Parshat Vayechi 
I heard a moving story this week at my Rabbinic Conference in London which I would like to share.
Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Jacobson, the key note speaker at our conference related how he had met a man called David Israel who was a successful business man living in South America. David Israel had come to Florida and met Rabbi Jacobson at a Shul where he was scheduled to speak. David Israel approached the Rabbi’s lecturn and made an unusual request to be able to address the audience for a few mins. Rabbi Jacobson acceded the request and David Israel proceeded to relate the following story (which I will summarise as it was a lot longer than a few mins!)
David Israel was a survivor of Aushwitz. He felt he wanted to share a particular story back in 1944…
He was a cook in the camp kitchen and was under strict rules enforced by the capos. He was told in no uncertain terms that if he took advantage of his position and took even a little extra food he would be shot instantly.
That Autumn he was approached by a very special Rav, Rabbi Tzvi Hirsh Meisels (1902-1974). He survived the holocaust and was the author of Mekadshei Hashem (sanctifyers of God) a book of holocaust response that also includes short biographical details.
Sukkot was approaching and the Rav desperately wanted to build a sukkah. The Nazi’s had been preparing for the huge influx of Hungarian Jews who were being transported to the death camp in 1944 and so there was extra wood (planks) lying around left over from the building of new barracks. So Rav Meisel took some planks and amazingly managed to construct a Sukkah that was halachically kosher.
(The minimum size of a Sukkah has an area of approx 56cm x 56cm and a height of 80 cm enough to squeeze one person in)
Rav Meisel now wanted a the smallest amount of food in order to eat in the sukkah on first night yom tov and so turned to David Israel for help.
The young man explained how giving a person even an extra morsel of bread would endanger his life. Rav Meisel was undetered and suggested that he would “break into ” the camp so that the blame would be shifted away from the young man. He would just need to be show how to break in!
David Israel protested in response that the Rav would be putting his own life in danger. This debate went back and forth until eventually David Israel told the Rav he would only give him the extra bread if he too could join him in the Sukkah! And that is exactly what happened.
That first night of Sukkot Aushwitz 1944, the two men sat huddled in the Sukkah (or possibly taking turns due to its size) making the special blessing “who made us holy with his commandments and commanded us to dwell in the Sukkah”
Rabbi Jacobson went on to relate how he had actually read this story in Rabbi Meisel’s book “Mekadshei Hashem”, but that the book had not mentioned the name of the young man.
It turns out that Rabbi Meisel’s came to America raising money for an institution and was at a “parlour” meeting when he told this story. He told the audience that sadly he did not know what happened to the young man and most likely he had not survived. Incredibly David Israel , now a very successful business man was in that audience and introduced himself to the Rabbi. The two embrace and wept as you can only imagine!
“Who is like your people Israel, One nation on the land”. Stories such as these inspire me to realise just what a special nation we are.
There are many such stories that abound about Torah observance during the dark days of the Holocaust.
Almost everything had been stripped from them, every vestige of human dignity robbed and violated and yet the spark of holiness in the Jew was able to express itself in its full glory.
Darkness, destruction and death surround David Israel and Rabbi Meisels yet that night there was only light for them as they both shared a moment of Divine intimacy.
This story reminds me of the verse in King David’s Psalm
“Even darkness will not obscure [anything] from You, and the night will light up like day; as darkness so is the light.” (Psalm 139:12)
Thank God we are able to live as Jews freely in the UK but make no mistake we still must overcome our own personal darkness.
The Jewish response is always through the Joy (simcha) of a Mitzvah.
A Mitvza is not just a commandment- I must or I should or what will God think of me if I don’t, or what will others think of me.
A Mitzva is a moment of Divine intimacy where no matter what is going on in the world around us we are able to be in the moment with Hashem, connecting in our own uniquely special way.
The challenge for us today is to grab those moments and make them count as that is what makes life eternal
In Parshat Vayechi, Jacobs life is coming to an end yet the verse tells us “Vayechi Yaacov”- “and Jacob lived”
Rabbi Yaacov ben Asher (1269 Germany-1343 Spain) known as the Baal Haturim (after the name of his major Halachic code -Arbah Turim *- has a famous comment on the first verse of the Parsha
He notes that the numerical value of the word ויחי (and he lived) is 34, equal to the number of the best years of Yaakov’s life. These 34 years are the 17 years between the birth of Yosef and his sale coupled with the 17 years that Yaakov lived in Egypt following their reunion. When the Torah says that a tzadik “lived”, it means that he lived life in its fullest sense. Jacob grabbed these moments to connect to Hashem and eternal life.
Back to 2020 and we too can grab the moment. Next time we have a mitzva to do lets throw ourselves into it with our essence and enthusiasm. There is no greater Joy than living our lives growing in Mitvzot which give our life infinite purpose.
Shabbat Shalom and Chazak Chazak Venischazek!