Reb Yosef Friedensohn, z”l was a man of faith, a Jewish hero and Holocaust survivor. Literally embodying the indestructibility of klal Yisrael, he had “earned seven diplomas from seven German universities of murder and atrocity” — by surviving seven death camps. As the editor of “Dos Yiddishe Vort,” a publication of Agudas Yisroel, Reb Yosef represented Torah values and Yiddishkeit to the world for close to 70 years.
Reb Yosef once recounted a memory from Auschwitz-Birkenau, where he was assigned to transporting refuse from the kitchen depository, emptying latrines around the camp and carting them to the dump. Though repulsive work and difficult to bear the overwhelming stench, the job was considered a privilege, as it provided access to kitchen scraps, the warehouse and a certain sense of freedom of movement. He was paired on this work detail with a friend, a talmid of Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin named Aviezer.
One autumn day, the temperatures were already freezing and the wind was blowing wildly. While pushing the cart of refuse past the area that separated the men’s and women’s compounds, Yosef and Aviezer noticed a young girl waving, frantically trying to catch their attention. Pale and contracting from the cold, she kept calling out to them, but the howling wind and the distance made it hard to hear. Straining to understand, Aviezer asked Yosef, “Did she say, “Kent yir mir kriggen a… vetter?” She must be asking for a sweater!” The request was unrealistic; where would they get a sweater in Birkenau?
A few days later, while the two were passing by a warehouse, Aviezer snuck in through a side door. A minute later he rejoined his partner and with hushed excitement announced, “Yossel, I found a sweater! It’s under my uniform.” They had become so emaciated that even a wool sweater underneath was virtually undetectable.
Throughout the day, each time they passed by the area adjacent to the women’s compound they would check to see if they could spot the girl. Sure enough, they eventually saw her, again waving urgently at them. Elated, Aviezer ran over and removed his thin prisoner’s jacket, revealing the sweater. He quickly took it off and tossed it over the fence to the young woman. She picked it up, and looked at it quizzically. “Vus iz dos— What’s this?”
“It’s a sweater,” replied Aviezer, stunned, “what you asked us for, to keep you warm!”
“A sweater? No, no, I don’t need a sweater! Please, I need a siddur! It’s almost Rosh Hashanah and I need a siddur so I can daven!”
The young men were speechless. Naturally, they were so occupied with physical warmth and survival that it never crossed their minds that anyone would need a siddur to warm their soul.
~~
אֶת־ה׳ הֶאֱמַרְתָּ הַיּוֹם לִהְיוֹת לְךָ לֵאלֹקִים וְלָלֶכֶת בִּדְרָכָיו וְלִשְׁמֹר חֻקָּיו וּמִצְוֹתָיו וּמִשְׁפָּטָיו וְלִשְׁמֹעַ בְּקֹלוֹ: וַה׳ הֶאֱמִירְךָ הַיּוֹם לִהְיוֹת לוֹ לְעַם סְגֻלָּ֔ה כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר־לָךְ וְלִשְׁמֹר כָּל־מִצְוֹתָיו: וּלְתִתְּךָ עֶלְיוֹן עַל כָּל־הַגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה לִתְהִלָּה וּלְשֵׁם
וּלְתִפְאָרֶת וְלִהְיֹתְךָ עַם־קָדשׁ לַה׳ אֱלֹקֶיךָ כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֵּר:
“You have ‘he’emarta’ Hashem this day, to be your God, and to walk in His ways, and to observe His statutes, His commandments and His ordinances, and to obey Him. And Hashem has ‘he’emirecha’ selected you this day to be His treasured people, as He spoke to you, and so that you shall observe all His commandments; and to make you supreme, above all the nations that He made, (so that you will have) praise, a (distinguished) name and glory; and so that you will be a holy people to Hashem, your God, as He spoke.” (Devarim, 26:17-19)
The exact definitions and translations of הֶאֱמַרְתָּ and הֶאמִירְךָ, are uncertain, and this is a topic debated among commentators and philologists. “You have selected, affirmed or declared…” and “Hashem has selected, affirmed you…”
Rashi makes note of this unique terminology: “אֵין לָהֶם עֵד מוֹכִיחַ בַּמִּקְרָא— “We do not find any equivalent expression in Scriptures (which might give us a clue to the exact meaning of these words). However, וְלִי נִרְאֶה שֶׁהוּא לְשׁוֹן הַפְרָשָׁה וְהַבְדָּלָה, it appears to me that (the expression הֶאֱמִיר) denotes separation and distinction…” In other words, the Ribbono Shel Olam “sets us aside.” We reserve ourselves for Him and He reserves Himself for us. Rashi interprets: הִבְדַּלְתָּ לְךָ מֵאֱלֹקֵי הַנֵּכָר לִהְיוֹת לְךָ לֵאלֹקִים וְהוּא הִפְרִישְׁךָ אֵלָיו מֵעַמֵּי הָאָרֶץ לִהְיוֹת לוֹ לְעַם סְגֻלָּה— “From all the pagan deities, you have set apart Hashem for yourself to be your God, and He separated you for Himself from all the peoples on earth to be His treasured people.”
