Rabbi's Corner

The Chofetz Chaim lived in Radin, a tiny hamlet that had no chillul Shabbat (desecration of Shabbat) whatsoever. Until World War I when the Chofetz Chaim was already in his mid-70’s, he had never witnessed anyone desecrating Shabbat. However, World War I brought about the devastation of many Jewish communities in Europe. The entire population of the hamlet of Radin “pulled up stakes” and moved into the Russian interior for the duration of the war. It was during the first Shabbat in which the Chofetz Chaim was in exile from Radin that he witnessed his first Shabbat being desecrated. His reaction? He broke down into tears. The next Shabbat he once again saw chillul Shabbat causing him to cry even harder and longer than the previous week. His students expressed puzzlement: “We understand why you cried so much last week. Your having witnessed chillul Shabbat for the first time in your life was a very traumatic experience for you. But by this week, you should have expected it to happen again. So, why did you cry at all this week and so much more intensity than you did last week?” The Chofetz Chaim replied: “Last week was the first time I saw another Jew violate the holiness of Shabbat. I was crying for the problem itself. This week, when I witnessed another violation of the holiness of Shabbat, it did not hurt me nearly as much as it did last week. That’s why I cried even more. I am concerned that I have become callous toward Shabbat simply because I have fallen from my personal spiritual level. I am concerned that I no longer feel HaShem’s pain when H-s children desecrate Shabbat. Last week, I was crying for Shabbat. This week, I am crying for myself.”

The world has been a witness to the most serious of all desecrations of Torah during this last week with the wanton destruction and killing of others in reaction to the murder of George Floyd. We who are HaShem’s creations, having been created in H-s image, have violated the mitzvah (command) of “ve’ahavta l’rei’achah kamochah” (“Love your neighbor as [you love] yourself!”). One of the dangers of living in such an open society is that often, after we witness or hear about others transgressing the law, we fall “victim” to entertaining the tendency of doing the same. We become vulnerable to that which is a chillul HaShem and, because we see so many others doing the same with no resulting percussions whatsoever, we become inured to its effects. The Chofetz Chaim knew this to be true regarding witnessing chillul Shabbat and set about to correct himself. We can do less than to immediately repair whatever breach we may have committed in order to prevent ourselves, and others, from committing any chillul HaShem.