The Sacrifices of Rav Wasserman For Am Yisrael

1:34On top of it, it's the freezing weather of Europe, Russia. It's like, you know, the hot place and the cold place. I believe that the cold place is in Russia; it's very cold over there, apparently. So anyway, Rabotai, Rav Elchonon Wasserman is there. He gets to the wealthy person's house. knocks on the door, the butler opens the door. "Come, come, come, come in." "No, no, no, please, I want to talk to Mr. So-and-So." "Okay, but Rav, come in." "No, no, no, I'm right here. Just please tell him to come. I need to talk to him about something very important." The butler runs to him. "Sir, sir, Rav Wasserman is here again. He wants to talk to you." "Tell him to come in." "He doesn't want to come in. What do you mean he doesn't want to come in?" "I don't know. I asked him. He doesn't want to come in." "Go talk to him again. Invite him in." The butler runs to the door. "Come in, please." Rav Wasserman replies, "No, no, I need to talk to you right now, outside." "Okay," the owner responds. The two of them stand outside now, at the doorstep. The ba'al habayit, the owner, is concerned, wondering why Rav Wasserman insists on speaking outside.

2:43The restaurant is outside in the cold, the snow coming down on him. It's freezing, it's freezing, and he starts talking. He says, "You know why I'm here?" "No," someone replies. "Well, don't tell me. The kids, the kids at the yeshiva in Bnei Brak, they don't have any food. We are now sharing a meal meant for one person among three or four people, on top of it." Some of them, their shoes — not shoes anyway, sandals. top of it this goes okay, come in. No, no, I need to tell you, hold on a second, I need to tell you also, the clothes—they're growing. The kids are growing, the kids are growing. They're not growing in the kitchen because they can't eat that much, but the clothes are shrinking, and there are holes. He starts telling all the details of the agony and pain of the 400 students that he has. You know, he wasn't one of these people that would preach and do something different. If there wasn't, this family said, "Abba, can we get chicken?" No.

3:47Why can't we get chicken? Because unless we have chicken for all 400 of my kids, we're not going to eat chicken at home. His own kids said if there wasn't food in the yeshiva exactly like we have at home, then even if they're not eating, we're not eating. starts telling us all the different issues. The shoes are now sandals, the jackets no longer fit, the shirts have holes in them, the food is being split among several kids, and so on and so forth. Twenty minutes of details in the freezing cold. The guy is freezing. Rav Wasserman is freezing. Everyone's freezing. He's going on and on for 20 minutes. He says, so what do you think? Are you going to be able to help this year? The ba'al habayit says, sure, for the Rav. Of course, I'm going to help. He says, okay. He comes into the house. The guy is catching his breath because it's so cold.

5:05After a few minutes of catching himself, he says, “For the love, I don’t understand. Every year you come to me, I try to give, but I just don’t understand. Why couldn’t you just tell me everything you just said for the last 20 minutes inside, next to the fire, where it’s warm and comfortable?” It is said that the ashir does not feel the pain of the ani. The wealthy do not feel the pain of the impoverished. They do not experience the suffering of those in need. When someone says they are hungry, how would you understand what it truly means to be hungry? By noon, you've already had your third meal. What do you know of true hunger? As for cold, what understanding do you have of true cold? You can maintain your home at 500 degrees if you choose. You have ample heating in every room, enough even to warm an entire factory. What do you truly know of hardship? Dashu does not feel the pain of Dani. I wanted you to feel the pain of these little boys. I wanted you to feel what they're feeling for 20 minutes, not all day, because blessed are you. But I wanted you to feel a little bit, 20 minutes of what they deal with 24 hours a day, before you decide what you're going to give.

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