By Rabbi Baruch Lederman
SAN DIEGO — After the plague of Hail, Paroah summoned Moshe and Aaron to his palace and proclaimed “Hashem (G-d) is righteous.” (Ex.9:27).
What made him say this? He never said anything like this before. One Rabbinic opinion states that he was reacting to Hashem’s warning “Send forth, gather in your flocks [indoors so that they would not get hurt by the falling hailstones].” (Ex.9:19). Paroah was moved by the fact that even in the midst of angry punishment, Hashem showed compassion for the animals.
Another Rabbinic opinion states that he was reacting to the fact that the Hail fell all the way up to the border of Egypt, but, not one inch beyond. As a matter of fact, this helped settle a border dispute Egypt had with one of its neighbors. Paroah was moved by the caring precision Hashem exacted in His punishment. This was a shining example of Hashem’s attribute of Emmess – Truth.
According to either of these two opinions, we see from here that even people who are removed from kindness or righteousness, are moved when they see a noble act, as the following true story illustrates:
Reb Yaakov Yosef Herman was a young European immigrant who built up a successful business in New York City from scratch, while retaining strict observance of Torah, Shabbos, kashrus, and mitzvos during the early 20th century – a time when Torah was widely abandoned in America. His dedication was legendary.
In their later years, Mr. & Mrs. Herman decided to make aliyah (move to Israel). Due to unforseen delays, their ship arrived at the port in Israel late Friday afternoon. It was almost time for Shabbos. The lift containing all their worldly possessions was unloaded on the dock. All their furniture, clothing, appliances, jewelry, family heirlooms; everything they owned was on that lift.
He was told that he had to take it all off the dock before he left. He replied that he had to leave immediately because Shabbos was fast approaching and there was not enough time to move everything and get to his place of lodging in time for Shabbos. He would have to leave everything where it was and come back for it on Saturday night after Shabbos was over.
The officer looked at him incredulously, “You can’t do that! All goods are always cleared from the docks immediately after arrival. We do not store or guard anything ever. If you come back Saturday night, nothing will be left. It will all be strewn about or stolen.”
“So be it!” said Mr. Herman unflinchingly, “I will not violate Shabbos no matter what the cost!” It was not negotiable. Mr. & Mrs. Hermann promptly left the dock and spent an exhilirating Shabbos in town. Their first Shabbos in the Holy Land.
On Saturday night they returned to the dock fully expecting to find nothing, but hoping they could salvage at least a few items. Much to their shock they saw their entire lift, completely intact, right where they left it. The Chief Harbor Officer explained, “When all the dock workers saw that on Friday, you were willing to walk away from everything you owned in the world, for the sake of upholding your
religious conviction, we were amazed. We decided that we could not allow you to lose out, so we organized a special round-the- clock guard of your lift. Everything is right here as you left it. Nothing was touched.”
Indeed, something was touched – the hearts and souls of all those men.
[The foregoing true story is documented in “All For The Boss” by Ruchama Shain.]
Dedicated by Dr, & Mrs. Frank Felber in memory of his father Abraham Felber, Avraham ben Yozef, in honor of his Yahrzeit, Shevat 1.
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Rabbi Lederman is spiritual leader of Congregation Kehillas Torah in San Diego. He may be contacted via baruch.lederman@sdjewishworld.com