The Rabbi of Ponevezh Played Chess with a German Commander Every Night, You Won't Believe What Happened

The following amazing story was told by Rabbi Yaakov (Jackie) Lewison concerning Rabbi Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman, the head of Ponevezh Yeshiva, while traveling from 'Worms' to London when Rabbi Kahaneman was in his twilight years.

The journey from Worms to London continued, and in the meantime, Rabbi Kahaneman told how in Lithuania, where he served as a rabbi before immigrating to Israel, there was a town called Vichy. At the outbreak of World War I, the front where the Russians fought the Germans was near Vichy, and the Germans controlled the entire area.

The rabbi, greatly fearing the entry of the Russians, decided to establish a close connection with the German commander responsible for the area. As part of their close relationship, Rabbi Kahaneman played chess with that commander every evening.

One day, the commander asked the rabbi to find an entrepreneur to cut down trees from the surrounding forests to send to Germany. The rabbi agreed to the request, and at the time of the deal, the German commander straightforwardly told the entrepreneur: "We are now signing the deal, and you are about to get rich from it. But I have one condition: there are three partners in this deal: you, me, and the rabbi sitting here opposite you," the German pointed to Rabbi Kahaneman.

Near Vichy, the Germans set up a POW camp where there were also quite a few Jews, who were in constant life-threatening danger as the Germans starved them. Every evening, the rabbi used to approach the wood entrepreneur to receive his daily profit, and with the money in hand, he went to bribe the senior commanders in the POW camp to release the Jewish prisoners, whom he housed with Jewish families in Vichy.

At first, the Jewish families were happy to help with such a great mitzvah, but as time passed, they feared the Germans might catch the prisoners in their homes and punish them severely.

In distress, they approached Rabbi Kahaneman to relieve them from the danger, but he refused to allow them to release the prisoners to their fate, and even strengthened their resolve through motivational sermons.

In one of his sermons at that time, Rabbi Kahaneman preached and said that when Hashem appointed Moses to be the leader of the Israelites, He commanded him to cast his staff to the ground, turning it into a snake. Later, Moses was commanded to grab the snake by the tail, and it turned back into a staff. Rabbi Kahaneman asked - why does the Torah tell us this? "The explanation is this: Hashem wants to teach Moses the nature of the Jews: if you cast a Jew to the ground, Heaven forbid, he turns into a biting snake, but when you raise him with your hand and bring him close, he turns back into a staff in your hand, ready to assist you."

Indeed, the decree was reversed, and these families, along with the Jewish prisoners, were saved.

(Rabbi Rafael Berlzon Sabbath Holy Name supplement from the 'Dirshu' website)