Keeping his light alive

One year ago, on the ninth of the Hebrew month of Sivan, 21-year-old IDF Sgt. Eliyahu Moshe Zimbalist was killed in Gaza. He had made aliyah with his family from Silver Spring, Maryland, lived in Beit Shemesh, and studied at Yeshivat Shaalvim.

During the shiva, Noa and a close friend went to comfort Eli Moshe’s family. They left deeply moved by the family's strength, faith and dignity. On the way home, the two friends couldn't stop thinking about how to continue spreading Eli Moshe’s light in the world. And then a simple but deeply meaningful idea took shape: they would try to make a match between people they knew. They started thinking of names and sharing ideas. Noa mentioned her cousin, and her friend had a brilliant suggestion. Suddenly, everything just seemed to click.

Noa reached out to the young man they had in mind. At the time, he was serving in Gaza, and he gently explained that it didn’t feel like the right time for him. But several months later he called her back, asking if the girl they’d suggested was still available.

Fast forward to June 5. On the way to this couple’s wedding, Noa and her friend realized something remarkable: the wedding was taking place on the ninth of Sivan—exactly one year after Eli Moshe’s passing. A wedding in his merit, on the very day he had lost his life.

Mazal tov to Yehuda and Hodaya. And may we all find ways—each in our own way—to help fill the void left in the heart of the Jewish people.

Meir Shua in his grocery store after Shabbat ends on Saturday night. (credit: Courtesy)
Meir Shua in his grocery store after Shabbat ends on Saturday night. (credit: Courtesy)

A story about a Jerusalem grocery store on Shabbat

On Friday afternoon, Meir Shua was getting ready to close his grocery store, located on Ussishkin Street in Jerusalem. But just as he was about to lock up, he realized that the key was missing. He searched high and low and when he couldn’t find it, he asked the family members who help run the store with him for a spare key, but the closest one was in Ashkelon. 

The sun was about to set, Shabbat was moments away, and with a heavy heart, Meir headed home. Without the key, he couldn’t lower the large security gate at the entrance. And so, he walked away, leaving the door unlocked and his merchandise fully exposed.

What do you think happened next? Well, 25 hours went by. On Shabbat, thousands of people of all types passed through Ussishkin Street. Inside the store sat a cash register filled with cash, and shelves lined with hundreds of thousands of shekels worth of merchandise, including cigarettes and alcohol, all left unguarded. When Meir returned to the store after Shabbat ended, he was stunned.

“Everything was exactly where I left it,” he said. “Nothing was stolen.” What’s more, some concerned neighbors, thinking the store had been broken into, had placed a large trash bin in front of the entrance to block access.

People from the neighborhood and beyond have been flocking to the grocery store to hear Meir’s firsthand account. His takeaway? “We just read on Shavuot: ‘You shall not steal.’ We’re not just people who don’t steal—we are righteous!”

Kindling the spark

In this week’s parashah, Beha’alotcha, Aaron the High Priest is commanded to light the lamps in the Mishkan. Rashi comments that he was told to light them “until the flame rises by itself.” As the commentators explain, he brought the fire near the wick until the flame burned on its own. There is no need to use force, just let go and allow the flame to burn on its own.

We learn from here an important principle in educating our children and teaching our students. There is no need to stifle your children and students if you want to educate them well. It is sufficient to inspire them, and to light the flame in their own hearts. Stay close but know that sometimes you need to step back and let the flame rise by itself.

Inside the box

There is a lot to be said for creativity and thinking “outside the box,” but the Torah teaches us about the value of the other side of the equation. 

After the command to light the Menora, the Torah emphasizes that Aaron fulfilled the task exactly: “And Aaron did so.” Rashi explains that the Torah is telling us this, “in order to praise Aaron that he did not deviate.” He did not do more or less than what he was commanded, he did not look for new or different ways to fulfill the commandment, and he did not suggest an alternative format for lighting the Menora. 

It is not as simple as it sounds to do something exactly as you are told to. Some 200 years ago, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov wrote a statement that I find amazing: “The time will come when being an upright and simple person will be as revolutionary as being the Baal Shem Tov.” Have we already come to the point when everything is so confusing and challenging that the person who is not constantly reinventing things and thinking out of the box is in fact the biggest novelty of all?

Translated by Yehoshua Siskin and Janine Muller Sherr

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