R’ Chaim Zt”L
On Wednesday the 14th of Tammuz 5775 (July 1, 2015), a great and righteous Jew passed away.
His name was R’ Chaim Wertheimer Zt”l, and when he was niftar (passed away) last week he was 106 years old!
Coupled with his Arichus Yamim (longevity), he left this world with thousands of Yiddishe(Jewish) descendants who all owe their life to this holy Jew.
You are probably asking, “Who is R’ Chaim Wertheimer?
How come there were no blaring headlines in all of the Jewish publications announcing his petira(death)?
Who was maspid (eulogise) him?
Was his levaya (funeral) in Yerushalayim?
Was kevurah (burial) on Har HaZeisim (Mount of Olives)?”
The answer to all of these questions is a resounding ‘no’!
There were no screeching headlines and no great hespedim (eulogies) for R’ Chaim.
Why not?
The reason is simple.
R’ Chaim Wertheimer Zt”l was a Tzaddik Nistar (hidden righteous person).
He wanted to remain anonymous and he wanted no fanfare.
Indeed, he was such a Nistar (hidden righteous person) and he was so well hidden that his parents converted to Christianity, he himself was baptised as a child, in his adult life he professed no affiliation with any religion, he married a non-Jewish woman, and he never publicly associated himself with any Jewish organisation or cause; no doubt all of this was done to insure that he would retain his anonymity and never be in the limelight.
In fact, during his entire adult life he adopted the name Nicholas George Winton; without a doubt to further conceal his true identity and thus allowing him to avoid the publicity and the fame which he was so deserving of.
Nevertheless, R’ Chaim was a Tzaddik; believe me he was a real Tzaddik.
Rav Chaim fulfilled the literal meaning of the Mishna in Sanhedrin (4:5) “Whoever saves one Jewish life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world”.
In fact R’ Chaim fulfilled this Mishna thousands of times and even now, after his death, he still continues to fulfill it!
R’ Chaim organised the rescue of 669 Jewish children out of Czechoslovakia on the eve of the Second World War in an operation later known as the Czech Kindertransport (German for children transport). He found homes for the children and arranged for their safe passage to Britain.
He put his life in danger, he contributed his own time and money, he also raised large sums of currency to save the Jewish children and he did not rest until he had succeeded in redeeming 669 Yiddishe Kinderlach (Jewish children) out of the jaws of the German killing machine.
R’ Chaim never told anyone about his Mitzvahs; he chose to remain anonymous and wanted no public recognition of his great Mitzvah.
His wife, in 1988, while cleaning the attic of their home, chanced upon a scrapbook in which was detailed the children he saved and the families who ‘adopted’ them.
R’ Chaim had never even told his own wife about his Mitzvahs!
All of the parents of the rescued children were sent to the gas chambers.
The 669 children survived; many live now in United States, the United Kingdom and Israel.
They owe their lives and their children and grandchildren’s lives to R’ Chaim.
In davening we say: “"L'olam Yihei Adam Yirei Shamayim B'Seser U'BaGalui", (a person must fear Heaven, both when he is alone and (of course) also when all eyes are focused on him).
The commentators point out the main emphasis of this statement is for a person to fear heaven when he is B’Seser- in private; indeed, it is more difficult to fear Heaven when you are in private than when you in the public arena.
As a rabbi, I can tell you that there are many people who when they are in public arena certainly act with ‘lots of fear of heaven’!
When you are receiving accolades for your actions and you are publicly recognized for your accomplishments, it’s easy to be one who ‘fears heaven’.
However, to fear heaven when you are totally out of the eye of the public and you have no expectation of receiving tributes or honors; that is the real test of a righteous person.
R’ Chaim Wertheimer Zt”l passed the test with flying colours!
To the world he made sure he was seen as Nicholas George Winton, a man who professed no religious affiliation; however, to Hashem Yisborach there is no doubt that he was known as R’ Chaim the Tzaddik! He was a man who established 669 new Jewish ‘worlds’; and in his merits the children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren of these new Jewish ‘worlds’ continue to serve Hashem all over the globe.
May his memory be an inspiration to all us of just how much one person can accomplish if they only try.
“If Not Now, Then When?”- Hillel
Ron Yitzchok Eisenman, Rabbi, Congregation Ahavas Israel, Passaic, NJ
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