The Gift of the Jewish People

Charlie Boswell was a great athlete who became blind during World War II while rescuing his friend from a tank that was under fire. When he returned to this country after the War, he decided to take up a sport he had never tried yet golf. Years of Practice and determination led him to win the honor of National Blind Golf Champion no less than 13 times. One of his heroes was the great golfer Ben Hogan, so it truly was an honor for Charlie to win the Ben Hogan Award in 1958.

Upon meeting Hogan, Charlie was awestruck and told the legendary golfer that his greatest wish was to have one round of golf with the great Ben Hogan.

Hogan was duly honored, after all, he knew Charlie as the great blind player that he was, and truly admired his skills. But suddenly Boswell blurted out an unexpected challenge. "Would you like to play for money, Mr. Hogan?" "Charlie, you know I can't play you for money, it wouldn't be fair!" said Mr. Hogan.

Boswell did not flinch. Instead, he upped the ante. "Aw, come on, $1,000 per hole!"

"I can't. What would people think of me, taking advantage of you and your circumstance," replied the golfer who indeed was able to see.

"Chicken, Mr. Hogan?"

"Okay," blurted a frustrated Hogan, "I'll play. But I warn you, I am going to play my best!"

"I wouldn't expect anything else," said the confident Boswell.
"You're on Charlie. I'll tell you what. You name the time and the place!" A very self-assured Boswell responded: “Fine. 10 o'clock . . . tonight!"

In the portion of Bechokotai, G-d communicates to the Jewish people the idyllic and extraordinary blessings that await them if they live up to their covenant with G-d; namely, living a life of G-dliness and holiness based on the Torah and its Mitzvot. It then declares that if the Jewish people fail to fulfill their role in our world as the carriers of G-d's morality, holiness, and truth, they will become the victims of the horrendous

punishments, curses, and losses that are described in frightening detail.

Immediately following this section known as the tochacha, the stern chastisement, the Torah begins the subject of evaluation. These laws specify how a person might donate his or her value or the value of another human being to the Holy Temple. The Torah

specifies the sum one must contribute if he or she makes such a pledge: the sum is not based on a person's strength or character, but rather it is a generic value for each gender and age. For example, if I pledged to contribute the value of my five-year-old son, I need to contribute 20 silver shekel (a silver currency weighing around 360 grams) to the Temple. If I pledge to contribute the value of my one-year-old boy, I need to pay the Temple five silver shekel.

[Obviously, these numbers do not reflect the true value of a human being. A person is priceless. Rather, these are symbolic numbers the Torah attaches to different genders and ages, representing certain generic features of this gender or age group. The details of this are beyond the scope of this article.]

The order in the Hebrew Bible is profoundly calculated and meticulous. What is the connection between the stern and harsh chastisement, and the laws of evaluation, discussing the “value” of every human being, man, woman, and child?

I will present two answers, one is a numerical and moral one, and the other is a psychological one.

The Baal Haturim explains as follows. The Portion of evaluations contains in this order: 50 shekel, 30 shekel, 20 shekel, 10 shekel, 5 shekel, 3 shekel, 15 shekel, and 10 shekel—for various age and gender categories. The total of all distinct categories comes out to be 143 shekel. This number exactly matches the sum of the curses in the Torah—45 in this week’s portion, Bechukotai, and 98 in the portion of Ki Tavo in the book of Deuteronomy. The Torah is, in effect, saying that the antidote for the tochacha is the mitzvah of evaluation and charity. The 143 shekels of contributions cancel out the 143 chastisements.

The second explanation, presented by the Kotzker Rebbe, may be understood through this moving story.   After the Nazis invaded a small village in Romania, they began to celebrate the defeat of the Jews in their usual sadistic fashion. They gathered the Jews into a circle in the town center and then paraded their Rebbe, Rabbi Y. Y.  Halberstam (1905-1994), into the center.

