Upon their arrival, participants in the traditional opening of Yarchei Kalla went to visit the home of the Rosh Yeshiva to receive his blessings and hear his fortifying words for their coming week in which they will steep themselves in the Torah atmosphere, severing themselves from their worldly pursuits. This annual experience enriches them through hearing shiurim on various subjects including Halacha and Mussar talks from eminent rabbonim and roshei yeshiva.

The Rosh Yeshiva said to them, speaking from the depths of his heart:

We find ourselves in the height of days teaching us the true view on what is going on in our world. "Just as the dawn is the end of the night, so is [Megillas] Esther the end of miracles." This means that the story of miraculous conduct which Hashem showed us in His Torah is concluded with the Megilla which is part of the written Torah. It enables the one who studies it to push away the darkness which envelops the earth and hides the truth, so that the genuine reality is illuminated like the light of day.

Where is Esther 'hidden' within the Torah? In the posuk, "And I will surely hide."

The Ramban writes, "All of our happenings (the major ones) and all of our events (the small ones) are miracles. There is nothing natural or the natural way of the world whatsoever." Even harm inflicted by the government or ministers which attempts to prevent us from fulfilling our mission properly seem to appear to us, as it were, situations of Divine concealment, but are also total revelations of "I am Hashem your G-d."

The U.S. stands on one side as the devoted friend of Israel which attempts to prevent a conflict at any cost, and on the other — Russia, whose military forces are posted on the Israeli border, and the last thing Israel needs is to aggravate President Putin, for with one word of his, all Israeli activities on Syrian soil against Hizbullah armament will come to a halt.

We must also not forget Russian Jewry which enjoys the Russian president's support, and he does maintain very close contacts with the Jewish communal heads there. Israel has its own interests in Ukraine, partly because of the large Jewish population there, and also because of its good diplomatic relations.

In short, in every direction one looks, Israel's supreme interest is to be neutral and not stick its head into this power struggle.

Editorial note: The article was written and published in 1995/5755 in the months following the petiroh of HaRav Shimon Schwab zt"l. This year on Purim Katan will be the 27th yahrtzeit.

In the first four parts, we read about Rav Schwab's family and early education in Germany, as well as the eastern European yeshivos: Telshe and Mir. The third part told of his experiences as a young rav in Ichenhausen in the early years of Hitler, ym'sh. This week's installment tells of his actions.

Part VII

The Importance of Lishmo

He explains (Speeches 167-171) that lishmo is a tremendous power whether for good or for bad. He attributes the koach of the Bolsheviks to spread their revolution to the fact that their early leaders were working lishmo. Likewise he thought that the downfall of Russian Communism was due to the mesiras nefesh and sincerity of the thousand or so baalei teshuva who kept mitzvos. He writes, "Their koach of lishmo is so great that it can bring down the greatest power on earth."