Shabbos: Ta’am HaChaim Shelach 5770

שבת טעם החיים שלח תש"ע
Shabbos: Ta’am HaChaim Shelach 5770

Look where you are and look where you are going

Introduction
דבר אל בני ישראל ואמרת אלהם ועשו להם ציצת על כנפי בגדיהם לדרתם ונתנו על ציצת הכנף פתיל תכלת, speak to the Children of Israel and say to them that they shall make themselves tzitzis on the corners of their garments, throughout their generations (Bamidbar 15:38)
In this week’s parasha the Torah instructs us regarding the mitzvah of tzitzis, where we are required to place strings on the four corners of a garment. One component of this mitzvah is that we are required to place one thread of ticheiles, turquoise-dyed wool on the garment. According to most Halachic authorities, this mitzvah is not binding today because we are unable to identify the specie from which the ticheiles is procured. Nonetheless, the Gemara offers us a fascinating insight into the reason for the requirement to wear ticheiles. The Gemara (Menachos 43b) states that when one looks at ticheiles of the tzitzis, he is reminded that ticheiles is similar in appearance to the sea, the sea is similar in appearance to the rakia, the firmament, and the rakia is similar in appearance to the Heavenly Throne. One must wonder, however, why it is necessary for a person to connect the dots in order that he is cognizant of HaShem’s Presence in the world. Is it not sufficient to gaze upon the tzitzis and remember that it is HaShem Who has commanded us to observe His mitzvos?

Even the mud on the wheels counts
The story is told of one of the great chassidic leaders who was once sitting in his room studying and teaching Torah to his students when suddenly there was a knock at the door and a poor woman rushed into the room.
"Rebbe, please," the woman begged tearfully. "Please come and see my husband now. He's dying and begs you to come and see him before he dies."
The Rebbe could not refuse such a request, and so, accompanied by his students, he arose and went to the house of the sick man. He opened the door of the sick man's room, but quickly withdrew and shut the door behind him. His students wondered at the Rebbe's strange behavior. What could have given him such a shock?
After waiting a few minutes, the Rebbe opened the door again and went into the room.
"How are you feeling?" he asked the simple Jew lying before him. "What can I do for you?"
"Rebbe, I haven't been a good person. I've spent my life doing so many bad things... please pray for my soul. That's why I called you. Please. Pray for me that I should find rest in the World to Come."
"Haven't you done some good in your life?" the Rebbe asked. "Try to remember."
But the poor man only sighed. "I have so many sins. I can't think of a single good thing I did in my whole life."
"Please try to remember -- even one good deed. Perhaps you saved someone's life?"
"Yes," whispered the dying man, "I do remember one thing that might be good. I don't know whether it's worth anything, but I'll tell you the story...
"I used to earn my livelihood by skinning animals after they were killed. I would leave the house very early in the morning, at about four o'clock. One day I left the house and was walking uphill to the slaughterhouse, when I saw horses galloping towards me with a wagon full of men, women, and children. They were Jews coming home from a wedding. I heard them all screaming with fear, and I straight-away realized that the driver was obviously drunk and that if the horses couldn't be stopped in a moment, everyone would be lost, for they were headed straight for the ravine. So I decided to risk my life. I was very strong, and I realized that if I would grab the reins and hold the horses everyone could jump out. And that's what I did. I gathered all my strength, ran towards the horses, pulled the reins as hard as I possibly could, and all the passengers jumped out. Then I let go, and the horses jumped into the ravine.
"That's all I remember."
The Rebbe said, "First of all, I promise that I will pray for you. But I want you to promise me that when you come to the World to Come, after you've been to the Heavenly Court, you will come and tell me what happened. Promise me."
The dying man, of course, promised. When he died, the Rebbe and his students attended the funeral, and the Rebbe told the burial society to give the poor man a very important place in the cemetery.
A few days later, the poor man came to the Rebbe in a dream, and told him: "Rebbe, I came to the Heavenly Court and I want to tell you what happened to me. They had a big scale and they put all my bad deeds on one side of the scale and it was weighed down heavily against me. Then they asked if there was anything to say in my favor. An angel came and said, 'Where's the justice? Isn't it written that he who saves one life, it is as if he saved an entire world?'
