Rabbi Henry & Rebbetzin Esther Soille were in their apartment in Paris when they heard a scream. They recognized it as neighbor of theirs – a non-Jewish woman. Feeling the terror in the woman’s voice, Mrs. Soille said,”Lets get dressed and go help her.” Rabbi Soille agreed and added, “If we wait that long she may be dead by then.” So, they immediately ran outside, dressed only in their pajamas to help.
When they got outside they saw a Nazi car coming toward their building so they dashed out of sight. From their hiding place they could see that the Gestapos were going to none other than their own apartment. Had they not responded with sensitivity and courage to the anguished cries of their neighbor, they would have still been in their apartment for the Nazis to find them and drag them off. Because they engaged in a chesed (act of kindness), their own lives had now been spared.
Why was the woman screaming? They later learned that the woman neighbor was screaming because the Nazis had come to seize her husband for smuggling. She told them to spare her husband and take the Rabbi next door instead.
Her intention was to trade the Rabbi’s life for her husband’s life. It didn’t even help her because they still took her husband. In attempting to betray the Rabbi, she actually saved him… (©2014. Printed with permission from Rabbi Baruch Lederman, author of Shulweek www.kehillastorah.org.)
When they got outside they saw a Nazi car coming toward their building so they dashed out of sight. From their hiding place they could see that the Gestapos were going to none other than their own apartment. Had they not responded with sensitivity and courage to the anguished cries of their neighbor, they would have still been in their apartment for the Nazis to find them and drag them off. Because they engaged in a chesed (act of kindness), their own lives had now been spared.
Why was the woman screaming? They later learned that the woman neighbor was screaming because the Nazis had come to seize her husband for smuggling. She told them to spare her husband and take the Rabbi next door instead.
Her intention was to trade the Rabbi’s life for her husband’s life. It didn’t even help her because they still took her husband. In attempting to betray the Rabbi, she actually saved him… (©2014. Printed with permission from Rabbi Baruch Lederman, author of Shulweek www.kehillastorah.org.)