A Winter Journey for a Mikvah: The Chafetz Chaim’s Unshakable Dedication

Once, the respected Chafetz Chaim, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan, was approached by the rabbi of Lida, a town near Radin, where the Chafetz Chaim lived. The rabbi pleaded with him to come and inspire the townspeople to raise the funds needed to build a mikvah, a ritual bath essential for Jewish family purity.

The Chafetz Chaim, who spent his life traveling to support and uplift Jewish communities, gladly agreed to the request. He made the trip to Lida and did everything he could to inspire the people. But even with all his heartfelt effort, they still didn’t manage to raise the full amount needed for the mikvah.

Then, early one Friday morning, the Chafetz Chaim suddenly told his family that he was setting out again for Lida to complete the mission. His family was stunned. Not only was it highly unusual for him to travel so close to Shabbat while he had a long-standing custom to stay home after Thursday afternoons in preparation for the holy day, but it was also the middle of a harsh winter. The streets were covered in snow, the roads were slippery and risky, and the bitter cold posed a real danger, especially for someone elderly like the Chafetz Chaim.

Naturally, his family begged him to delay the trip. They begged him to wait for safer weather, after all, there was real risk to his health on such a freezing day.

But the Chafetz Chaim stood firm. He said, “In the World of Truth they will ask me: ‘Why didn’t you travel?’ And what will I answer? That I was cold? Will they accept such an excuse?!”

And so, despite the cold, despite the danger, the Chafetz Chaim traveled to Lida once more. This time, he succeeded in raising all the remaining funds needed to build the mikvah.

Not only that, he even returned home in time for Shabbat, the day he had dedicated so much of his life to honoring and strengthening in Jewish communities everywhere.

Courtesy of the Dirshu website.