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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2
face=Arial>From: Zev Sero <zev@sero.name><BR><BR><BR>> Furthermore, see
Esther Farbstein's book Hidden in Thunder, volume 1.<BR>> In particular, from
page 113 "He [the Belzer Rebbe] managed to escape<BR>> at the last minute
from Budapest (as a refugee, before it was<BR>> occupied) after four years of
moving from place to place. "<BR><BR>I'm not sure what that's based
on. Though I do see on the Hebrew WP page<BR>that he left Hungary
because he became aware that the Gestapo was demanding<BR>that the Hungarian
government hand him over to them. If that is true (no<BR>source is given)
then it would be fair to say that he was rescued or that he<BR>escaped, but only
from a personal danger, not one that he could have expected<BR>to include anyone
else.<BR><BR><BR><BR>-- <BR>Zev
Sero
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<DIV>>>>>></DIV>
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<DIV>The Gestapo at one point demanded that the Hungarian govt hand over all
Jews with foreign passports. Those who were Hungarian citizens thought
they were safe, but had to try and hide foreign Jews or spirit them over the
border.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The entire war was a period of hester panim such as we have never
experienced in our whole long history of exiles, persecutions and
massacres. NO ONE was given the secret "mei'achorei hapargod."
NO ONE knew what was coming or which place would be safe. EVERYONE acted
blindly, going with the best available information. Only afterwards was it
possible to see that each and every individual who managed to survive did so
only with miracles -- with a "hidden hand" directing him to go here and not
there, go this time and not some other time, trust this person and not that
person.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The argument that daas Torah is a useless and meaningless concept --
because not every talmid chacham has ruach hakodesh at every moment, or because
talmidei chachamim are not granted ruach hakodesh at moments of "gezeirah hee
milfanai" -- is a spurious argument. If you ask the biggest Torah scholar
for advice at a moment of peril and he doesn't know what to do, that only means
al achas kamah vekamah, a person who is devoid of Torah learning will be
scrambling with no idea which way to turn. If this and that am ha'aretz
manages to survive, through random luck (or we would say, hashgacha pratis),
that in no way "proves" what so many seem to infer -- that those who are
ignorant of Torah actually have /greater/ wisdom than Torah scholars in times of
maximum peril.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Many Zionists left Europe for Palestine before WWII -- and ended up
going back to Poland, Rumania, and Hungary, because of the incredible poverty in
Eretz Yisrael at the time. There were children who died of hunger in E'Y
in the 19-teens and '20s. Everybody is such a genius and brilliant navi
/now/, with 20-20 hindsight.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The Jews in Shushan blamed Mordechai for Haman's decree -- "You stubborn
chareidi, couldn't you give Haman a little kovod, did you have to get us
all in trouble?" Even after all the events of Purim, it was only "most" of
the Jews, and not all of them, who respected the godol hador. But we know
whose names are remembered and whose names have long been forgotten by Klal
Yisrael.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I would like to add something that one of my brothers said to me
the other day. (I won't mention his name in case he doesn't want to be
named on the internet, but it's inside some of the volumes of the Hebrew
ArtScroll gemara, the ones that he worked on.) I paraphrase. He
said that every Jew wants, or should want, to do ratzon haBorei. Our only
question at every moment is, "What does Hashem want from me?" If one is
not sure, one consults someone greater than he in Torah learning and
piety. That is what it means to consult da'as Torah.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Questions like, "Which job will be the most lucrative?" or "In which
country will I be most likely to survive anti-Semitic gezeiros?" are not the
relevant questions. The relevant question for a Jew is, "What does the
Ribono Shel Olam want from me?" "How can I best serve my Borei?"
</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>There is still no guarantee that any given tzaddik or talmid chacham knows
"the" answer for each individual at each moment in time, but when you face Yom
Hadin you will be in the clear because you will be able to say honestly, "I
tried my best to do what the Ribono Shel Olam wanted me to do."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Lav davka does HKB"H want every person to escape a painful gezeirah.
He wants us to try our best to live and survive, that's a mitzva; but
whether we succeed or not is in His hands. The ultimate world plan is not
given to us to know.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><BR><STRONG>--Toby Katz</STRONG></FONT><FONT lang=0 color=#ffffff
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PTSIZE="10"><BR><STRONG>..</STRONG></FONT><FONT lang=0 color=#0000ff size=2
face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><BR><STRONG>=============</STRONG><BR><BR><BR>-------------------------------------------------------------------</FONT></DIV></DIV>
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