Reb Avraham Mordechai Alter—the “Imrei Emes” of Gur, zt”l—transplanted seeds of the nearly decimated chasidic community of his father (the Sefas Emes), and his grandfather (the Chiddushei haRim), in Eretz Yisrael. Having survived the war, the Imrei Emes escaped Poland and arrived in Yerushalayim in 1940. Three of his sons survived and, ultimately, succeeded the Imrei Emes as Gerrer rebbes, while most of the rest of his family was murdered in the Shoah.
Reb Noach Yoskovitz—a grandson of the Imrei Emes—himself suffered and survived five years of the terrors of Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz. However, he found himself ensconced in the Santa Maria al Bagno “displaced persons” camp in Southern Italy, where cruel and immoral British policies effectively barred Jewish immigration to Eretz Yisrael. Israel’s national Holocaust archives include an emotional letter from Noach and a group of friends, pleading with authorities for permission to make aliyah—so that they could “serve Hashem with peace of mind and taste the holy air of the Land of Israel.” Following a massive hunger strike—coupled by diplomatic interventions and daring “illegal” operations with siyata dishmaya (divine assistance/God’s help)—Reb Noach and many other Jews were eventually successful in ascending to the holy land.
Arriving in Yerushalayim in 1946, Reb Noach had an emotional reunion with his grandfather. As for many survivors, the burden of heavy emotions, survivors guilt and trauma, made it difficult for Reb Noach to contemplate how to move forward. Seeing this, his Zeide asked him softly, “Why do you think the Ribbono shel Olam spared Noach? Why did he survive the destruction?”
Locking eyes with his beloved grandson, he then cried out, “Vayishaer ach Noach! Only Noach was left! Vayishaer ach Noach! Only Noach was left!” With a tear in his eye, he continued: “Consider, mein kind (precious child), how much has been washed away, how much we have lost! … How much you have lost! Years of your life, opportunities, time … You must now run to the beis midrash and begin again! Rebuild yourself, rebuild Torah, rebuild Yiddishkeit … Vayishaer ach Noach! Only Noach, only Noach, only Noach was left! You survived to build; mein kind, build, you are to rebuild the world!”
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וַיִּמַח אֶת־כּל־הַיְקוּם אֲשֶׁר עַל־פְּנֵי הָאֲדָמָה מֵאָדָם עַד־בְּהֵמָה עַד־רֶמֶשׂ וְעַד־עוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם וַיִּמָּחוּ מִן־הָאָרֶץ וַיִּשָּׁאֶר אַךְ־נֹחַ וַאֲשֶׁר אִתּוֹ בַּתֵּבָה׃
“All existence on earth was blotted out—humans, cattle, creeping things and birds of the sky; they were blotted out from the earth. Only Noach was left, and those with him in the ark,” (7:23).
מַיִם רַבִּים לֹא יוּכְלוּ לְכַבּוֹת אֶת־הָאַהֲבָה וּנְהָרוֹת לֹא יִשְׁטְפוּהָ
“Many waters are unable to extinguish the love, and rivers cannot drown it,” (Shir HaShirim, 8:7).
Rashi brings a precious peshat from the Midrash Rabbah. The “many waters” are the nations of the world, while “rivers” refers to their ministers and kings. But these can never extinguish the love between the Ribbono Shel Olam and His nation, nor drown it, “not through force nor eimah, ‘terror,’ nor through enticement and seduction.” The love between Hashem and the Jewish people is absolute and eternal.
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לַכֹּל זְמָן וְעֵת לְכָל־חֵפֶץ תַּחַת הַשָּׁמָיִם—“Everything has an appointed season, and there is a time for every matter under the Heaven,” (Koheles, 3:1). This Shabbos marks Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan, and in many communities and yeshivos, it is the beginning of choref zeman—the “winter” or primary session. However, for countless soldiers who are bnei Torah, hesder and mechina students and kollel avreichim—along with their valiant wives, families and relatives—there is no beginning or end of a “zman,” but rather a continuous עת מלחמה—“time of war.” How many chayalim are already in their second or third sevev miluim or round of reserve duty; how many have been away from home for months on end—answering the call to protect and serve and rebuild our world.
I recently spoke with the young wife of a soldier returning to the front for another tour of reserve duty, while she cared for their infant alone. “Of course it is hard,” she admitted, “but what choice do we have? This is our mitzvah and our zechut … ”
How many similar young families are crying out, “If not us, then who?” Their selfless dedication to others, their achrayus—responsibility for Am Yisrael—is the highest expression of Torah ideals. For, facing the darkest of voids, they teach us the meaning of “Vayishaer ach Noach—Only Noach was left!” They demonstrate to each and every one of us that we, too, are charged with the obligation and achrayus to protect and rebuild.
Through this path of sacrifice, we are building an everlasting structure, a vessel to contain Hashem’s promise of redemption and a time of peace. Yet, as the eis milchama (time of war) continues to unfold and battles rage in our North and South, the most selfless of our community and nation are literally building our future—the future of the existence of the Jewish people in our holy land. May Hashem protect them, and may they—and all of us—see the fruits of these holy labor—the ultimate and complete binyan of Artzeinu HaKodeshah.
Rabbi Judah Mischel is executive director of Camp HASC, the Hebrew Academy for Special Children. He is the mashpiah of OU-NCSY, founder of Tzama Nafshi and the author of “Baderech: Along the Path of Teshuva.” Rabbi Judah lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh with his wife Ora and their family.
