Parshas Vayeshev 5786
- Torah Tavlin
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
ותאמר הכר נא למי החתמת והפתילים והמטה האלה ... (לח-כה)
MASHAL: A simple Jew came to the R’ Chaim Meir Hager zt”l (Imrei Chaim) of Vizhnitz, with his bar mitzvah son and asked the Rebbe if he can please put tefillin on his son. This man wasn’t a chasid; he didn’t even appear to be entirely religious at all, but it was important for him that his son have this privilege. The father brought along cake and a lechayim for the chassidim in the Vizhnitzer Bais Medrash to celebrate with him. Understandably, the chassidim refused to eat the food he brought because they were unsure of the level of the man’s kashrus observance.
The Imrei Chaim realized that the father would be embarrassed, so he announced, “I do not eat anything between wearing Rashi’s and Rabbeinu Tam’s tefillin. Therefore, I will take some cake and a lechayim and put it aside. After I wear my Rabbeinu Tam tefillin, I can have it.”
The chassidim realized the Rebbe’s hint and followed suit. They took a piece of cake and a small cup of whiskey and put it aside, so it would appear that they wanted to consume it later.
Years later, the bar mitzvah boy, now a full grown religious man, recounted the day, saying, “The tefillin taught me obligation, but the Rebbe’s sensitivity taught me true ahavas yisrael - the true measure of a Jew.”
NIMSHAL: Chazal (Sotah 10b) derive one of the highest moral lessons in Judaism from the story of Yehudah and Tamar: “It is better for a person to cast himself into a fiery furnace than to shame his fellow in public.” Tamar chose to risk being burned to death rather than publicly humiliate her father-in-law, Yehudah. The preservation of a fellow Jew’s kavod (honor/dignity) supersedes even the most significant concerns like the saving of one’s own life.