Weekly Chasidic Story #911 (s5775-34 / 22 Iyar 5775)

A Sabbatical Jew

His parents, who had lost all their relatives in the war, had given up on Torah and mitzvot. He left home at the age of 13 and literally lived on the streets.

Connections (2): 1-seasonal- This Jewish year, 5775, is a Sabbatical year for the Land of Israel--no planting, no cultivating, no harvesting, etc.
2-Weekly Reading (this week, outside of Israel; last week, in Israel), beginning: the Commandment of the Sabbatical Year.

 

A Sabbatical Jew

Avraham Zilberstein has been a farmer in the Land of Israel for nearly half a century. At the 5775/Nov. 2014 Agudat Yisrael of America convention in New Jersey, he introduced himself to the esteemed head of the Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia, Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky, as "a poshute Yid ('simple Jew')." Rabbi Shmuel responded, "There is no such thing as a simple Jew. Every Jew, by definition, is very special."

Our sages have special insight. Consider the story of Avraham Zilberstein.

Avraham was born in Alma Ata, Kazakhstan, in 1945. His father was a Holocaust refugee from Lodz, Poland. His mother was from Odessa. Yiddish was his native language. In 1948, his parents emigrated to the Land of Israel, where his father fought in the War of Independence.

His parents, who had lost all their relatives in the war, had given up on Torah and mitzvot. The only Jewish topic they spoke about was the Holocaust. Avraham left home at the age of 13 and literally lived on the streets. Eventually, he joined the army and fought in the Six Day War.

Avraham vividly recollects hearing, on his radio, Mordechai Gur, commander of the 55th paratrooper brigade, announce, "Har Habayit beyadeinu - The Temple Mount is in our hands!" When Avraham heard those words, he went to the area of the Western Wall. He was looking for it and couldn't find it. There was no plaza in front of the Kotel as there is today. There were houses all the way to the Kotel and only a narrow path in front of it.


Avraham asked someone where the Kotel was and was told that he was standing in front of it. He looked up as far as his eyes could see and imagined that the Kotel rose to the heavens. At that point, something came over him. Avraham felt as if enveloped by the Shechinah (Divine Presence). Then and there, he decided that he wanted to actually live like a Jew and not just be a Jew in name alone. Avraham decided at that moment that from then on, he would keep Shabbat and Kosher.

Avraham was blessed with a wonderful wife, a native Jerusalemite, and together they began building a home based on Shabbat and kashrut observance. He decided that he wanted to help build the Land. Avraham Zilberstein became a farmer in the settlements and was influential in building four communities on the West Bank, the latest being Vered Yericho ("Rose of Jericho") in the shadow of Arab-settled Yericho.

One particular Shabbat in 5746/1986 made a major difference in Avraham's life. He had put his onions out to dry before so they could be ready to take to market. Almost out of nowhere, a cloudburst erupted and there was a major rainstorm. All his neighbors ran to cover their onions with plastic. Avraham looked at his wife and they said to each other, "We have decided to keep Shabbat. Whatever happens to the onions will happen."

On Sunday morning, Avraham went out to the field and witnessed his neighbors crying hysterically. The temperature had risen. It was over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. All the onions lying under the plastic had become rotten in the moisture that was trapped beneath the sheathing. His onions had dried in the extreme heat and were saved. At that point, Avraham and his wife decided that they would go full steam ahead and keep all the agricultural commandments for Jews living in the Holy land, including Shmitah (no agricultural work every seventh year).

After they reached that decision, Avraham was diagnosed with lung and liver cancer. The doctors gave him three months to live. It was before a Shmitah year and Avraham told them that he hoped and prayed to at least keep his first Sabbatical Year.

With the help of the Al-mighty, Avraham Zilberstein will this year, 5775, complete successfully his fifth Shmitah.

AvrahamZilberstein speaking at Agudah convention Nov. 2015.

It didn't go smoothly, though. Each Shmitah, Avraham has had a life-threatening crisis that One Above helped him through. One Shmitah, he caught a deadly virus and the doctors had gathered his family together. They didn't expect him to live out the day.

He did.

Another Shmitah, Avraham had an accident with his tractor that left him inches from death. Yet Avraham recovered to see yet another Shmitah.

During Sabbatical years, Avraham works as an inspector and supervisor for a kashrut agency. His job is to make sure that the Arab produce that is purchased is not really produce that was grown by Jews and then "laundered" into Arab hands. Avraham actually one time caught an Arab who was dealing in millions of dollars of produce doing just that.

When the Arab realized that he was caught, he tried to hand Avraham an envelope filled with cash. Avraham refused it and reported it to his kashrus agency and to the other kashrus agencies, so that they wouldn't fall into the same trap.

Avraham got into his car and started driving away. The Arab had put nails on the road and Avraham got four flat tires and the car rolled into a ditch.

Miraculously, Avraham walked away with minor injuries. He was standing on the side of the road, looking at his car and smiling, when someone asked him how he can be so inconsiderate. "The dead driver is lying in the ditch and you stand here and smile?" he was asked.

"Excuse me," was his response; "I am the 'dead driver.'"

Last Shmitah year (5708), Avraham was in such a difficult situation that he didn't know how he would obtain food for his family. The grant that he had received from Keren Hashvi'it ("The Seventh" Fund - for Shmitah-observant farmers in need) was so helpful that he was able to get back on his feet. He is now supporting his sons and sons-in-law, who are learning in kollel (advanced Torah study for married men) in the Yeshivas of 'Mir', 'Chevron' and 'Slabodka'.

If you have gotten the impression that this is self-labeled 'simple' Jew is indeed a special Jew, let next turn to his wife. When she was offered a ticket to come to America to join her husband at the Agudah Convention where he had been invited to speak, she requested rather that we take the money that we would have spent on her trip and give it to kollel scholars in Kiryat Sofer!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Source: Adapted by Yerachmiel Tilles from a weekly emailing of Daniel Keren <keren18@juno.com>, based on an article by Rabbi Shmuel Bloom in the Yated N'eman (11/26/14).

Connections (2): 1-seasonal- This Jewish year, 5775, is a Sabbatical year for the Land of Israel--no planting, no cultivating, no harvesting, etc.
2-Weekly Reading (this week, outside of Israel; last week, in Israel), beginning: the Commandment of the Sabbatical Year.


~~~~~~~~~~~


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.

To receive the Story by e-mail every Wednesday--sign up here!

A 48 page soft-covered booklet containing eleven of his most popular stories may be ordered on our store site.

 

FLASH! "Saturday Night, Full Moon" by the first of 3 books by Yerachmiel Tilles, the Ascent storyteller, featuring 33 of his best stories, is

now available for purchase--through ASCENT-in-Safed or the publishers
Want to see our preview, which now includes feedback, approbations and the spectacular cover?


back to Top   back to this year's Story Index   Stories home page   Stories Archives
Redesign and implementation - By WEB-ACTION