Once upon a time, a scorpion was standing at the Gaza port, yearning to get out of Gaza and cross the sea. But alas, scorpions don’t swim. Suddenly, the scorpion saw a swan. It asked the swan if it could ride on its back and cross the sea.
The swan refused. “That would be suicidal,” said the swan. “You will give me one bite and I will die,” cried the swan. “You are dumb,” said the scorpion. “If I bite you, I will drown myself, because I do not swim. If you go down, I go down. So for my own selfish sake, I will never bite you.”
That logic made sense to the swine. It agreed. The swan took the scorpion on its back, they left the Gaza port, and off they went on their voyage across the sea.
All seemed peaceful and dandy, the swan was singing its favorite melodies as the scorpion was riding on its back. But suddenly, moments before they reached the other side, the swan felt a sharp sting. The scorpion gave the swine a deadly, venomous bite…
It was a lethal bite. The venom began to spread across the body of the poor swan. It began to drown, as did the scorpion who could not swim. As the swan was going down, it turned to the scorpion and said: Okay, you did it. You bit me, you killed me. But before I go under and die, just explain something to me. Why? Why? Why would you bite me when in fact this is a death sentence for you too? Why… Oh, why…? The swan cried. Just tell me why!
“Why would you kill me when this means that you are killing yourself? I understand you want to kill me, but why would you do that at the expense of killing yourself?”
And the scorpion responded:
“I can’t help myself. I am a scorpion.”
When the brothers in this week’s portion Vayeshev threw Joseph into the pit, the exile began — not just Joseph’s exile from his father’s house and the Land of Israel. From that dark, empty pit, began the exile of the entire Jewish people to Egypt.
Why the emphasis on the empty pit with no water —both when it comes to Joseph and when it comes to the Jewish exile? The Talmud, smack in the middle of its discussion of the Chanukah story and laws, asks this question:
Since it says: “now the pit was empty,” do I not know that there was no water in it? To inform us that there was no water in it, but there were snakes and scorpions in it.
Then the Talmud continues:
The Chanukah candles ought to be placed outside of one’s home, but in the cubit close to the door of the home so people can recognize it belongs to him or her.
Many a commentator struggle to understand the juxtaposition between the two themes. Why interrupt an exclusive discussion on Chanukah with an irrelevant discussion on Joseph’s pit?
In truth, the insertion of this theme into the Chanukah discussion sheds light on the very essence of the Chanukah story.
The Talmud teaches us here that there are three different kinds of pits. There are pits filled with water; there are empty pits. Then there are pits with snakes and scorpions. Had the Torah just said, “The pit was empty,” we might think it was simply empty; so the Torah adds, “It had no water,” to intimate that it was empty from water, not from hazardous snakes and scorpions.
Pits filled with water are wells that provide life to those living near them. Then there are empty pits. They serve no purpose and are dangerous.
And there is a third type of pit. As the Talmud quotes Rabbi Tanchum, Joseph’s pit belonged to this third category. It was empty of water, but it contained other things — snakes and scorpions.
Some mistake the pit of Exile for a well of water. Yes, one must be careful not to drown in it; but overall, they claim, it is a positive experience.
The Talmud teaches that this is a delusional way of thinking. The true nature of Exile is like Joseph’s pit: full of snakes and scorpions. It is a dangerous and deadly place for the Jewish people. It runs contrary to the very core and essence of the Jewish soul. Exile, the Talmud says, is like banishing a small child from the home of his/her parents and forcing them to live among strangers. What a tragedy! What a horror! What an injustice! The Jew does not belong in exile.
Rabbi Tanchum spoke of a pit containing both snakes and scorpions. What is the difference between these two dangerous animals? A snake bites with its head, while a scorpion stings with its tail. The snakebite is a planned and intentional act. A scorpion usually stings from its tail instinctively, without much thought. On the other hand, the scorpion sting often penetrates far deeper than the snakebite: it often affects the entire nervous system.
Exile is accompanied by both of these hazards. There are times of intentional and malevolent persecution, such as those perpetrated by Hamas, ISIS, Hezbollah, the Palestinian Authority, Iran, Syria, and all blatant filthy Jew killers. These are the sinister snakes of history.
But then there are the continual, unintentional scorpion stings, which penetrate very deeply. These are the forces of assimilation, apathy, indifference, intermarriage, and ignorance of who we are, what we represent, and what our destiny is. These forces take their slow, unintended toll on the Jewish people and their connection to their past and future.
The Rebbe of Modzitz had followers throughout the major towns of Poland. One of them was Reb Azriel David Fastag, who was noted for his exceptional voice throughout Warsaw. Many came to the shul where Reb Azriel David and his brothers, who were also blessed with lovely voices, would pray on the High Holy Days. Reb Azriel David would lead the prayers, while his brothers accompanied him as a choir. His crisp, clear, and moving voice had a profound effect on all who heard him.