"So the Heavenly Court said to the angel, 'You're right. Justice is with you. We were waiting for you to come and be a defender for this person.'
"Then the angel told the court the story of how I saved the wagon load of Jews on their way back from a wedding. He went and brought all the men, women, and children who were in the wagon and put them on the scale. Still, the sins outweighed them. So the angel went away and brought the horses and the wagon and put them on the scale of merits. Still, the scales on the other side slightly outweighed them. But the angel didn't give up. He went away again, and came back with all the mud that was stuck on the wheels of the wagon and put it on the scales on the side of merit. And then the merit outweighed the debt and it was decreed that I could enter the World to Come. But first I had to come and tell you because they wouldn't let me into Paradise until I kept my promise."
Even the mud on the wheels counted!
While it may sound simple to merely gaze at the tzitzis and remember the Heavenly Throne, too often we are “stuck in the mud of our actions” to actually contemplate such a lofty concept. The Gemara therefore instructs us to take our time, one step at a time, and slowly come to the realization that our every movement is being instructed by HaShem. In a similar vein, the Mishnah (Avos 3:1) teaches that one should contemplate three things and he will be saved from sin. One should know that he comes from a putrid drop, and that he will eventually be dust and worms, and eventually he will have to give a reckoning before Hashem, the king of Kings. When one contemplates each step in the process, he will be more aware how his actions decide his future.
The Shabbos connection
During the week a person struggles with forces that constantly attempt to lead him astray from a path in serving HaShem. With the arrival of Shabbos, however, all harsh judgments depart from Her and the Jew is allowed to serve HaShem without constraints. HaShem should allow us to contemplate all His mitzvos and observe them properly, with joy and fervor.
Shabbos Stories
“The Accident”

[Rabbi Moshe Berman of Johannesburg, South Africa was maintaining a hectic teaching schedule, and was looking forward to a much-needed summer vacation with his family.]
A colleague told Rabbi Berman about a small private game reserve in the Eastern Transvaal province of South Africa. This reserve was, according to the colleague, one of the few places in the world where one could stand the chance of spotting a white lion, a very rare and beautiful creature seldom seen in the wild. On this advice, the Bermans booked a stay at iNgwalala.
On Sunday morning, they left Johannesburg, stopping to spend the night on a small farm along the way. The next morning, Monday, they set out early to complete the final leg of their journey into the heart of the African bush. After a short while, the route took them off the main road and onto what appeared to be an ordinary gravel road. They drove for what seemed like an eternity, until they felt as if they had traversed half the country on this meandering track which could scarcely be called a road.
Eventually, a farmer flagged them down and asked them where they were heading. On hearing that they were heading for iNgwelala, the farmer let out a low whistle and peered at the horizon, as if to say they were searching on the wrong continent. He then rattled off a complex set of directions, recommending that they not go back the way they had come; rather, since they were already so far off course, they should head off in an entirely new direction which would hopefully bring them safely at iNgwelala's front gate. Once again the Bermans rattled and bumped their way along another dirt road, trailing a large cloud of dust behind them.
For 20 minutes they drove along this road without seeing a single sign of human civilization, as if they had not only traveled into the countryside, but had also traveled back 200 years in time. Baboons frolicked on the side of the road, and other wild animals skittered into the bush as the car rattled past. They noticed that the road they were traveling on had actually once been tarred, and had become completely covered with loose sand from disuse. A vague feeling of loneliness crept over the family.
A bend suddenly loomed in front of them. The car tried valiantly to follow the curve of the road. The tires scrabbled for grip. The car careened violently off course, skidded off the edge of the road, and came to rest upside down in a shallow ditch.
The dust settled, and for a few seconds silence reigned. Then the children began screaming.
