by Rabbi Shlomo Galperin
In honor of my granddaughter Bassie’s Bas-Mitzvah theme focusing on books and her “Book of Books” project, I’d like to share two stories about Chassidim and books from the period after the Russian revolution, during that time of fear and religious persecution.
THE BOOK OF SHEIMOS
Sheimos are those torn pages or page fragments that fall out of holy books. For generations, Jews treat these fragments with care and respect. They usually end up stored away in a synagogue attic or buried in the Jewish cemetery.
In his younger years, moving about with underground secret Yeshivas, Reb Mendel Futerfas encountered an older Chassid in Nevel, a bookbinder by trade or by hobby, (his name might have been Leizer or Eliezer) who would collect these scraps of Hebrew texts and page fragments, trim them to size and bound them beautifully into tasteful books with very nice covers. These externally beautiful books made no sense, there was no order, no rhyme or reason, there was no sequence or meaning. One page could be from Psalms, the next page was from a holiday Musaf prayer, another page was a few verses of Genesis or any of the Five Books of Moses, or a handwritten piece of Chassidic philosophy… it wasn’t the type of book you could read, understand or learn from. One page had no connection to the next. Yet this man would diligently collect these lost and torn pages and bind them into a book. And when he finished putting together one book, he’d start the next one. People looked kindly at this old Chassid, but thought that the constant hunger or the fear of the KGB (secret police) had gotten to his head, perhaps he was losing his mind, for it was insensible to invest time and expense to create such useless books.
Years later Reb Mendel met this book-binding Chassid again, in Samarkand, and he was still at his old hobby, collecting page fragments and torn holy texts and binding them into books, slowly and carefully with much concentration. This time, Reb Mendel was older, and he figured there must be some meaning and purpose to this endeavor. So he asked this Sheimos-binding Chassid, “What is the usefulness or purpose of such random books? Why are you so into it?”
The old Chassid told Reb Mendel: “Since we became a nation at Sinai, indeed since the start of Creation, there’s the Lashon Kodesh the holy tongue of Hebrew letters that is infused with Divine holiness. It says that Anochi Nafshi Ksvovis Yehovis – G-d invested himself into Torah, into its words and letters, he put his very innermost essence into it. Yes, we are supposed to learn and understand Torah, appreciate it and apply it as we fulfill its Mitzvot, but at its core, each word fragment of Torah, carries within it all of that holiness – even if it’s only an incomprehensible page fragment.”
As to why he makes these books, the Chassid explained: “What the KGB hates most about Torah study isn’t the text itself, but our deep stubborn attachment to the holiness that is within our holy books. Making such books is my silent counter-argument, my personal statement that even though you can deprive us bitterly by trying to tear us away from our heritage, you can’t take away our deep connection to G-d. Yes, you can legislate and persecute, intimidate and imprison, you can close our schools, synagogues and mikvahs, but you will never get at our core attachment! This senselessly bound book is a testament to the holiness and G-dliness of Torah, it transcends any logic, it can not be disproved or explained away or argued against…”
THE BOOK CRITIC
R’ Bezalel “Tzalkeh” Wilschansky was a Jew active in the clandestine underground network of Jewish activity in Communist Russia. He later was one of the five Chassidim who was sent by the Previous Rebbe to help establish Chabad Lubavitch in Australia. While in Russia, when new revolutionary winds were blowing at the dawn of communism, his daughters were eager to become more informed and aware, they wanted to read what was becoming available and asked their father’s permission to do so. He spent some sleepless nights in soul contemplation thinking of how to address this crucial crisis and a turning point in his children’s education, especially considering the context of the times when there were major government and societal efforts to stamp out religion. While concerned about the effect it might have on their Judaism in that perilous time, he reluctantly agreed, providing that he would review and could have a say in their reading choices. So they would go out to the library and come home with a stack of books. He would peruse the titles, look intently at each book, and divide them into two piles, a larger pile and a smaller one. He would tell them they could read all the books from the larger pile, but not from the smaller one. and tell them that they could read all of them aside for this one and that one. Sometimes he would allow the top four books but not the last two, and sometimes he would tell them they could read all the books aside for the top and bottom ones. The children respected his decisions and they didn’t read the books that he set aside, which he said weren’t appropriate for them.
A fellow Chassid asked him, “Tzalkeh, since when are you such a literature maven!? How is it that you are so proficient in Pushkin, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky to know which books are appropriate for your daughters and which are not?” Tzalkeh admitted that he had read none of the books, and wasn’t familiar with their writing style or content. “So what’s the point of allowing this book and not that, why are books #2 and #3 fine but not #’s 5 & 6?” Tzalkeh explained: “My main point is that my children should know that books need to be reviewed, that there’s parental and G-dly oversight, that there is such a thing as appropriate and inappropriate, that some books and ideas shouldn’t be read (especially in your youth) under any circumstances since can negatively influence your mind and beliefs… that you don’t just read whatever you please!”
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There may be practical flaws with Reb Tzalkeh’s book-review educational approach, and there are other methods to be more involved in your child’s reading in a more meaningful way, but there is much merit to this balance of structure and freedom, of oversight and independence.