Va'eschanan: 5785 - Two pamphlets that made their way around on the fast of Tisha B'Av, questions on the story of 'Kamtza and Bar Kamtza' and baseless hatred, versus true baseless love | A moving 'Bididi Hava Uvda' (a story that happened to me)…

00:01 Speaker 1 This happened to me personally. On Tisha B’Av afternoon, when everyone was gathering for Mincha, I was sitting upstairs in the shul. The shul was full. The truth is, I felt very, very unwell. The fast was very, very hard for me. People were making up what they had missed in the morning, and pages were scattered across the tables. I picked up one of them. It was a photocopy from Tractate Gittin, which they had studied the night before in a class: “Because of Kamtza and Bar Kamtza, Jerusalem was destroyed.” I looked through that page of Gemara, and there are many questions about the story. First of all, Kamtza wasn’t even at the party. He wasn’t invited; Bar Kamtza was invited by mistake. So why is Kamtza named as one of those responsible for the destruction? He wasn’t even there. That’s one question. Another question: Bar Kamtza was humiliated in public, and he was willing to pay for the entire meal. What do they want from him? The person who caused all this baseless hatred isn’t even in the picture. The one who threw the party, drove him out and threw him outside—he isn’t even in the picture. There are many puzzling things about the whole story, but it expresses baseless hatred, because of which Jerusalem was destroyed. I was looking at this page. People upstairs were getting ready for Mincha, and then I saw another page and picked it up. There’s a sheet that comes out every week called “My Story.” I read the story—listen, it was interesting. I don’t remember what year it was, but years ago they sent ten young men to Australia, where a Chabad yeshiva had been established. They were sent for two years to strengthen the yeshiva and spread Chassidus there. One of the young men sent there wrote a letter home every week, describing what had happened to him that week. His intention was

02:26 Speaker 1 to document his experiences so he would have them in writing afterward. But his father was close to the Rebbe. Whenever there was something interesting, his father would bring the account he had written to the Rebbe. The young man found out only later; he didn’t know his father was bringing excerpts from his letters to the Rebbe. His father brought one of those stories to the Rebbe. What was the story? On Rosh Hashanah he was in shul, and before the Torah reading they began selling the aliyos. It seemed very strange to him because he wasn’t used to it. Before the Torah reading, before the shofar blowing, a marketplace starts up: people begin arguing and bargaining. It didn’t seem fitting; it wasn’t the right time. He wasn’t used to anything like it. They went on bargaining over the aliyos, but when they reached the aliyah of maftir, several people wanted to buy it. They argued, and the price climbed sky-high, until one of the congregants bought it. When the gabbai came to offer him the aliyah, he said, “No, don’t call me up.” He pointed to someone sitting at the far end of the shul: “Give it to him.” Who was this Jew? A simple Jew, a barber by profession. It had never even crossed his mind to take part in this bidding and buy an aliyah. Who am I? What am I? I should go and buy one? The gabbai called out his name, but he didn’t respond at all. He couldn’t believe they meant him. Finally the gabbai came over and said, “You’ve been called up to the Torah.” He said, “I didn’t buy an aliyah.” The gabbai told him, “But someone bought it and gave it to you.” He was stunned. “Someone gave me an aliyah?” He went up to the Torah and made the blessings. He had to read the haftorah. He was completely stunned. A Jew had spent his own money to buy him

04:35 Speaker 1 an aliyah and honor him with it. I thought to myself: here I am, reading these two pages side by side. Here there is—

04:43 Speaker 2 Ahavas Yisroel.

04:45 Speaker 1 Baseless hatred. Kamtza and Bar Kamtza. And here we see such unconditional love: a Jew buys an aliyah for someone else, pays good money for it, and honors another Jew with it. Meanwhile, the minyan upstairs had already started. And you know, they’ve been selling the aliyos lately. So at Mincha they were selling the aliyos. They reached the third aliyah, which is also maftir, and the bidding began, because there was a big crowd upstairs. There was a very large crowd at Mincha on Tisha B’Av. The price kept going up and up. I wasn’t feeling well. I was sitting in my corner, not involved at all. When it came time for the third aliyah, they called out my name. At first I didn’t even realize they were calling me. I hadn’t taken part; I hadn’t bought anything. What? What had happened? I didn’t respond, until the gabbai came over and said, “Come on, you’ve been called up to the Torah.” So I said, “Who bought it for me?” He pointed out the person who had bought it and given it to me. There’s a Jew who comes into the class here from time to time, the one who cleans here, with the beard. I don’t even know his name. He comes in every morning.

06:05 Speaker 2 Yes.

06:05 Speaker 1 He paid good money for it, because people were bidding against each other. Everyone wanted to buy the aliyah. He bought it and gave it to me.

06:12 Speaker 2 Even though he didn’t know you.

06:14 Speaker 1 I don’t know him at all, and he honored me with an aliyah. Now look, Master of the Universe, open Your eyes and see what unconditional love there is here in Nachlas Har Chabad. The time of your Geulah has arrived.

06:27 Speaker 2 Amen.

06:27 Speaker 1 Unconditional love.

06:28 Speaker 2 Amen.