Rabbi Berman heard the sound of his wife's voice, calling from the seat next to him. Behind him, the children were crying hysterically. Miraculously, neither his wife nor any of the children were hurt. They all pulled themselves free of the car. Rabbi Berman, however, was in tremendous pain from a wound to his head, from which he was losing copious amounts of blood. Once out of the car, he wrapped his head with a piece of clothing and took stock of the situation, which appeared hopeless.
Miraculously, he was the only one hurt. However, the car was damaged beyond repair, and they had no means of communicating their plight to the outside world. [This was in the days before cell phones.] Walking was out of the question ― his head wound made sure of that ― and besides, they didn't have a clue how far it would be to the next human habitation. With no other option, they huddled together on the side of the road beside the upturned car and began to pray. Silently, Rabbi Berman mouthed Vidui, the confession a person says just prior to death.
Four minutes later, a cloud of dust indicated the approach of a car and the answer to their prayers. They watched the car's progress eagerly, and a few moments later the young driver skidded his jeep to a halt and jumped out to see what had happened. He took one look at the rabbi's wound, and then went into action. He lifted Rabbi Berman carefully and laid him down on the front seat of the Jeep. Then, he helped the rest of the family into the back. Once everyone was in, he hopped into the driver's seat and floored the gas. He instructed Rabbi Berman to keep talking to him so as not to lose consciousness, while he tried to find his way to the Hoedspruit military hospital. From his tone of voice, Rabbi Berman understood that this, too, would require a small miracle.
At the hospital, a still-conscious Rabbi Berman was rushed into the operating room. There his condition was stabilized by the attending doctors who then placed him in an ambulance and dispatched him to Johannesburg for urgent attention. The ambulance attendants were instructed to monitor the rabbi's state of consciousness closely, and were told by the doctors that should they notice any signs of deterioration, they should stop immediately at the nearest hospital for treatment.
Rabbi Berman described afterwards how he painfully wrote his will on the back of an x-ray envelope as they rushed toward Johannesburg... Once there, the rabbi was admitted to one of the local private clinics where, with the help of some expert doctors, he staged a miraculous recovery. It was not long before he was discharged from the hospital, safely on the road to recovery.
A week later the Bermans' phone rang in Johannesburg. The young man on the line had a vaguely familiar voice, albeit tainted by a heavy Afrikaans accent. He wanted urgently to speak with Rabbi Berman. When Rabbi Berman came to the phone the young man introduced himself as Anton Wessels, the man with the jeep who had helped them at the accident site, and who had contributed to saving Rabbi Berman's life.
"I've come up to Johannesburg," said the man, "because I need to see you urgently." Rabbi Berman was taken aback. The journey from the Eastern Transvaal takes between five and six hours; it was obvious that this man had something important on his mind. They arranged a time to meet.
When the man arrived at the rabbi's house, he was welcomed and led to the rabbi's study. This is the story he told:
"I grew up on a farm together with my family, who are Afrikaans-speaking and devout Christians. In my youth, the road on which you had your accident was the main road through the district. We used to travel that road often. As I grew up, the road was bypassed by other newer ones and we slowly stopped using that road, as did most of the farmers in the area.
"I am now 20 years old, and three weeks ago I completed my national service with the South African Defense Force. While in the army, I had a chance to look back on my life, and to remember the good times of my youth. Somewhere along the line I remembered the road you were traveling on, and I made a decision to go and revisit the road of my childhood, to relive all the memories. Something of a pilgrimage, if you know what I mean.
"For two weeks I procrastinated, each day another distraction keeping me from my mission. Last Monday I finally got around to making the trip. That is how I came to find you." He paused for a moment to let his words sink in, and then continued:
"You should also be aware that not long ago there was another accident along that stretch of road. It wasn't until two weeks later that the battered car was found. Its occupants weren't as lucky as you. They waited for help which never arrived. You must realize that if I had decided to set out on my trip of nostalgia even a half-hour earlier, you could still be waiting there now. If I would have set out a half-hour later, you probably would not have survived your wounds."
The man studied the rabbi carefully as he continued talking.
"I have never been a very religious man. I've never given much thought to the events that occur in the world. After this whole business, however, I have seen that someone was looking after you, and I have decided that I would like to know more about the difference between Jews and gentiles. I would like to know what my responsibilities are."
