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קטגוריה: Shabbos Stories

פורסם בחמישי, 19 נובמבר 2020 18:46

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Silence in the Court

During the Holocaust, a Jewish woman was seized by the Nazis for the “crime” of trying to sneak a potato for her small son out of the kitchen. The Nazis decided to hold a staged trial against her. They brought three Jewish “judges” “to the court and appointed a Jewish “advocate” to defend her and a Jewish “prosecutor” to indict her. Since the Nazis were very orderly, they also appointed a Jewish stenographer to jot down the trial’s protocol.

The “judges” were told that according to the rules of the “game,” the punishment had to be no less than 50 whiplashes. The Jewish judges who were forced to follow the rules explained to the accused that if she fell at their feet and begged for mercy, her punishment would be reduced to only 25 whiplashes and if she was fortunate, she might thus remain alive.

The trial opened and the Jewish prosecutor claimed that the woman should receive the maximal punishment. The defender, though, asked for mercy for the woman, and tried to persuade the judges to pity her and to take into consideration the fact that she had a small child who needed her. Nonetheless the judges sentenced her to 50 whiplashes.

Everything worked in accordance with the Nazis set-up, and the judges waited for the accused to fall on her knees and play her role in the horrifying performance.  But she ruined it and changed the picture. Instead of begging for mercy and saving herself from death, she sealed her mouth.

“You have to cry,” one of the judges pleaded with her in a whisper. “The Germans don’t like their plans to be ruined. Cry  now!”

But she shook her head as if to say: “I know.” Then she continued to maintain her silence, as if out spite.

She was beaten 50 times.

Before returning her soul to her Maker, she told her small son: “You surely don’t understand why I remained silent. But don’t judge me unfavorably. My silence wasn’t caused by pride or by fear.  Did you notice that the stenographer who was supposed to record my words was Jewish? Do you know, my son, that today is Shabbos and that it is forbidden to write now? I remained silent in order not to cause a fellow Jew to desecrate Shabbos, especially not in my final moments on earth. Shalom, my son.”

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