By Rabbi Baruch Lederman
SAN DIEGO — “The L-rd spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron… …he shall not come to the Sanctuary at all times… …so that he should not die.” (Leviticus 16:1-2)
Rashi teaches us that the Torah emphasizes the death of the sons of Aharon before listing the capital laws restricting entrance to the temple in order to underscore the seriousness of the offense. Rashi offers an analogy. Imagine a man whose doctor tells him not to eat cold food or sleep in a damp place. Then imagine a man whose doctor tells him not to eat cold food or sleep in a damp place so that he should not die like so-and-so died. The second doctor will have a bigger impact than the first doctor. Visualization, especially first-hand visualization, has a powerful impact as the following true story illustrates:
Mrs. Hadassah Wiesel, a beloved teacher in Jerusalem was walking down the street on a hot summer day and ran into one of her favorite students – now a married young woman pushing a baby carriage. Despite the scorching summer heat, the woman was wearing a child’s pair of red, rubber winter boots.
“Why are you wearing those boots?” Mrs. Wiesel asked.
“I can’t afford shoes right now,” her student replied.
Hearing this Mrs. Wiesel pulled out the equivalent of $50 and put it into her student’s hand.
“Buy yourself a good pair of shoes.”
Several days later they ran into each other once again. And once again the young woman was wearing those rubber boots.
“I gave you money for new shoes, why are you still wearing your boots?”
“How can I buy new shoes when I can’t even feed my children?” came her anguished reply.
Now Mrs. Wiesel heart was torn. She remembered this girl as being a bright-eyed student. So full of life and promise. Now look at the crushing burden she had to suffer. It was as if she had gone from young lass to old lady over night.
Mrs. Weisel did not just shrug off this incident with a sigh of ‘nebuch (pity).’ Another person might have said, “What a shame? Too bad I can’t do anything.”
She did do something. This moving episode served as the impetus to the founding of Yad Eliezer. Through a unique partnership of American donors and Israeli farmers, food maunfacturers, truck drivers and other volunteers, Yad Eliezer has become one of the most efficient tzedakah conduits in history – distributing food on a massive scale to the poor of Israel.
Dedicated by Dr. Martin C. Fineman in memory of his parents William W. & Ruth Fineman.
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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