For the next few hours, Rabbi Berman sat with this young man and reviewed with him the history of Christianity and Judaism. He then went on to explain to him what his obligations and responsibilities were as a non-Jew. Despite Rabbi Berman's attempts at dissuading him, within a few weeks Anton Wessels became adamant that he wanted to become a Jew.
One time, when Rabbi Berman had business to attend to in Israel, Anton Wessels accompanied him there in order to discover even more about what it means to be a Jew. Once in Israel, Rabbi Berman took the young man to meet some of the Sages and Torah leaders of the generation. Anton was truly captivated by all he discovered. Within three years he converted to Judaism and began attending one of the great yeshivos in Jerusalem, plumbing the depths of the holy Torah.
Rabbi Berman ended off his story by saying that he often had the desire to return to the exact spot on that deserted road so that he could make the blessing, "Who made a miracle for me in this place."
Anton would probably feel the same way.
The Rabbi’s Deal with a Gangster
The first years of the 19th century were, for the whole of Europe and especially for the French who bordered Western Germany, a very tumultuous time... Gangs of robbers were organized who professed a belief in a sort of Kangaroo Court to eliminate unpopular officials, to plunder rich estates, and, by so doing, equalize the various classes.
Because of this, the robbers became popular with the poor and they achieved a certain power and influence which could not have been possible before. The robbers could undertake the most daring raids and retreat into their hiding places without fear of being betrayed by peasant or craftsman. Gangs of robbers avenged every harshness or injustice committed against the people. The people brought their cases against their oppressors not to the powerless courts of justice but rather to the robbers who acted promptly by plundering their belongings and distributing them to the poor, and then burned the houses and barns of the accused...
It was impossible for Sander Goldsticker to return to [his hometown] without passing through terrain which was known to be unsafe because of the presence of [the gangster] Schinderhannes and his bandits. The robbers especially had an eye for the merchants journeying to and from the Fairs. It goes without saying that especially Jewish travelers had reason to be apprehensive.
For this reason, Aron Schotten had advised his friend Sander not to shy away from the little detour through [the town of] Michelstadt. He was sure that the [holy man known as the] Baal Shem could give him something which would help him to pass unharmed through all dangers...
Next morning, before saying good-bye, Goldsticker told the Rabbi of his problem. For one moment, the Rabbi looked at Goldsticker's worried face with his clever, mild eyes and then said, with a soothing smile, "You may start your journey cheerfully; no harm from the Schinderhannes will befall any Jew."
"Pardon me, Master and Teacher," replied Goldsticker. "I am not sure whether I understood the Rabbi. The Schinderhannes doesn't harm any Jew? Didn't the Rabbi hear of the robbings, pillagings, and even murders committed even on Jews by the Schinderhannes?"...
The Rabbi stroked his long beard with his left hand, while with his right hand he made a few drumming noises on the table. Obviously struggling with his own thoughts, the Rabbi suddenly said with decisive firmness, "Reb Sander, I say it again, the Schinderhannes will not molest you at all. But there are many other robbers and waylayers of all kinds who could bother you on the road. For these, you have to be on your guard even more. In order that these others don't hurt you, I recommend that you change your itinerary and accept the one I am telling you now.
"You shall not avoid the Schinderhannes at all. On the contrary, you shall search for him. Tell anyone who should ambush you that you are on the way to the Schinderhannes with a special mission. If anyone should dare to harm you, the Schinderhannes will seek bloody revenge. Every robber will respect this threat and will lead you personally to the hiding place of the robber chief, wherever he might reside at the moment. Understand?"...
"Request a private talk with the robber chief. Never address him as anything but 'Chief.' When you are alone, tell him that you bring a special greeting from the man who once gave him rice in the big forest between Babenhausen and Seligenstadt. Remind him of the promise he gave the man at that time. Also, explain to him that I know that he has broken this promise several times. That is all you have to do. If you follow my instructions, no robber will harm you on the trip and, with God's help, you will reach your family safely. Now I have to leave, as now is the time which belongs to my students."
