly, there is a loud thud! Dogs start barking. A group of soldiers burst in through the door.

Their officer-in-charge glares at each of the Jews sitting on the floor. He yells, "Who is responsible?" If you tell me now, the rest of you will live; but if you don't...."

'The Rabbi' instantly raises his hand. "I am. I am the one responsible for all of this."

The officer shouts,"Tomorrow I will shoot this man dead where all the Jews in Auschwitz can see him!"

The next day, Nazi soldiers tie him up and throw his battered body to the ground in full view of all the Jews prisoners, who were forced to assemble for the occasion. Their eyes are frozen to the center of the muddy grounds where 'The Rabbi' lies in pain. The officer reaches for his gun.

'The Rabbi,' with all the courage and strength he can muster, cries out, 'Please grant me my last words!"

The soldiers, officers, and senior camp administrators laugh mockingly at him. The officer with the gun chuckles menacingly. "What do you want to say? What do you have? Nothing!"

'The Rabbi' bravely struggles to stand. He exclaims, "That's where you are wrong. What I can do is bless my brothers!"

Then, before he can be interrupted, he begins Birchat Kohanim:
"May G-d bless you and guard you.
"May G-d make His countenance shine upon and be gracious to you.
"May G-d turn his countenance toward you and grant you peace."

The man paused his story for a few moments, then stated firmly that he had been present at these events, and that he was so shaken by them that he felt compelled to change. He made an oath to himself that if he survived, he would lead a more traditional Jewish life.

Thankfully, he did survive.

One time, a few years after he was redeemed from Auschwitz, he went into a non-kosher restaurant and ordered lunch. Suddenly, he had a flashback back to that Passover in Auschwitz. He clearly pictured 'The Rabbi' and his emotional priestly blessing before he was murdered. Quickly he left money on the table for his yet-to-be-served order and fled the restaurant.

When his daughter asked for his consent for her to marry a non-Jew, the same flashback occurred. He couldn't run, but he did decide to further turn his life around.

"So, you see, Rabbi," he concluded his explanation, "the memory of the priestly blessing that was given by that holy martyr in Auschwitz still is with me -- and to me, no other priestly blessing can ever be its equal!"

~~~~~~~~~
Source: Submitted by Baruch Gordon, who wrote it based on the rendition he heard from Chabad Shliach Rabbi Shabtai Slavaticki of Antwerp during an online farbrengen in April 2020.

Connection: The source of the "Blessing if the Kohanim" text is in this week's reading (Num. 6:22-27).

Footnotes:
[1]Outside of Israel, the Kohens in the congregation recite the Priestly Blessing towards the end of the Cantor's repetition of the Musaf prayer on the first two and last two days of Pesach and Sukkot, the two days of Shavuot, and on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. [In Israel it is recited much more often.]
[2]Nearly always horseradish and/or Romaine lettuce.

Yerachmiel Tilles is co-founder and associate director of Ascent-of-Safed, and chief editor of this website (and of KabbalaOnline.org). He has hundreds of published stories to his credit, and many have been translated into other languages. He tells them live at Ascent nearly every Saturday night.

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