I had just sat myself down in the bus when my seatmate,
whose face I didn't even have a chance to see, turned to me
and said, "That was some funeral you had on Friday, wasn't
it?"
"Yes, it was a huge funeral," I replied, noticing now that
he was bareheaded. "Everyone who knew and appreciated HaRav
Shach's stature came to pay him his last respects."
After a brief pause, he continued, "I am reminded of several
of the leaders of the workers' movement; their lifestyles
were always described as ultimately simple and austere.
Then, after their death, when the battle over the
inheritance began among the heirs, it was discovered how
much wealth they truly owned in property, stocks and even
cash, here and abroad. The children's lawyers who fought
over the inheritance told everything. Anyone who plays a
major role in public life knows how to convert his power
into wealth. So tell me, who are the heirs of your deceased
rabbi?"
I really had no initial intention of pursuing this
conversation with such a person, but at this point, I felt I
had to set him straight.
"Our rabbi," I said, "did not leave over any inheritance. No
property, no cash assets. Even the apartment where he lived
did not belong to him. To his immediate family he bequeathed
some used books from which he studied. And his clothing. The
many people who knew him personally know this to be true.
"But to tell the real truth, he bequeathed a massive,
exceptional inheritance: his spiritual heritage. The
thousands of students who learned Torah from him throughout
the many years when he disseminated Torah in various
yeshivos, that is, close to a century of his years -- they
are his spiritual heirs. You surely know that he was over a
hundred when he passed away.
"But it was not only his disciples who shared in this
legacy. Without lawyers, without any contests or claims, the
heirs also included all those people who had ever heard an
uplifting story of his personal conduct, of his exalted
ethical stature, or some sage concept that opened for them a
window upon life and mankind as he saw it with his
exceptional eyes of wisdom.
"You don't have to be a relative of his or even a student
registered in his yeshiva in order to approach, even now,
and claim for yourself a chunk of the immense heritage that
was left behind for the benefit of Jewry by this colossus of
Torah, this master of mussar and integrity of our
generation. And even if you take a mere single item from his
heritage, it will suffice to enrich your life with a wealth
beyond compare or substitute. You need only adopt for
yourself a spark of an idea, a small aspect of conduct or
practice from the endowment of the deceased, to have enough
to enrich your entire life with something that will improve
it and enhance it immeasurably, and uplift you to a higher
plane of living. The heritage that the deceased bequeathed
is there for the taking. No one will stand in anyone else's
way. Any and every particle of that heritage is accessible
to the millions, and each and every one can derive the
maximum use and benefit inherent in it."
The eyes of my seatmate glinted for a moment, but just as
quickly extinguished. "But I am not exactly religious."
"And who said that his legacy is only for the religious?" I
asked. "He was concerned for all of Jewry. Every single Jew
is eligible to partake in his inheritance. Very shortly,
there will appear many books about this great leader, and
you will have the liberty to choose whatever you wish to
embrace from the immense range of details of his spiritual
endowment."
With a hesitant voice, he said, "Won't you give me just one
small example? Do me a favor..."
"Fine," I agreed, realizing that there was nothing to talk
about regarding his embracing some actual mitzva. "I will
tell you something short and very concise. It is like a
diamond, small but precious. In fact, extremely valuable.
Now listen carefully to each word and ingest it into your
brain. Ready? Here it is: `Begin each day anew without
bearing any grudges against any person who wronged you the
previous day.' That's all. I will repeat it for you: `Begin
each day anew without bearing any grudges against any person
who wronged you the previous day.' Did you get that?"
"Wait a minute. What exactly does he mean by `wronged you?'
"
"Very simple," I explained. "Any person who did you some
injustice, something bad or harmful, something negative.
Normal people have excellent memories regarding those who
wronged them in some way the previous day or days, or even
as far back as in the fourth grade in elementary school. A
person remembers exactly who pushed him off the swing at the
playground and wrongfully seized his turn when they were
children.
"Our rabbi, of blessed memory, tells us that when we begin a
new day, we should take one large eraser, like they do in
school at the beginning of the day, and with wide sweeps,
simply wipe off everything that was written on the
blackboard yesterday and the day before. Without leaving any
traces. We must begin each new day with a brand new slate.
This is what we must do to our memories. We must start each
new day of life on a fresh slate of memory, free of all
grudges, rancor and anger towards others who may have
wronged us.
"A food plant begins its workday by thoroughly cleaning all
of the work surfaces and all of the grinders and machinery
that processed food the day before. All the residues go
straight into the waste bin! Only after everything has been
cleared away can they begin to work. Try to imagine the food
poisoning that would result in a salami factory if they
skipped this vital stage of hygiene! The fresh batch of meat
would mix with the rotting residue of the previous day!
"We, thankfully, need not concern ourselves with meat
packing plants. The Ministry of Health takes care of that. I
am talking about the private person, like you and me, whose
daily affairs are tainted and mingled by all kinds of
memories, resentments, grudges, insults and injuries to our
pride, real and imagined, and ill feelings of all sorts that
a person stores away in his memory bank. This is real
poisoning!"
"So what do you suggest? To keep quiet about those
injustices? Let people get away with it?" he asked.
"Leave them be, I say. The rabbi is concerned for your
welfare, physical and spiritual. Do you know what happens to
you when you call up and revive the injustices done to you?
A potent venom spreads through your body and courses through
your bloodstream. This creates a solid base for high blood
pressure, ulcers, shaky nerves and stress that affects your
healthy reasoning and interferes with good judgment and
correct decision making. These negative memories will
provide excellent work for doctors and psychologists; they
will also boomerang onto your wife and children, your
neighbors and those you associate with at work. Your smile
will disappear, to be replaced by a sour, bitter
disposition. This is how a person strips his life of its
natural sweetness and flavor, and transforms it to ongoing
suffering. Do you think that a person like this can ever
live to a hundred?
"Whoever wants to live a good life can take his inheritance
from our master and leader: a lesson on how to get up each
morning with a clean spirit, a pure heart, without rancor,
without grumbling, anger, without a chip on his shoulder.
Without records to square, accounts to even up -- without
schemes of revenge. And you should know that everything that
our rabbi taught us is based in the Torah itself. That is
the source of all his wisdom. Anyone who follows his counsel
will find his life completely changed for the good. His wife
and children and all of his acquaintances will notice the
positive transformation that has taken place."
"I see that your rabbi was some great psychologist! And a
real tzaddik. If he were still alive, I would go and
ask him for his blessing."
"Look here, friend, I have an idea for you on how you can
get his blessing despite the fact that he is no longer with
us on earth. If you adopt one thing that you learn from him,
especially if that thing serves as a starting point from
which you proceed and progress towards fulfilling your goal
as a Jew, you will thereby become his disciple. Our great
rabbi rejoices with every person who works on some idea of
mussar, which he learned from him. In Heaven, where he
is so close to the Master of all souls, Rav Shach will
intercede on your behalf, that you be blessed, that you
succeed. And thus will you be guaranteed of his ongoing
blessing, accompanied by his living legacy that remains with
you.
"And thus will you merit to become closer, and to take a
step forward towards the goal which the Creator designed for
each person individually, and for the Jewish people
collectively."