With the good rabbi's blessing, Schotten and Goldsticker took their departure. Each was occupied with his own thoughts, and they walked silently side by side for several minutes. Schotten broke the silence first.
"I shall take the next post to Frankfurt where I shall arrive before night. What are you planning to do? Are you going to follow the Rabbi's advice?"
"There is nothing left for me to do," replied Goldsticker. "I would reproach myself forever if I wouldn't do it and if the slightest mishap occurred on the road. But I must admit, I regret having asked the Rabbi. Have you ever heard of such a thing? I, who should be glad if the robbers would leave me alone, should now look them up yet! If someone were to hear the Rabbi talking in this manner, he might suspect the Rabbi was in cahoots with them; but this is really unbelievable!"...
"Certainly, I admit that it is as puzzling to me as it is to you. But what does it matter? Would you have qualms about your pharmacist filling your doctor's Latin prescription and your taking it in order to regain your health? Don't you have the same confidence in your Rabbi as you have in your doctor? Though mysterious to you, this is clear and obvious to the Rabbi. I am positive that on your trip you will find the solution to the riddle. I have only one request of you and that is to let me know what happens."
With this and the promise to fulfill the Rabbi's request, the two friends bade their farewell. Goldsticker continued his trip to Koblenz in the same carriage... Suddenly, about an hour before reaching his destination, the carriage was stopped by an armed robber.
"In the name of our Chief Johannes, I declare all the possessions of the Jew confiscated to become the property of the Chief. If you agree to this, I'll leave you the horses and carriage and you and your coachman may continue on your way. At the slightest resistance, I'll kill both of you. We are reluctant to shed blood any you must think likewise..."
"I am traveling through the woods because I have a message for Chief Johannes which I have to give to him personally. You would be a big help if you would lead me to your master. To fulfill my obligation by seeing him is, at the moment, more important to me than all the gold and silver I carry with me. If you really come with your master's consent, then he shall dispose of all my valuables as he sees fit."
The robbers looked at each other in surprise. The calmness and matter-of-factness with which their prisoner suddenly changed into their superior impressed them greatly. But they did not give in readily.
"Anybody could make these statements," one of them began, "and could pose as the Chief's confidant. Do you think we are so dumb as to give away the Chief's abode? Maybe you are just a low-down spy who wants to find out the master's hiding place and then betray him. You think we are not as smart as you, you Jew? If you really are looking for our Chief, you must know where to find him and then you wouldn't need our guidance. Now, what is your name? Where do you come from and where are you going? No, the deal is off!"
The robber gave his cohort a sign to take the boxes and the luggage out of the carriage. Goldsticker stepped between the carriage and the robbers, and he said to them, "You serve your master badly. If you had been smart, you would have killed me and the coach man on the spot. You cooked your own goose! Sooner or later, I shall find your Chief anyhow and will be able to tell him what scoundrels he has working for him. How can you babble such nonsense? I, a spy?...
Nobody had ever talked to the robbers this way. They were bewildered and didn't know what to do. They stepped aside and went into a huddle for a few minutes. When they had finished their discussion, their spokesman stepped in front of Goldsticker and said, "We don't know how to negotiate with you! We don't know who you are, your name, or where you live!"
These words were spoken in a much different tone, however. This indicated to Goldsticker that he was the master of the situation.
"Don't talk such nonsense," he replied. "It doesn't hurt our conversation that you don't know me. I don't know you either and still I deal with you. What's more, I don't have the slightest desire to make your acquaintance. What I have seen so far, doesn't make me very anxious to know much more about you. But if you think differently and you do want more information about me, you shall get it from your Chief, not from me. If he wishes to satisfy your curiosity, I have nothing against it. But don't detain me unnecessarily; lead me instantly to the Chief.
"There is room for two of you in my carriage and the third one can sit with the coachman on the box. Take a swallow from the canteen of whiskey and then we will start." The whiskey squelched the last doubts they had, and in few moments the strange party went on its way...
