For Our Benefit

There is a very beautiful insight given by Rabbi Frand on Parshas Lech Lecha. The very first Rashi in the Parsha interprets the words "Lech Lecha" to mean "for your own benefit and welfare". The Imrei Shammai cites an incident involving Reb Nachum of Chernobyl that elucidates this Rashi. "Reb Nachum was once imprisoned. It did not take much in the Ukraine for a Jew, especially a Rabbi, to wind up in jail. An old Jew came to visit Reb Nachum and told him that he could explain a particular reason why Reb Nachum was sitting in jail. Reb Nachum used to devote much effort to the mitzvah of redeeming Jews from captivity (pidyon shevuyim). At a time when Jews were arbitrarily and capriciously thrown into jail, he felt obligated to do whatever he could to work for their release. The old Jew told him that G-d put Reb Nachum himself in jail so that he would be able to appreciate what a great mitzvah he was doing when working for the release of Jewish prisoners. Now that he was sitting in jail, he would be better able to empathize with the prisoners who he helped. The next time he would go out to raise money for pidyon shevuyim, it would be a different experience. He would have more appreciation for the wonderful mitzvah that he was doing. Here too, Avraham was destined to be the prototype of kindness toward his fellow man. He was destined to be the prototype of welcoming in wayfarers. G-d wanted to show him what a great mitzvah it is to be a host to guests who need a place to stay. The best way to learn how to be a host is to first be a traveler." Similarly, Yehuda exposed all those he knew to a way of life that was very foreign to us. As we know, everything in this world happens with a purpose, and we don't always know what that purpose is. Perhaps there is a greater understanding, beyond what is readily apparent to us now that it was through Yehuda, that we acquired certain sensitivities and understanding that without him we would never have achieved. These sensitivities have so far enabled all of us to help many people and IY"H it should be an aliah to Yehuda's Neshama every time we use the kochos developed by these sensitivities to help people in similar situations. Helping others is not only achieved by investing time and intensive, one-on-one dialogue, but can also be achieved by having a genuine feeling of warmth that can be expressed by a friendly comment or smile.

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