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By: Chaya Sora Jungreis-Gertzulin
Eis tzarah hee l’Yaakov, It is a time of deep pain and tragedy for Klal Yisroel. We are all walking around with aching hearts. We are one nation, one people, all connected. The pain of our brothers in Eretz Yisroel is our pain. We cry, we daven, for those being held in captivity, for the injured, for the lives lost, and for their families. It is a tragedy so horrific, the numbers so many, it’s hard to fathom.
At the same time, we hear stories of inspiration. Stories of amazing strong men and women, doing the best they can for Am Yisroel, giving it all they got. Stories that give us hope and warm our heart.
Tel Aviv is a lively, busy city, home to many restaurants. Diners frequent its upscale steakhouses, and Israeli-style food joints.
While a large segment of the population was called up by the army, and family members at home aren’t eating out, the restaurants are anything but empty. They are filled with extra chefs, staff, and volunteers, going all out for Chayalei Yisroel, those on the front lines, fighting for the Jewish nation.
Before supplying meals for the soldiers, many of the Tel Aviv restaurants had a hurdle to overcome. Some restaurants in this city unfortunately did not maintain kosher kitchens, or were kosher “style”, while others, whose owners kept their kitchens nominally kosher, didn’t have a teudah, a kashrut certification. But their desire to help, to do chesed, was so strong, that they undertook the proper measures to kasher their restaurants and receive certification.
As chef Shalom Simcha Elbert of OCD (one of the top restaurants, known for the chef’s meticulous care that goes into every dish – hence the name OCD) said, “The restaurant now has kosher supervisors and is closed for Shabbat… We want to feed people in a way that will honor them.”
Ha’achim, another bustling Tel Aviv restaurant, also went through a kashering process, and is now preparing twenty thousand meals a day for the soldiers. Chef Yoatim Doktor plans to increase the production next week, by providing freshly cooked meals for the displaced surviving families of the horrific massacre in the south. The gourmet chef will be making schnitzel-pita sandwiches, and other child-friendly foods.
There are even some vegan and gluten-free restaurants that received a kashrut teudah. They too wanted to join the effort to provide special meals for those who requested it, as well as for hospital patients.
Dovid HaMelech says, “Olam chesed yibaneh, The world is built through acts of kindness” (Tehillim 89:3). It is a message that resonates for all time. We can continuously build – and rebuild – the world with kindness.
This Shabbos we will read Parshas Noach. “Vatimaleh ha’aretz chomos, And the land became filled with thievery and corruption.” (Bereishis 6:11) The very moral fiber of society was lost, as there was a total lack of respect between man and his fellow. It was a time of social discord. Additionally, it was a generation of self-centered people. People refusing to share their G-d given gifts and talents. Artists and musicians wouldn’t share their creations. People refused to help others, offer advice or provide information that could help their fellow man. It was a generation with “attitude”, what’s in it for me, what do I get out of it.
It was time to rebuild a new world. A world based on honesty, truthfulness, justice and chesed.
HaShem saw Noach as the person through whom the world could be rebuilt. “V’Noach motzah chein b’einei HaShem, But Noach found favor in the eyes of HaShem.” (Ibid. 6:8) Noach was his own person, and defied the world around him. “Everyone’s doing it” was not part of his lexicon.
HaShem told Noach of the impending mabul, the flood that would bring destruction upon the world. He directed Noach to build a teivah, a safe haven that would sustain the remnants of the destroyed world by way of its chesed.
Noach hammered away, building an ark of epic proportions. A three-floored structure where he housed not only his family but a menagerie of animals. While it rained for forty days, it took a full year for the water to subside. A year of living in the teivah, being the world’s busiest “zoo-keeper”. Noach was on call morning through night, feeding, caring for and cleaning the animals, never taking a break. Life in the teivah was chesed “boot camp”.
The trait of chesed, of being a giver, remained with Noach and his family. A trait that has been ingrained in the DNA of our people from that very day. To be a giver. To be concerned about others. To help when help is needed. To put a smile on someone’s face.
Our world today has witnessed a different type of chomos, destruction and devastation. Lives snuffed out, families decimated, communities destroyed. Yet, when all looks bleak and helpless, there are those who follow Noach’s example of building a teivah, a sanctuary in which to do chesed.
We have all been hearing and reading of the enormous acts of chesed that have been done over the past ten days. People all over the world going way beyond their comfort zone, offering support and relief in a myriad of ways. I couldn’t help but think of the chefs of Tel Aviv, uniting in a remarkable display of achdus and kindness.
Not everyone is on the front line, or has a restaurant that can cook up thousands of meals. But each and every of us can be do something positive during these difficult and trying times. We can take upon ourselves additional davening, saying Tehillim, giving tzedakah, or being more scrupulous with a mitzva as a z’chus for our people.
This past Shabbos, we blessed the new month of Mar-Cheshvan. Mar – bitter, because it is a month without any Yomim Tovim or special mitzvos. It is a month in which much suffering and tragedy befell our people throughout the ages. With a difficult war going on in Eretz Yisroel, the word mar took on extra meaning for me. What painful times we are living in. But as we bentched Rosh Chodesh, we said chaveirim kol Yisroel, we are a nation of friends, a nation that is interconnected, coming together, being there for one another.
With acts of chesed, may the bitter become sweet, and may HaShem bless us with shalom al kol Yisroel, peace onto all of Klal Yisroel.
Shabbat Shalom!
This article was written L’zecher Nishmas /In Memory Of HaRav Meshulem ben HaRav Osher Anshil HaLevi, zt”l and Rebbetzin Esther bas HaRav Avraham HaLevi, zt”l