They traveled almost five hours, crisscrossed thick forests and finally reached a clearing in the woods where he noticed a large campfire. About twenty robbers with black painted faces were sitting around the campfire. Here the carriage stopped.
The robbers left the carriage and exchanged a few words with some of the fellows encamped around the fire. Then one of them returned with the information that the Chief was spending the night in a cave a half hour from there. The road to the cave was inaccessible; so they would go there by foot and Goldsticker was to leave his horse and carriage by the encampment...
When they arrived at the entrance to the Chief's cave, Goldsticker stopped for a moment and said half aloud to himself in Hebrew, "Our scholars say that one should make a vow in times of danger. If You, Heavenly Father, will rescue me and my possessions from this moment of danger, I shall donate half of it to the poor and to charitable institutions..."
With these words, the robber retreated, and Goldsticker stepped before the Schinderhannes who, judging by his red face and inflamed eyes, must have had quite a bit to drink. The messages which he normally received were, as a rule, notifications concerning estates or farmhouses to be burned down. Often he was warned of planned raids against him, organizes by public officials. The Schinderhannes may have expected something similar. After an appraising look at Goldsticker, he said with well-played indifference and calmness, "From whom do you have a message?"
"From the man," replied Goldsticker, "who gave the Chief rice to eat between Seligenstadt and Babenhausen." Hearing this, the Chief jumped up suddenly...
"The gentleman who sent me," said Goldsticker, "wishes to remind the Chief, through me, of the promise made to spare the Jews. He has heard that this promise has been broken over and over again."
These few words made an impression on the robber which defied all expectations. For a few moments he stood silently with downcast eyes, like a scolded school boy. Then he looked pleadingly at Goldsticker and said, "Where does the man live? What is his name? And, what is his profession?"
Goldsticker was taken aback at this. It was obviously not the fact of his being an emissary of the Baal Shem which lent such great weight to his mission. If the Baal Shem had cause not to identify himself to the Chief, then he, Goldsticker, had reason to exercise the same caution. "Therefore," he replied curtly, "I am not at liberty to answer those questions."
"Not at liberty?" repeated the Schinderhannes, threateningly. "If I herewith order you to tell me, would you still refuse to answer?"
"Even then I would not answer, until I got permission from the only person who could give it to me," replied Goldsticker, fearlessly.
"Good for you!" cried the robber. "You are a brave and fearless man. Did he tell you the story of the rice?"
"No, I don't know anything about it. I don't know more than I have told the Chief already."
"It was nice of your master not to tell you the story. But I shall tell it to you so that you will know why I respect your master so greatly ― whether or not I know who he is..."
"My gang was busy with a job in Aschaffenburg; so I stationed myself at a crossroad in the forest between Seligenstadt and Babenhausen. Having to work on my own, I ambushed the passersby from behind a thick tree. After lying in ambush for about half an hour, a carriage came...
"I knocked the coachman from his seat to the ground and proceeded to tie him with ropes, hoping that the two men inside ― one young and the other old ― would be easy prey later. I didn't anticipate any resistance from the two men inside.
"While I was occupied with tying the coachman, the young man calmly left the carriage, grabbed me from behind, and threw me down with such great force that I ended up on my face on the ground. I groaned in rage and tried with all my might to at least turn my face upwards, but in vain. The young fellow had his knee in my back and pressed it against me with such force that I felt as if I were pinned in a vise. I cursed, swore, stormed, and worked with all my might to throw off the vicious attacker, but it was to no avail...
"My opponent, in the meantime, without any visible effort, produced from his pocket a knife which he used to cut the ropes and then bound both of my hands behind my back. He carried me by the neck, suspended in air, about ten paces toward a huge tree against which my rifle was leaning. He asked for another rope from the carriage and with it tied me to the tree in such a manner that I couldn't move a limb.
"He returned to the carriage and talked to the old man in the Jewish-German language, which I understand as well as my own dialect because of its similarity to the dialect of the Dukedom of Nassau. The conversation was about whether I should get my brains bashed in or whether to hand me over to the police. At that moment I wouldn't have given a pfenning for my life. I also overheard that they were on the way to Count Dahlberg with 400 guilders to ransom two arrested but innocent Jews.
