We all know how difficult it is to stand up for what we believe to be right, especially when so many people are against us. Even when one sees others behaving in a manner that is immoral it is still so difficult to stand out and go against the grain. In fact, the Talmud relates that when the great leader of Jewry at the time of the destruction of the second Temple 2000 years ago, was about to pass away, he gave a very strange blessing to his students. Rabban Yochanan Ben Zakkai said, “May your fear of G-d be as much as your fear of people.” His students questioned him, “Surely you should fear G-d more than people?!” He replied, “I wish it would even equal the fear of people.”….We have no idea how much we do because of peer pressure.
How many of us did, or would have stood up, against the injustices of apartheid? I understand it wasn’t so simple, but if I was there I don’t know if I could have had the courage to say anything.
However, there were some who did. One such person whom I was privileged to know well and has very close to, was a very special Rabbi who based his principles on the words of the great prophets of the Bible. Rabbi Ben Isaacson who passed away this past week, was a man who really stood up for his principles, even though it cost him his job and much more.
As a young 16-year-old, he made a great sacrifice to leave home to study in the great American Yeshivot in the 1950’s. He spent 7 years away from home before seeing his parents again!
When he returned he became the understudy of Chief Rabbi Louis Rabinowitz and was not scared to speak out from the pulpit against the injustices of apartheid, even in front of the Shul President who had been the prosecutor who put Mandela in jail for 27 years! Needless to say, his opinions weren’t very popular!
When he was asked where he got the courage to speak up from, he replied that it came from the Prophets of Israel. He loved the Book of Isaiah and in fact, he was currently writing a commentary to Isaiah just before his passing. When Isaiah writes in Chapter 1, Verse 17, “Learn to do good, seek justice, vindicate the victim, render justice to the orphan, take up the grievance of the widow,” Rabbi Isaacson wrote, “No need to say anything more except to be proud of our Prophets and their ethics!”
He certainly took these words to heart. He was close to many of the leaders of the Apartheid Struggle, and one of their leaders used to say to him, “If you gave something to the world, you gave the Struggle the justice of the prophets of Israel!”
It is no coincidence that Rabbi Isaacson passed away in the week of Chanukah. Chanukah was a struggle for the survival of Jewish Tradition. The Greek culture pervaded every other culture at the time, and they tried to force the Jews to adopt the Greek way of life as well. It was very enticing and so hard to resist becoming Greek, just like everyone else. But there was a small group of Jews who resisted the Greeks. They fought for the Jewish identity to be preserved. They fought for the Torah and for Hashem. With the kindness of Hashem, the small Jewish army prevailed against the mighty Greek army.
It required great courage, strength and fearlessness to stand up for our principles, but we prevailed and Torah and Judaism survived and thrived.
This was the courage of Rabbi Isaacson to stand up for the principles that he believed in even though it cost him so much.
I feel very blessed to have had a close friendship with him and to have studied under this great man. He also visited Milnerton Shul on a few occasions. May Hashem send comfort and strength to his family, and may the memory of this great man be blessed.
Rabbi Hillel Bernstein
The Struggle Rabbi 