The Torah Insight That Brought Two Souls Back Together

Rabbi Shaul Stern was a man of many gifts, humble, Torah-observant and deeply kind. He was a serious Torah scholar who spent every free moment immersed in study and even wrote a thoughtful commentary on the Chumash (the Five Books of Moses). For his living, he managed a food processing plant and was respected as an expert in kosher supervision.

During the Holocaust, everything changed.

One day, during a roll call at the concentration camp, a German officer ordered those with medical training to step forward. Rabbi Shaul wasn’t a doctor, but he had a background in chemistry and knew a good deal about medications. Without hesitation, he stepped forward and said he was a doctor.

From that day on, he was assigned to work in the camp infirmary. This position allowed him to offer quiet kindness to others, slipping them more medication than the Nazis permitted, doing whatever he could to ease their suffering.

One day, a young man came in for treatment. Rabbi Shaul took care of him, asked how he was doing, and even spoke words of Torah with him. A bond quickly formed between them. Rabbi Shaul grew fond of the young man and decided to help him escape.

With the help of others, he came up with a plan and successfully smuggled the young man out of the camp. After that, he never saw him again and didn’t know what had become of him.

Decades passed. Rabbi Shaul survived the war, immigrated to Israel, and built a beautiful family. Years went by, and his children grew up and raised families of their own. One of his sons lived in the city of Rehovot.

One Shabbat, Rabbi Shaul came to visit his son. Out of all the synagogues in Rehovot, he chose to pray at the beit midrash of Rabbi Moshe David of Kretshnif, whose yahrzeit (anniversary of passing) falls on the 15th of Tammuz.

He prayed there both Friday night and Shabbat morning. During the Torah reading, the gabbai (synagogue attendant) unexpectedly called him up for the sixth aliyah. Rabbi Shaul was surprised. The synagogue was packed with people, and he was just a visitor. Why had they chosen him?

After Shabbat, the Kretshnif Rebbe resumed his usual custom of receiving people, reading their written prayers, and giving blessings. Rabbi Shaul joined the line. He was hoping for a blessing like everyone else.

But something unusual happened.

One of the Rebbe’s attendants approached him and said, “Please come with me.” Surprised once again, Rabbi Shaul followed him directly into the Rebbe’s private room.

The Rebbe greeted him warmly. “Shavua tov,” he said, “A good week.” He offered him a cigarette.

Rabbi Shaul smiled and replied politely, “I don’t smoke.”

The Rebbe’s eyes lit up. “That’s news to me, Rabbi Shaul,” he said with a gentle smile. “When did you stop smoking?”

Rabbi Shaul blinked, stunned. He hadn’t thought about those years in a long time. He could barely remember that he ever smoked.

The Rebbe shifted the conversation. “Let me share with you a Torah thought,” he said. He proceeded to give over a beautiful dvar Torah, an insight into the weekly portion. When he finished, he looked into Rabbi Shaul’s eyes and asked softly, “Does this explanation sound familiar to you?”

Rabbi Shaul didn’t know what to say. He stayed silent.

Then the Rebbe leaned in and said, “I heard this insight from you when I was a young man when you were caring for me in the infirmary at the concentration camp. I’m the one you helped escape. Do you remember?”

A shiver ran through Rabbi Shaul. His heart filled with emotion. He couldn’t speak.

The Rebbe continued, “You were sent by Hashem to save my life. I owe you a debt of gratitude.”

Rabbi Shaul stood there, amazed. Thirty years had passed, yet this man still remembered his face, the Torah insight he had shared, and even the fact that he used to smoke back then.

The spark of that Torah moment, planted in a place of darkness, had never gone out. And now, years later, on a quiet Shabbat in Rehovot, it had returned full circle.

(Story shared courtesy of Rabbi Menachem Brod)