"When I heard this, I realized for the first time my own baseness compared to these two honorable men. They had exposed themselves to a dangerous trip in order to free innocent prisoners, and monster that I was, I had planned to rob them of this money! This thought worried me more at this moment than my endangered life. I called to them, 'If I had any inkling of what good people I would find here in the woods and for what purpose you carried that money, on my honor, I would not have stopped you, although I don't have a pfenning in my pocket and I haven't eaten a thing today.'
"The men must have noticed a tone of sincerity and honesty in my words. The giant approached me and said with a warmness and kindness in his voice which I'll never forget, 'What, you haven't eaten today? You may eat with us now when we prepare our lunch. In the meantime, we have to decide what we are going to do with you.'
"I realized then and there that such goodhearted people who intended to feed a robber who had just attacked them in the woods, would not be able to kill him, although I may have well deserved such a fate.
"They took a box from the wagon which contained pots and pans and various other eating utensils. The coachman collected thin fire wood and used steel and tinder to kindle leaves and dry branches into a fire to warm the already cooked food. After this, the giant brought before me a plate filled with rice, and, since my arms were still tied, spoon-fed me as one would a little baby...
"[He told me:] 'We have decided to let you go free, but under some conditions. First, you must promise us that, presuming you want to stick to the robber trade, just as you have never killed anyone in the past, you will never kill anyone in the future. Second, never attack or rob a Jew but faithfully assist him in every way through every type of nuisance and persecution... If the most horrible fate were awaiting you, you should end this robber life... Come with us and join humankind again as an honest man!'
"'Join humankind?' I retorted. 'I hate them because they expelled me, and it is on them that I want to take revenge as long as I have warm blood in my veins. Sooner or later they will catch me ― it can't be too long. Of your humankind, whom you rate so highly, I could sing a song. They cheat, deceive, defraud, and betray each other so well that they don't take a back seat to any robber of rank. Only the fear of the gallows prevents them from being a robber as I am.
"'But, I promise you that I will not harm Jews anymore, and I realize the magnitude of my promise. The Jews achieve a certain affluence by being frugal, sober, and industrious; but because of their religion and their appearance, they have always been the whipping boy and scapegoat of the ignorant masses. Because of this situation, an outlaw could harm the Jews and go unpunished. But here is my hand now. This will not happen anymore in my territory. Also, my men will be notified that this is my decree, and woe to them if any one of them should act contrary to my order.'
"At this point, the young man took my hand in his, holding it a few seconds, and said to me forever unforgettable words while fixing his kind and clever eyes on mine, 'My friend, I accept your promise. However, there is one last thing. Our dear Lord keeps a complicated ledger and will surely ask you to account for your many misdeeds on the Day of Judgment. But He certainly will reward you for every good deed you have fulfilled and bring you into the world to come. Every kindness and mercy you show my oppressed brothers and sisters will be counted, and for these may God bestow on you His blessings! But keep to your promise because God's curse will befall you if you break it. Remember this well!'"
Here ended the Chief's narrative. Goldsticker had listened to the words of the robber without interrupting. Now he could not contain himself any longer, and he admonished, "It was reported to your benefactor that you did break your promise, Chief! That is why he sent me to you to remind you again. I don't like to have any part in the curse which a man of the magnitude of your benefactor predicted if you made light of your handshake..."
"Enough said, my friend," interrupted the Chief. "You are right, of course, and I will remember in the future. I haven't thought about all of this. Tell this to the gentleman who sent you and ask him not to think badly of me. I shall know to honor his confidence in the future and how to show myself worthy of him. On this, he can rely for all times."
Rising, the robber gave a sign that he wished the audience to be terminated. He shook hands with his guest and thanked him for taking the time to seek the hideout to deliver the message. He ordered six mounted robbers to accompany Goldsticker and to protect him on his way home. (www.innernet.org.il)
Shabbos: Ta’am HaChaim Shelach 5770
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