Rebounding Ridicule

A person once asked the holy Rebbe Chaim Meir, the “Imrei Chaim” of Vizhnitz osb”m, if there’s anything Hashem can’t do. To the person’s astonishment, the Rebbe said yes – there is one thing that Hashem cannot do.

“What could that possibly be?” asked the person.

“Hashem can’t bear the pain of hearing one Jew ridicule another,” the Rebbe answered. A well-known trademark of the Vizhnitz-dynasty rebbes to this day is their good-heartedness and their love for every Jew. They too could never stand hearing one Jew ridicule another…

I personally witnessed the following story (names changed to prevent embarrassment):

Danny Sugarman and Benjamin Jacobs were close friends and learning partners. Both baalei teshuva[i], they had entered the world of observant Judaism after completing their military service in the IDF, university studies, and working for a dozen or so years in their respective careers. Having devoted their lives to Torah for the nearly a decade, both were now in rabbinical seminary for baalei teshuva in Bnai Brak, they were well on their way to becoming full-fledged rabbinical leaders.

One day, Danny came to Kollel in the morning visibly upset, in stark contrast with his normally chirpy self. Benjamin noticed that Danny was daydreaming and certainly not focusing on the question of kavush k’mevushal, the Gemara’s determination that a pickled substance is tantamount to a cooked substance…

“Danny, what’s the matter? Did you argue with Miriam?”

“Baruch Hashem, no, shalom bayit is great, thank G-d.”

“Then what’s eating you, brother? You’re spaced out! I could be reciting the Gettysburg Address instead of Beit Yosef and you wouldn’t know the difference,” Benjamin lovingly prodded. He and Danny were closer than brothers and they were sometimes sharp with each other if they deemed it necessary to help each other maintain a level of excellence.”

“It’s my brother in Kibbutz Kinneret,” sighed Danny.

“Which one?” Benjamin asked. “Shaul or Reuven?”

“Reuven.”

“What’s wrong with him? Is he sick or something?”

“No,” Danny answered. “He just informed Mom and Dad that he’s getting engaged to his girlfriend…” Danny cleared his throat, “…a girl from Thailand.”

At the time, there were many Thai workers in Israel. In any area where they were employed, dogs strangely disappeared from the neighborhood. Unfortunate dog owners discovered that many Thai considered canine flesh a delicacy, Heaven forbid.

Benjamin felt that he had to put a smile on Danny’s face and to bring him back to their learning quickly, no matter what. He quipped, “Mazal tov, Danny! Reuven will now be the only Jewish guy in the Galilee whose wife services him poodle soup and kneidlach for Shabbat dinner.”

Danny snapped out of his daydreaming and quickly returned to his learning, not because Benjamin made him laugh, but because Benjamin’s crack was like a slap on a shell-shocked soldier’s face.

At that very moment, Hashem winced…

Benjamin’s twin brother Boaz was one of his favorite people on earth. Boaz was far from religious, yet Benjamin loved and admired him. Still single, Boaz was a highly-skilled fighter pilot with a bright future in the Israeli Air Force. For the last several months, he had been stationed on a USAF base in southwest Texas undergoing training in the latest US-made fighter jets that Israel had purchased. Benjamin had big hopes of eventually turning Boaz on to Gemara and observant Judaism…

His hopes shattered less than a week after his unfortunate poodle-soup quip to Danny. Benjamin received a fateful phone call from Boaz, telling him that he had met a lovely liaison officer on base, Lisa Chang, a lieutenant of Chinese American descent whose parents lived in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Last night, he proposed to her and she accepted.

Dear reader, this story is no figment of my imagination. Benjamin’s hurtful words to Danny rebounded right back in his face almost immediately. We must always remember that our words – for better or for worse, rebound right back at us. We get a heaping taste of the verbal delicacies that we serve others. This year, let’s be just as cautious with what comes out of our mouths as we are with what we put in our mouths.