Reply To: Yartzeit

Yesterday was the yartzeit again. My grandmother gave me an awesome responsibility. A few years ago, I helped her submit the names of her family to Yad Vashem, for their database of names. My grandmother is not a young person anymore, and she realized that she’s starting to get a bit forgetful. She asked me to ensure that her family is not forgotten.

I spoke on Shabbos in my shul between Mincha and Maariv about the yartzeit. In last week’s Pirkei Avos (the 5th perek), the Mishna says that there were 10 generations between Noach and Avraham to show us how patient Hashem is. The generations angered him, until Avraham came, and received the schar for all of them.

I thought of a pshat in that which I hadn’t seen anywhere else. On Rosh Hashana, we know that everyone is judged – even the souls of those who already passed away. Why? Because they left an impact on this world. If someone got others to do mitzvos, and they continue doing them after he’s gone, he can still receive a reward for every mitzva they do. On the flip side, if someone drives someone away from Torah, even after he’s gone, he can be punished for every aveirah his “student” does.

One of the main things in Judaism is our mesorah. It gets passed from parent to child, teacher to student. Noach was a tzaddik, and through the 10 generations after him, the mesorah should have been passed down. When a parent teaches his child, the parent can receive a reward for the mitzvos the child does. However, between Noach and Avraham, the people left the proper path, and ignored the mesorah. Avraham started it again. Therefore, he got the schar for all the generations – he gets schar for each generation after him, and doesn’t have to share it with those before him.

My grandmother told me that her father was not a learned man. World War 1 forced him out of cheder. Yet, it didn’t affect his Judaism. He didn’t learn the Torah and halachos – he lived them! He knew all the halachos because his parents had taught them to him by the way they lived. My grandmother said she had never heard of the Shulchan Aruch until she came to the US, after the war. Her parents were a living Shulchan Aruch! This passing of the mesorah is why we have endured through all the ages, through all the sorrows, and keep our faith strong.

As R’ Elchanan Wasserman hy”d said to his students, “We are to be a korbon for the Jewish nation. With fire the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed, and with fire it will be rebuilt. From our ashes, the Beis Hamikdash will be built again!” May the merit of my great-grandparents and great-aunts & uncles, along with all the others who died al kiddush Hashem, cause Mashiach to come speedily, in our days.

Hashem yinakem damam.