From Yerushalayim to Kiev
From the Memoirs of Rav Moshe Fhima
It was the year 1995. I was learning at the Yeshiva “Mir” in Israel. And I went for a Shabbos to the city of Rechovot. On the way back to the Yeshiva we took a tremp (hitch-hiking) and the driver who was kind enough to pick us up was a Russian. So we got to talking together, although it was not too easy since he didn’t speak Hebrew so well and I didn't speak a word of Russian. And after a bit, and out of the blue, he turned t me and handed me a book.
“What’s this?”
"This is a dictionary that I made between Hebrew and Russian. Take it and learn a few Russian words.”
“But why do I need it?”
“Listen, it is free of charge who knows you might need it one day."
So we took it and when I arrived home that evening, it was interesting for me to learn the Russian alphabet. This was my first connection that week to Russia and the Russian language and I would have never have believed exactly how prophetic meeting that driver turned out to be.
The following Tuesday we were sitting and learning in the Mir Beis Hamedrash in Jerusalem. It was 3:00 in the morning and I was awake and reading. That moment one of the Yeshiva phones started to ring. I didn’t want to wake up the other boys so I ran to pick up the phone, and at the other end of the line was Rabbi Yaakov Shteierman.
He said he was from the Yad Yisroel organization in New York and he wanted to invite a few boys for the Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur holidays to Ukraine and did I know anyone who would be interested to go? I told him I had a friend who most likely would go. And then he asked me if I was interested.
I thought to myself that it would be an interesting experience. After making the calculation that to be in Kiev ten days would mean only missing three days of Yeshiva, I decided it would be worth the while because I would get the chance to see what Russia is all about.
So, here I was in Kiev, Ukraine with Eliezer Shulitzky and we were helping out at the local Yad Yisroel Jewish day school. The school gave the local Kiev children an opportunity to receive a solid academic education as well as getting to know about their Jewish heritage. During the holidays counselors from abroad come to be role models of what Jewish Life is all about and to show these children that they are not alone.
I did enjoy my time being with the kids but I was planning to leave Kiev to go back to Yeshiva immediately after Yom Kippur, in order to fly back to Manchester for the Sukkot holidays. However immediately after Yom Kippur, they told me that they were not allowing me to go back. I did not understand. They said they wanted me to stay here and they had cancelled my ticket. Cancelled my ticket?! I said ok, and this was how I ended up staying throughout the Sukkot holidays.
After Sukkot, I told them that I had to get back to learning in the Yeshiva, and they wished me a safe trip. However when I arrived to the airport and wanted to check in I was told that my ticket had again been cancelled. So I went back to the school and asked them why they cancelled my ticket. They smiled and said it had nothing to do with them. Right.
Now, I understood that I might be needed, but really, I needed to get back to my learning. So this time I changed my ticket for my own date, and not saying good bye to anyone found my own way to the airport hoping to leave. But when I got to the airport, I learned from the ticket agent that my ticket had been cancelled for the third time anyway.
I really didn’t know what to do. I went back to the dorm where I was staying. After a couple of days I decided that I was in fact going to leave no matter what. Of course they tried to cancel the ticket but when I spoke to the airlines, they told me if I really wanted to go, there was room and all that was needed was to pay a $150 fee for the change. Good. So I was leaving. The only problem was that I didn’t have the $150 needed for the change of ticket and off course the school was not prepared to give it to me.
So I left to the airport praying to Hashem that I would find the person who might have this $150 for me. As I arrived to the airport I tried to check in. After being told again about the $150 fine for changing my ticket, out of nowhere (and believe me, I wish I was making this up), a Russian guy I had never met before, who was standing in line to catch the same flight asked me if I needed money. I thought my heart would stop.
“Yes,” I said in utter bewilderment, “I do need someone to loan me $150.”
“Good.” He said and pulled out $200 and handed it to me.
I looked at the money in my hand and then back at his face and asked for his address so that I would send the money back but he said that I didn’t need it and good luck.
So I got back to Israel and it was already four days into the new semester. I was only there for a few hours when someone walked into the Yeshiva, came straight to me and asked if my name was Moishe Fhima. I said yes and. He told me that Rabbi Shmuel Aurbach, one of the great leaders and sages of our generation would like to speak to me.
So I went into his office and I shook his hand.
“Shalom alechem.” He said to me. “Are you just coming back from Ukraine?”
“Yes.”
“Lechaim Ulesholoim” is what he said. This means you should have a safe journey.
“What makes you say this to me?”
“Go back.”
I started to explain to him that I was still studying and that semester was just under way, he only smiled and said: "Go back."
Not knowing what to do I went back to my Dean to Reb Noson Tzvi Finkel, who I was very close to, and I told him that I really didn’t know what to do. He told me he will write a letter to Rabbi Aurbach explaining that I wasn’t the worst student in yeshiva and there were good reasons for me to stay there.
So I took the letter back to Rabbi Aurbach and gave it to him. The Rabbi of rips up the letter and tells me to give it back to Reb Noson Tzvi Finkel.
“I also know what Torah learning is all about.” He said, “Don’t worry, you won’t lose anything.”
So I went back to the Reb Noson Tzvi Finkel and told them that I was scared and I did not know what is the correct move to do. He advised me to go to another of the leaders, Rabbi Elyashiv. He is a Poisek, someone who decides on difficult halachic questions and he should be able to decide for you.
I went to him, explained my side of things, and he said to me straight off: You have to leave.
So I called my mother and told her that I was no longer going to be living and studying in Israel and that I was now going to Ukraine. When she heard what I had said, she asked me to repeat it, not sure that she had heard correctly. I did and having had about two seconds to think about it, she said that under no circumstances was I going to be allowed to go there.
“But what should I do? Everybody is telling me to go.”
“No, you are not going there and that is it!” So I decided that that was indeed it: I would stay here and sit and learn in Yeshiva.
A few days later I was called in by Rabbi Elyashiv.
“What are you still doing here?”
“Look, my mother doesn’t want and there is a law that says I have to respect my mother.” There was a moment of silence, and after his voice was very calm.
“Please Moishe, if there was a house burning down and it was all on fire, and there was a chance for you to save the children who were left inside, but your mother said for you not to go in, would you listen to your mother?”
“Well, if I could save children and stay alive my self, why should I listen to her?” I realized even before he finished his point that I understood the situation.
“Ok, so we have the same situation. There are children’s lives which have to be saved and so in this case, go back to Ukraine and don’t listen to your mother.”
And this is the way I got to Ukraine.
So I did go back and I was basically there in Ukraine right through the school year.