The Tzanzer Rebbe was later taken to Auschwitz, where his wife and 11 children perished. He survived the war and came to America, remarried, had more children, and built a grand Chassidic movement. He built the beautiful Laniodo hospital in Netanya, Israel.

The SS guards began taunting and teasing the Rebbe, pulling his beard and pushing him around. The vile soldiers trained their guns on him as the commander began to speak. "Tell us Rabbi," sneered the officer, "do you believe you are the Chosen People?"

The soldiers guarding the crowd howled in laughter. But the Rebbe did not. In a serene voice, he answered loud and clear, "Most certainly."

The officer became enraged. He lifted his rifle above his head and sent it crashing on the head of the Rebbe. The Rebbe fell to the ground. There was rage in the officer's voice. "Do you still think you are the Chosen People?" he yelled.

Once again, the Rebbe nodded and said, "Yes, we are." The officer became infuriated. He kicked the Rebbe in the chin and repeated. "You stupid Jew, you lie here on the ground, beaten and humiliated, in a puddle of blood. What makes you think that you are the Chosen People?"

With his mouth gushing blood, from the depths of humiliation beaten and crushed on the ground, the Rebbe replied. "As long as we are not the ones kicking, beating, and murdering innocent people, we are the chosen people."

One of the greatest gifts of the Jewish people was that they did not allow the humiliation and persecution they endured by mighty armies and nations to define their inner identity, dignity, and destiny. Like fearless lions, they left Auschwitz and the next day they went to rebuild Jerusalem...

We know of many people or cultures who endured savage agony and suffering, and as a result, they could never rehabilitate themselves emotionally. They remained eternal victims of their oppressors. And even after they were set free, it was merely an external freedom, but their inner sense of identity and liberty has been obliterated.

Where did the Jewish people glean the strength to emerge from every disaster with the courage and confidence to rebuild and prosper? From the order in this week’s portion! After the Torah enumerates the suffering the Jews might experience from the nations around them, it goes right on to discuss the value of every single human being. No matter what happens to you, the Torah is intimating, you have extraordinary value as an individual, and as part of a nation, now and for eternity. And your value can contribute to the Holy Temple and the revealing of the Divine presence in the world.

Lying on the ground, beaten and degraded, surrounded by SS guards who with the pull of a trigger could destroy your life, the Jew knew he was valuable, if only in the sense that he was not the murderer.

This principle applies to us as well. Many of us have experienced loss, pain, and grief in our lives. There are individuals who from a very young age have been given the message that they are worthless and that their lives amount to nothing. For years they must struggle to regain the inner confidence to create a great life for themselves.

Comes the Torah and teaches us, that after you experience turbulence in your life, after you endued a “tochachah,” make sure that you do not allow that to make you question and doubt your value. You may have been defeated but let the fighter in you must remain.

It may be late at night, and the darkness may be powerful, but don’t let that stop your golf game.

It also works the other way around:

The true value and dignity of a person emerge in moments of pain and despair. The real quality of people, their truest depth, courage, and majesty emerge after a painful experience. We must stand in awe and reverence in the presence of people who were dealt grapes of wrath. In the presence of a burning bush that does not get destroyed, we must take off our shoes in complete humility, and embrace these unique individuals who have seen their world crumble and yet emerged with so much dignity and courage. October 7^th will strengthen us and each of the people who lost their loved ones.

When Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum, came to Israel, a Hungarian Jew came and asked him for a blessing before his departure back to the US. This Jew expressed the fear that after the Satmar Rav returned to America, there would be no one worthy to ask for a blessing. His master told him: "Go to any Jew that has a number tattooed on his arm and ask him for a blessing. The Rebbe said to a man from Eilat who asked for a blessing, The Rebbe advised him to go over to a Jewish soldier who puts his/her life on the line to protect the Jewish people now more than ever and they have the power to bless!

When such a person is available, you do not need me to give you a blessing."

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Yoseph Geisinsky