Parshas Mishpatim (Shekalim) 5786
- Torah Tavlin
- 4 hours ago
- 2 min read
כל אלמנה ויתום לא תענון ... (כב-כא)
MASHAL: One afternoon, amidst the hustle and bustle of the Lower East Side, a student came to visit his Rebbi, R’ Moshe Feinstein zt”l. Just then, a woman entered the room. She looked broken, having recently become a widow, carrying the heavy weight of her new reality. With great pain, she poured out her heart to the Rav, filling the room with the raw depth of her grief, her future, and her crushing loneliness.
The student watched in awe, expecting the Rosh Yeshivah to offer words of wisdom or deep perspective. But R’ Moshe didn’t. As the woman spoke, tears began to stream down his face. He wept openly with her, his shoulders shaking with a shared, genuine grief. After she finished speaking and he offered a few soft, heartfelt words, the woman left the room looking visibly lifted and comforted.
By his intense emotional connection, the talmid assumed R’ Moshe knew her husband or was close to him. But R’ Moshe said that he didn’t know him and until she walked in that day, he didn’t know her. “Then why did the Rosh Yeshivah cry so bitterly for a stranger?” R’ Moshe looked at him with deep sincerity and said, “She is a part of Klal Yisroel. Her pain is my pain. I must also carry her burden.”
NIMSHAL: The prohibition against afflicting a widow or orphan is not limited to financial oppression or causing her pain of any kind. One need not always provide financial support to make a difference; rather, by simply displaying genuine kindness and sensitivity, one fulfills the profound mitzvah of caring for them. In the eyes of the Torah, a listening ear and an open heart can be just as valuable as gold, turning a moment of isolation into one of comfort. mage of Hashem. To disrespect a person is to criticize his or her Maker.