My father, Rabbi Moshe Greenberg, of blessed memory, assists a Jew in the mitzvah of Tefillin on the streets of Petach Tikvah, Israel.
On Shabbat will be third yartzeit of my dear father Rabbi Moshe ben Naftali, of blessed memory. Born in Kaprest, Bessarabia (near Kishinev, Moldova) in the former U.S.S.R. he received his formal Jewish education and training from his father who was a shochet (ritual slaughterer). At the age of 14 he joined the Chabad Yeshiva in Kishinev where he discovered the teachings of Chassidus and became an ardent and life-long disciple of the Lubavitcher Rebbes.
After WWII the Russian government allowed foreign refugees that had escaped the Nazis by fleeing into Russia, to return to their respective homelands. Since many had not survived the war years, many Russian Jews, eager to escape communist religious oppression, created an escape route utilizing the identities of deceased Polish refugees. While the scheme was a success for a while, my father was caught during his journey. At the age of 20 he was sentenced to 25 years of harsh labor in Siberia, (essentially a death sentence), for the heinous crime of attempting to reach a country that would allow him to serve G-d through Torah study and Mitzvah observance.
While in Stalin’s “rehabilitation camps” he subsisted on the meager ration of 15 grams of bread, a sugar cube and a small piece of pickeled herring. He stubbornly refused to consume any non-kosher foods. On Passover he would subsist on a few sugar cubes and potato peels for 8 days. But Shabbat presented the greatest challenge for him. After skipping work on the first Shabbat he was placed in solitary confinement for five days. To the amazement of his supervisors he refused to work every subsequent Shabbat, despite the fact that he was spending 5 days in solitary confinement each week as a result. This earned him the respect of several influential prisoners and after two years of excruciating sacrifice a an agreement was reached allowing him to show up to the work site without actually working the entire day.
Following Stalin's death, many political prisoners were granted freedom. My father was released seven years into his sentence. Although my father rarely spoke of his incarceration, it was those Jewish victories that he would proudly share with the family. What gave him the strength to endure so much for the sake of his Judaism when his future was so bleak?
This week’s parsha is called “Chukat”. There are three categories of mitzvoth: Mispatim (Laws) – logical rules of conduct that any decent human society would deem necessary. Eidut (Testimonies) – mitzvoth that serve to remind us of the greatness of G-d and our miraculous history, such as Shabbat the holidays, Tefillin etc. Chukim (Statutes) – Laws that have no rationale, such as kosher, ritual purity and impurity etc.
Whereas the fulfillment of the mishpatim and eidut may be motivated by intelligent or emotional appreciation, the observance of chukim is clearly inspired by an ironclad commitment to fulfilling the will of G-d, under all circumstances. The Rebbe clarifies, that this transcendental commitment is crucial in the observance of every mitzvah. If one is merely intellectually motivated to abstain from theft, he or she may find ways to rationalize an exception in various scenarios. When the prohibition of theft is mitzvah from G-d, then no excuse will work.
This perspective allows us not to be distracted by the fact that 3,000 years have passed since we received the Torah and Mitzvoth. Shabbat, Kosher and family purity are as relevant in the 2016 as in 1,000 BCE. This is the will of G-d and as loyal children we fulfill His every wish even when the stakes are so high and the sacrifice so great. By doing so we develop a deeper relationship each time.
My father’s sacrifice to observe Shabbat and Kosher in the Siberian gulags was not the result of religious calculation. It was a labor of love that continued throughout his life. May his memory be a blessing for us all and may he continue to derive much nachas from all of his descendants.