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Rabbi Baruch Lederman

 Amazing tales of Judaism
                                                                      
                                                                          Congregation Kehillas Torah, San Diego         
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Second thoughts about a take-out meal
 

DVAR TORAH: Behar-Bechukosai

When we walk in the ways of Torah, amazing things will happen, some of which we will see during our lifetimes, some of which we will not see during our lifetime— but they will happen— as the following true story illustrates:
 
Joe was a very successful Israeli. A son of holocaust survivors, he rose from a childhood of poverty, and by the mid 1980s, built up a huge successful hi-tech company. One day his wife called, asking him to pick up some meat on his way home from the office. He stopped at a trendy take-out place to order basar lavan (pork). As he stood on line, he began to feel uneasy. He began to remember a story he had heard from his parents. He always knew this story, but now it took on heightened meaning:
 
Joe's maternal grandfather was Rav Shraga Feivel of Hungary. Rav Shraga Feivel was captured by the Nazis about a year before the war ended, and imprisoned at a slave labor camp. After a year in hell, Rav Shraga Feivel was about to be free. The war was over and the allied forces were going from camp to camp, liberating the prisoners. They
could already see the smoke of the allied forces marching their way. Freedom was mere hours away.
 
At that moment, the Head SS Officer gathered the Jewish prisoners together and announced, "The war has ended. In a few hours you will all be free." "All but you," he said, pointing to Rav Shraga Feivel, "You must pass one more test. You must eat this piece of pig's meat. Only then will you be allowed to go free. Refuse and I will shoot you in the head right here and now."
 
The tension was so thick, you could cut it with a knife. Rav Shraga Feivel had been meticulous all through his stay at the camps, not to eat unkosher meat. He didn't even eat soup which might contain meat. Rav Shraga Feivel proclaimed, "I will not eat chazir fleisch (pork)."
 
A shot rang out, and Rav Shraga Feivel's soul was returned to its creator.
 
And now 40 years later, Rav Shraga Feivel's grandson stood thinking to himself, "I am waiting in line to pay money to eat that which my grandfather gave his life not to consume. All he had to do was eat that one small piece of pork, and he would be set free. He would be allowed to return to his family - yet he wouldn't do it. I have everything, I am free to live with my family and have anything I want; yet I am about to purchase this meat."
 
"Either my grandfather was crazy, or I am crazy - and I cannot believe that he was crazy," thought Joe as he got off the line and went to buy dinner elsewhere.
 
When he got home, he spoke to his wife about his feelings and the emptiness he had been experiencing. They both had to acknowledge that despite all their material prosperity, a certain spiritual emptiness gnawed at him. They were missing something but never knew exactly what. They spoke for a long time about values and what is important in life. They decided to attend an Arachim Seminar. Joe was enthralled by the seminar— it penetrated the murky mysteriousness of G-d, Torah and Judaism. It rocked his world and shook his
soul.
 
Afterwards, Joe ran up to them and said, "Why isn't this incredible message getting out to the whole world?" They explained that though they had a terrific 'product,' they lacked the money, manpower, and marketing to do so. Joe would not hear of this. Right then and there, he became the General Director of Arachim— a title which he still proudly holds to this day.
 
Joe, now known as Yossi, lives a completely observant life with his wonderful family. He has estimated that since the 1980s, 60,000 children have been born to families that were re-JEW-venated by Arachim.

Dedicated in memory of Yosef ben Simcha by his brother Dr. Alfred Salganick