The verbs used to express this reciprocal, covenantal relationship are both rooted in the shoresh of אמ’’ר, literally “say” or “is said.” Unlike elsewhere in Torah, here in our sedra, אמ’’ר is employed in a transitive form: הֶאֱמַרְתָּ / הֶאמִירְךָ — God “says,” affirms or designates us — and we do the same. We are “spoken for,” and through our indestructible commitment, Hashem is spoken for too.
Targum Onkelos, whose authoritative second century Aramaic translation of Chumash is almost entirely a word-by-word, literal peirush or explanation, translates both words using the Aramaic verbs rooted in the letters חט’’ב. Literally, this suggests “to choose” or “be chosen,” “to be hewn from,” formed or chiseled from. However, this root can also imply “to design” or embroider, related to the Aramaic word chutva, an embroidered garment, from a Hebrew word for thread.
לָלֶכֶת בִּדְרָכָיו וְלִשְׁמֹר חֻקָּיו וּמִצְוֹתָיו וּמִשְׁפָּטָיו וְלִשְׁמֹעַ בְּקֹלו— “To go in His ways and guard His supra-rational laws and His mitzvos, and to hear His voice…” (Devarim, Ibid.) Emulating the midos of Hashem, walking in His paths by observing His mitzvos and heeding His will “affirms and declares” our choosing and being chosen. Furthermore, the “Talmidei haBaal Shem Tov” suggest that in our fulfillment of the ratzon Hashem, we are weaving together words of Torah and tefillah, and we are surrounding and dressing ourselves in Divine Royalty, as if enrobed in God Himself.
When we manifest the privilege and responsibility of living Jewishly, Hashem “declares and affirms” us as “”supreme, above all the nations… distinguished in name and glory.” Hashem “dresses himself” in us; we are “woven together” so that we form a garment worthy of adorning the Master of the World:
אמר רבי יוחנן, אלמלא מקרא כתוב אי אפשר לאמרו:
מלמד שנתעטף הקב”ה כשליח צבור והראה לו למשה סדר תפילה. אמר לו: כל זמן שישראל חוטאין יעשו לפני כסדר הזה ואני מוחל להם.
“And Hashem passed by before him, and proclaimed…” (Shemos, 34:6). Rabbi Yochanan said: Were this not written in the Torah, it would be impossible to say this (as it would be insulting to God’s honor). (The pasuk) teaches us that t Hakadosh Baruch Hu wrapped Himself in a garment like a prayer leader and showed Moshe the structure of the order of the tefillah and said: Whenever the Jewish people sin, let them act before Me in accordance with this order (put on a tallis and recite the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy), and I will forgive them…
(Rosh Hashanah, 17b)
As we approach the Yamim Noraim, no matter our outer circumstances, let us take our siddurim in hand and recommit ourselves to aligning our lives and choices with Hashem’s will. And may we prepare a holy “sweater” of merits and praises worthy of the King.
אָנוּ מַאֲמִירֶיךָ וְאַתָּה מַאֲמִירֵנוּ!
We are Your designated one,
And You are our Designated One!
(from the Musaf of Yom Kippur)
Rav Judah Mischel is executive director of Camp HASC, the Hebrew Academy for Special Children. He is the mashpia of OU-NCSY, founder of Tzama Nafshi and the author of “Baderech: Along the Path of Teshuva.” Rav Judah lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh with his wife Ora and their family.