Reb Azriel David lived simply, earning his livelihood from a small clothing store, but his happiness and fulfillment came from another source -- the world of Chassidic music. His moving tunes made their way to Otvoczk, where his Rebbe of Modzitz, appreciated them immensely. The day a new melody by Reb Azriel David arrived was a festive day for the Rebbe.
Dark clouds began to cover the skies of Europe -- the clouds of Nazism. Despite the terrible decrees, the yellow patch, and the ghettoes, most Jews could not fathom what was about to befall them. Only a few managed to escape the clutches of the Nazi occupation to safe havens. One of them was the Modzitzer Rebbe, whose Chassidim made a tremendous effort to save him. As the Nazis entered Poland, the Chassidim smuggled him out of Poland to Vilna, in Lithuania, and from there he made his way across Russia to Shanghai, China, eventually arriving in America in 1940.
Meanwhile, in Poland, tens of thousands of Jews were being shipped off daily to their death in cattle cars that were part of the railway system. Roused from their warm beds in Warsaw in the middle of the night, husbands were separated from their wives, children wrested from the arms of their parents. The elderly were often shot on the spot, in front of their loved ones. Then the Jews were gathered and sent off in those trains to a place where their existence would no longer trouble the Nazis -- to Auschwitz, Treblinka, Majdanek.
Inside the crowded cars, over the clatter of the cattle cars' wheels, rose the sounds of people gasping, sighing, weeping, and dying. But in one such car, headed toward the death camp Treblinka, the sound of singing could be heard.
It seems that an elderly Jew, wrapped up in his ragged clothing, his face white as snow, had made his way over to his neighbor on the death train, begging him to remind him of the tune of Ma'areh Kohen sung by Modzitzer Rebbe during the Yom Kippur service.
"Now? answered the other, thinking that maybe all the suffering had caused him to lose his mind.
But this Modzitzer Chassid, Reb Azriel David Fastag, was no longer paying attention to his friend, or anyone else on the train. In his mind, he was at the prayer stand next to his Rebbe on Yom Kippur, and it was he who was leading the prayer before the Rebbe and all the Chassidim.
Suddenly, there appeared before his eyes the words of the twelfth of the Thirteen Principles of Jewish Faith: Ani ma'amin b'emuna sheleima… "I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Moshiach; and even though he may tarry, nevertheless, I wait each day for his coming." Closing his eyes, he meditated on these words and thought, "Just now, when everything seems lost, is a Jew's faith put to the test."
It was not long before he began to hum a quiet tune to these words. There, amidst the death and despair on the train to Treblinka, the Chassid was transformed into a pillar of song, bringing forth out of his bloodied lungs the song of the eternity of the Jewish People. He was unaware of the silence in the cattle car and of the hundreds of ears listening attentively in amazement. He also didn't hear the voices as they gradually joined his song, at first quietly, but soon growing louder and louder.
The song spread from car to car. Every mouth that could still draw a breath joined in Reb Azriel Dovid's Ani Ma'amin.
As if waking from a dream, Reb Azriel David opened his eyes to the sight of the singing train. His eyes were red from crying, his cheeks wet with tears. In a choked voice, he cried out: "I will give half of my portion in Olam Habbah the World to Come to whoever can take my song to the Modzitzer Rebbe!"
A hushed silence descended upon the train. Two young men appeared, promising to bring the song to the Rebbe at any cost. One of them climbed upon the other, and finding a small crack in the train's roof broke out a hole from which to escape. Poking his head out under the open sky, he said, "I see the blue heavens above us, the stars are twinkling and the moon, with a fatherly face, is looking at me."
"And what do you hear?" asked his companion.
"I hear," the young man answered, "the angels on high singing Ani Ma'amin, and it's ascending to the seven firmaments of heaven!"
Bidding farewell to their brothers and sisters on the train, the two proceeded to jump off, one after the other. One was killed instantly from the fall. The other survived, taking the memory of the song with him. He eventually found his way to Israel, and the notes were sent by mail to the Modzitzer Rebbe in New York.
Upon receiving the notes and having the Reb Azriel Dovid's Ani Ma'amin sung before him, the Modzitzer Rebbe said: "When they sang Ani Ma'amin on the death train, the pillars of the world were shaking. The Almighty said, 'Whenever the Jews will sing Ani Ma'amin, I will remember the six million victims and have mercy on the rest of My People.'"
It is told that on the first Yom Kippur, the Modzitzer Rebbe sang the Ani Ma'amin, and there were thousands of Jews in the shul. The entire congregation burst into tears, which fell like water into the pool of tears and blood of the Jewish people. The tune soon spread throughout the world of Jewry.
"With this song," said the Rebbe, the Jewish people went to the gas chambers. And with this song, the Jews will march to greet Moshiach.
It is sung today by Jews of the world.
Enough of exile. We must never accept it or make peace with it. We will do our job here, but we will never think for a second that this is the future, this is the dream, this is the ultimate reality. We say Ani Maamin I believe!
Shabbat Shalom and A Happy Chanukah,
Rabbi Yoseph Geisinsky
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