History Repeats Itself

                                                                         בס"ד
I am receiving so many comments these days about the world situation, and people asking me what they should do. The fact is history repeats itself over and over again and we really are not seeing anything we haven’t seen before. The problem is we don’t pay attention to the mistakes we made before, and we tend to repeat them.

Let me tell you two stories from the Holocaust that are very meaningful to us today. They involve beautiful, righteous Torah Jews that I had the privilege of knowing when I lived in the states.

The first story is from a dear friend of mine who was up in his years, had trouble walking and accepted a ride from me six days a week to and from Synagogue for morning services. In our many hours of conversation he confided in me his personal experiences when he was young. Chanina Weichselbaum was born and raised as an observant Jew in Poland. In the 1930’s his father told him to memorize as many Mishnayos (the oral laws as they are brought down in the Talmud) as possible. He told his son: we will not have these books available in the near future.

During the war, Chanina, who was a strong able bodied young man, was fortunate to be placed in labor camps. He spent four years in 13 different camps. Chanina told me the story of one night in the barracks, a secular Jew came up to him and said: Chanina, you are lucky. Chanina was confused and asked: why am I lucky; I am in the same Hellhole as you? The man replied: you are not alone; you have Hashem. The man noticed that every morning when the thousand or so inmates were in an open field for inspection (to make sure nobody was missing), Chanina would pull his shirt over his head, pray the morning prayers and do some study of Mishnayos from memory. Chanina told me that it was no mystery why he was there, and that he knew exactly in the Torah the full explanation of the Holocaust and why it happened. Yet, since his family didn’t leave when they had the chance, he spent those four years in Hell.

The secular Jew did not survive, but Chanina, who passed away at a ripe old age, had a very happy and prosperous life in the US after the war. The message that Chanina left me with was: no matter how bad things get, turn to Hashem and you are not alone.

Another story. This Tzadik, I prayed with, but I don’t remember his name, I just remember his seemingly impossible story. He was also in Poland, but wound up in the Auschwitz death camp. He tells of the day that he and about 200 Jews were led to the gas chamber. They were locked in and knew it was the end. He thought of the prayer we say, Hallel, which includes the verse: “Neither the dead can praise Hashem, nor any who descend into silence.” In other words he was telling Hashem that he wanted to serve Him, but could not if he died. All the approximately 200 in the chamber started in unison to recite the verse, shouting out to Hashem. This went on for five minutes, ten minutes or as my friend said: it seemed like an eternity. All of a sudden the door opened and the guard said: “everyone out, we need a work detail.” About a half a century later this Tzadik told me: Hashem heard his plea, rescued him and he went on to a wonderful life after the war serving Hashem. The message that was told was: no matter how bad things get, turn to Hashem and you are not alone.

I do not anticipate anyone ever being tested to the extreme extent as the stories above; yet, the possibilities of tough times with difficult situations may be upon us. The only message that I have is: no matter how bad things get, turn to Hashem and you are not alone.  History repeats itself and the solution to any problem we will face is the same solution that has worked throughout history. No more needs to be said.