When Living Was the Mesirus Nefesh

During the terrible years of Tach v’Tat, when Jewish blood was being spilled and entire communities were being destroyed, R’ Shimshon of Ostropoli sought to understand the terrible gezeirah that had come upon Klal Yisrael.

The Ramchal brings in Derech Eitz Chaim that R’ Shimshon addressed the Sitra Achra and asked why it was being mekatreg against Klal Yisrael more than against the other nations.

The answer came back: “Let them give up three things, and I will withdraw my prosecution: Shabbos, milah, and Torah.”

It was a horrifying offer. If Klal Yisrael would abandon the very pillars of its covenant with Hashem, the suffering would stop.

But R’ Shimshon did not hesitate.

“Let them be lost in even greater numbers,” he answered, “but let not one letter of our holy Torah be nullified.”

For R’ Shimshon understood that without Torah, without Shabbos, without bris milah, Klal Yisrael itself would no longer be Klal Yisrael. Physical survival bought at the price of the Torah is not survival.

It is told that when this answer was given, the mekatreg understood that R’ Shimshon would never agree to such a thing. A different proposal was then presented: if three gedolei Yisrael would accept upon themselves to die al kiddush Hashem, the gezeirah could be lightened or annulled.

R’ Shimshon accepted.

But he said that he could not accept on behalf of others. The other gedolim would have to agree for themselves.

Letters were sent.

One of the gedolim was R’ Yechiel Michel of Nemirov. He agreed.

Another was the Shach, R’ Shabtai HaKohen. At the time, he was still a very young talmid chacham, only in his mid-twenties. But he already carried within him Torah that would illuminate Klal Yisrael for generations.

The Shach answered that he could not accept.

He still had Torah to bring into the world. He still had a chibur to publish for the benefit of Klal Yisrael. His task was not to die al kiddush Hashem then, but to live and give Klal Yisrael the Torah that had been placed upon him to reveal.

This was not a refusal born from fear. It was a refusal born from responsibility.

R’ Shimshon of Ostropoli and R’ Yechiel Michel of Nemirov gave their lives al kiddush Hashem. The Shach lived on, and his Torah became one of the foundations of halachah for all later generations.

The story leaves us with a powerful lesson.

Sometimes mesirus nefesh means giving up one’s life. Sometimes mesirus nefesh means refusing even that, because one still has a mission to fulfill. A person does not choose greatness by copying someone else’s avodah. He must know what Hashem is asking from him.

R’ Shimshon taught that not one letter of Torah can be surrendered.

The Shach taught that if one has Torah to give Klal Yisrael, then giving that Torah may itself be the mission for which he must live.