The Chofetz Chaim’s Tearful Plea: Please Keep Shabbat

During one of his travels, the Chofetz Chaim arrived in Riga, the capital city of Latvia. At the time, there was a large factory in the city that employed many local residents. The factory’s owner was Jewish, but sadly, he had distanced himself from Torah and mitzvot (commandments). He insisted on keeping the factory running on Shabbat, with all of his workers continuing to work through the holy day.

When the Chofetz Chaim heard about this, he made the effort to visit the factory owner. With warmth and deep concern, he tried to reach his heart and explain the seriousness of the chilul Shabbat (dishonoring of Shabbat) that was taking place not just for him, but for all his workers as well.

But the factory owner refused to listen. He closed his ears and answered sharply, “Every day that the factory runs, I earn four thousand rubles. Does the Rabbi really think I’m willing to lose that kind of money every Shabbat?”

The Chofetz Chaim gently replied, “And losing your entire factory because of dishonoring Shabbat, is that a better option in your eyes?”

The manager looked surprised. “Why would the Rabbi think I’ll lose the whole factory?”

The Chofetz Chaim answered him immediately. “Isn’t it written clearly in the Torah: ‘Six days you shall work, and on the seventh day you shall rest’? If the only purpose was to prohibit work on Shabbat, why would the Torah need to mention the other six days at all?”

He explained further: “This is what the Torah is telling us, if you want to be able to work successfully for six days, then rest on the seventh. But if you don't rest on Shabbat, you may end up losing even the work of the six days.”

The factory owner responded with a smirk and said mockingly, “Does the Rabbi think that a verse in the Chumash (the Five Books of Moses) is what keeps my factory running?”

With a heavy heart and no other choice, the Chofetz Chaim left in sorrow.

It wasn’t long before major political changes swept the region. The Bolsheviks took control of Russia and its surrounding areas and seized the factory. The factory owner lost everything. He was forced to flee, stripped of all his wealth, with nothing but the clothes on his back.

But in his suffering, he came to a powerful realization. He wrote a letter to the Chofetz Chaim, humbly admitting: “Indeed, one verse in the Chumash determined the fate of my factory.”

Story courtesy of the Dirshu website