Stand up and be counted!

Motek

Sun, Mar 19 2006, 7:00 pm

Quote:

Rav Schwab once visited the Chofetz Chaim, and the Chofetz Chaim asked him if he were a Kohen, Levi or Yisroel. Rav Schwab answered that he was a Yisroel. We all know that the Chofetz Chaim was a Kohen.

The Chofetz Chaim said to Rav Schwab, "You know what the difference between me and you is? Soon the Beis HaMikdash will be rebuilt. Everyone will go for the first time, crowding the doors to get into the Courtyard of the Beis HaMikdash. There will be a guard at the door who will ask the people whether they are Kohanim, Leviim, or Yisraelim. The Kohanim will get to go inside and do the Service of the Temple. I will be one of those people. You, Rav Schwab, with all the other Yisraelim will be left outside. All the Yisraelim will be terribly jealous of me. They are going to want to do the Service, but the Halacha will be NO! -- Kohanim inside; Yisraelim outside. The Yisraelim will be angry and upset and jealous."

The Chofetz Chaim continued, "You know why, Rav Schwab, it's going to be like that? Because of something that happened thousands of years ago. Thousands of years ago there was something called 'the sin of the Golden Calf.' The Jewish people sinned with the calf. Only 3,000 people participated in that heinous act of idolatry. But when Moshe Rabbeinu called out and asked everyone else to come and put out the fire... When he issued those famous words 'Whoever is for G-d, gather around me' [Shmos 32:26], do you know what happened? Only the tribe of Levi showed up. My grandfather came and responded to that call and your grandfather sat there and did nothing. Therefore the Kohanim who come from the tribe of Levi, will go into the Beis HaMikdash. But you, Yisraelim are going to be on the outside because you sat there and didn't respond."

The Chofetz Chaim then looked at Rav Schwab and said to him, "What do you think? Am I trying to make you feel bad? Am I trying to rub your face in it? Chas V'Sholom! But I want to teach you a lesson. Many times in life you will hear a little voice go off in your head that will say 'Whoever is for G-d, gather around me.' There is going to come an event, there is going to come an issue, something, that everybody is going to be told 'Stand up and be counted.'

In whose camp are you? I want you to know that questions like that and challenges like that have implications not only for you but for generations and generations after you. Because your grandfather did not answer 'Yes' in the affirmative to 'Who is for G-d, gather to me', you are excluded from the Temple Service. It was an act that has implications thousands of years later. Because my grandfather said yes, I am a Kohen now and I am going to do the Service."

"Never forget", the Chofetz Chaim told Rav Schwab, "everybody has his moments of 'Who is for G-d, gather around me.' When you hear that voice, stand up and be counted!"

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