“RABBI’S MUSINGS (& AMUSINGS)”
Erev Shabbos
Kodesh parshas Shemos
20 Teves 5783/January
13, 2023
ABAYEI AND
RAVA
One of the many virtues of being a
rebbe in Heichal HaTorah, is the yeshiva’s Rebbe’s room. I pick up many great
Torah thoughts, perspectives and stories from my far more esteemed colleagues.
One morning recently, I overheard
Rabbi Michoel Parnes sharing a story. Seeing the amazement on my face he
offered to give me the phone number of the person who told him the story - Mr.
Bernie Hammer - so I could call him and hear it for myself. I took him up on
his offer and was glad I did. Mr. Hammer graciously related the following story
about his late father, R’ Nosson Hammer z”l.
In his younger years, R’ Hammer had
been a student of the famed yeshiva, Chachmei Lublin. Founded by Rabbi Meir
Shapiro, Chachmei Lublin was a majestic Torah institution for elite young
scholars. During a time when yeshiva students were disparaged, Rabbi Shapiro
founded the yeshiva to raise the esteem of Torah scholars in the eyes of the
masses. R’ Hammer was one such scholar and possessed a photographic memory.
Decades later, he would repeat shiurim he heard from Rabbi Shapiro verbatim.
During World War II, R’ Hammer was an
inmate at the Flossenburg Concentration Camp. The camp had two basic sections
where inmates were assigned. One was the quarry which entailed dragging heavy
rocks up and down a steep mountain. Most inmates sent there didn’t survive. The
other was a factory which produced the Messerschmitt fighter planes the Nazis
used in their battles against the Allies.
One afternoon, a Nazi officer
approached R’ Hammer and demanded that he construct the engine to a
Messerschmitt by the following morning. If it wasn’t completed, the Nazi vowed
R’ Hammer would be shot.
R’ Hammer received permission to
remain in the factory overnight. For hours he analyzed the different parts but
could not figure out how to construct the engine. Finally, out of complete
exhaustion he collapsed into a fitful sleep, assuming it would be his last
sleep on earth.
While he was sleeping an elderly man
appeared to him in a dream and told him that he had come to teach him how to
assemble the engine, which he proceeded to do. When he woke up, R’ Hammer
assembled the engine exactly as he had been shown. When the Nazi officer
appeared the following morning, he was flabbergasted. R’ Hammer was allowed to
live.
Mr. Hammer related that he isn’t one
to easily believe such a story. But his father repeated it so many times over
the years and would repeat that the dream saved his life. He was never sure who
the person who appeared to him was.
That was the fascinating story Rabbi
Parnes had related and was now confirmed by Mr. Hammer. However, I found the
subsequent story Mr. Hammer related to me to be even more intriguing:
As the Allies closed in in the waning
weeks of the war, the Nazis forced the 50 weary Flossenburg inmates onto a
death march. Every inmate had to continuously walk in perfect formation,
without food, water or rest. If any of them so much as stumbled or stepped out
of line, he was immediately shot, and his dead body left there.
At one point, the Allies began
shooting close to where the march was occurring, and the inmates ran in all
directions. The nefarious Nazi guards mercilessly shot at the hapless inmates.
All those inmates but R’ Hammer and two others were killed. R’ Hammer was shot
in the back, one of the other was shot in the leg (which later had to be
amputated) and the third was shot as well.[1]
They escaped into a nearby barn.
Being that he was in the best condition of the three, R’ Hammer broke into a
nearby tavern and stole a bottle of milk. As he was leaving, a Nazi saw him and
threw a grenade at him. For the rest of his life, R’ Hammer had pieces of
shrapnel from that grenade lodged in his back.
A few weeks later, after the war had
already ended, the trio of survivors were walking on a local German street,
when they noticed their former Nazi guard, now wearing civilian clothes,
walking opposite them. They immediately ran over to him and began beating him.
At the time the American military was
trying to keep order. An American officer saw the brawl and brought all 4 of
them to a military station for further investigation. When the three Jews
explained who their “victim” was, the American officer asked if they had any
proof. It seemed like a hopeless request. How could they prove anything? Yet,
R’ Hammer replied that he indeed could prove their claim. He told the American
officer to remove the German’s boot and to gently turn it over on the table.
When the American officer did so, out
came gold watches, earrings, and a lot of other expensive jewelry. The American
officer realized there was truth in their claim and investigated further. The
German was subsequently hung.
Mr. Hammer continued that when he
asked his father how he thought to tell the American officer that idea on the
spur of the moment, his father replied with just two words: “Abayei v’Rava!”
(Abayei and Rava were two of the greatest Torah leaders during
the years of the teachings of the Gemara. It’s said that no four consecutive
folios of Gemara pass without mentioning Abaye and Rava. Their constant
Talmudic debates represent and are synonymous with Talmudic debate.)
To me, that story is even more
powerful than the first. We learn Gemara because it contains the foundation of
our traditions and is the building blocks upon which Torah observance is based.
The side benefit of learning Gemara is that it trains a person to think out of
the box, to see another perspective, to mine beneath the surface, and to be
inquisitive, intuitive and focused.
Our enemies, particularly the Nazis,
were well aware of the centrality of Gemara to the Jewish people. They
therefore made a supreme effort to destroy Talmud and forbid its study.
Yet, Abayei v’Rava have outlived them
and continue to be studied throughout the world. R’ Hammer noted that he had
prevailed because of Abayei v’Rava. No doubt, he wasn’t only referring to that
encounter with the Nazi, but to his entire survival and rebuilding afterwards.
In fact, it’s the story of our
people. We have endured so much yet we continue to thrive. How? Abayei v’Rava!
Shabbat Shalom
& Good Shabbos,
R’ Dani and Chani Staum
[1] Mr. Hammer
related that his father, with some
assistance, buried the other 47 who were murdered in the death march. R’ Hammer
erected a matzeivah which is still there today.
