The Chofetz Chaim, the businessman, and a tsunami in China: A language that only Yidden understand

There was a Yid who moved to China for business. Once, while

visiting in Europe, he made a stop at the Chofetz Chaim's zt'l

home.

"How are our brothers in China faring?" the Chofetz Chaim asked.

"There are almost no Yidden there," the merchant replied. "There

are millions of goyim, but only a handful of Yidden, and they are

all very weak in their Yiddishkeit."

The Chofetz Chaim gave him his sefer Nidchei Yisrael and said,

"I wrote this sefer specifically for the Yidden who live in such

places, distant from Torah centers. When you go back to China,

bring this sefer to them. It will be good for them."

The Chofetz Chaim continued, "And what else is new in China?"

"There was a tsunami," the man replied. "Thousands of people

died."

"Oy, we must do teshuvah," the Chofetz Chaim exclaimed.

"Why must we do teshuvah?" the merchant asked. "As I told you,

there are almost no Yidden in China, and only goyim died. The

catastrophe was for them, not for us."

The Chofetz Chaim replied with a mashal:

"Many people were gathered in a hall to listen to speeches. Most

of the audience were goyim, with only a few Yidden there, but the

speaker at the podium was talking in Yiddish. Who was he speaking to?"

"Obviously he was speaking to the Yidden," the merchant replied.

"Why do you say so? I told you that most of the audience were

goyim."

"True, but he spoke in Yiddish. Goyim don't understand Yiddish."

"Exactly," the Chofetz Chaim agreed. "Similarly, when Hashem

does something in the world, who is Hashem speaking to? Do you

think He is speaking to the goyim who don’t pay attention to His

messages? He's speaking in a language that only Yidden

understand, because they believe that everything is from Hashem.

So when the tsunami occurred, Hashem was speaking solely to

the Yidden!"

(Torah Wellsprings, Balak, 5782)

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