The Short Vort by Rabbi Eisenman

Today is the 26^th  Yahrtzeit of my father, Yoel Moshe ben Yosef Nosson Z’l.

My father was born in 1925  in Yerushalayim.

His maternal great-great-great-grandfather- Rav Zalman Tzoref Salomon, emigrated to the Eretz Yisroel with the Talmedei HaGra (The Students of the Vilna Gaon) in 1811.

He grew up in what was then British Mandate Palestine. Life was tough. He joined the Haganah, fighting in key battles for Latrun, a strategic fortress-like structure on the Tel Aviv- Yerushalayim highway.

After the establishment of the State of Israel, he felt Providence was propelling him across the Atlantic, and in 1950, he immigrated to these shores.

He married my mother in 1953.

Although my father was from Yerushalayim and spent much of his young adulthood in Bat Yam- a then small town on the Mediterranean Coast, and my mother was born and bred in the metropolis of New York City, their marriage was truly made in heaven as they were bonded together through thick and thin.

He remained connected to the Land of Israel.

Although, the majority of the year was spent in the States, nevertheless, he made sure to visit as often as he could.

Towards the end of his life, he was able to purchase an apartment in Yerushalayim, and he loved spending time, especially during Succos in the Holy City.

On Taanis Esther 1999 (5759), he passed away.

He was brought to burial just a few kilometers from where he was born as he was buried on Har Menuchos.

The following Dvar Torah from Megillas Esther eulogizes and epitomizes my father, Z’l.

The very last passuk in Megillas Esther states: "For Mordecai the Jew was viceroy to King Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews and accepted by most of his brethren; seeking the good of his people and speaking peace to all of his seed." (10:3)

Although the entire Passuk is inspirational, I would like to focus on the last two attributes of Mordechai HaTzaddik.

The passuk says he was:

a)     seeking the good of his people

b)      speaking peace to all of his seed.

What are the two achievements for which Mordechai is being praised?

Rav Mattisyahu Solomon ZT’L explains these two components in the following way:

•         Seeking the good of his people: This phrase teaches us that Mordechai was not just a 'doer' of good deeds to his people; he was a 'seeker' of good deeds. Meaning he actively pursued the doing of good deeds. He did not just do 'good' when it came his way; he went out of his way to 'seek' ways to do good to his people.

•         Speaking peace to all of his seed- The Hebrew words here are "V'Dover Shalom L'chol Zar'oh."

This literally means he spoke "Shalom" to all of his descendants.

What is the Megillah attempting to convey here?

Explains Rav Mattisyahu, many people in this world do good for others.

Meaning that in the outside world, they are seen as righteous and pious individuals. However, in the privacy of their home, they are domineering and outright not kind to their family members.

The Passuk stresses that not only was Mordechai a 'seeker of doing good' to his people, but he was also, and perhaps even more so, a 'speaker of peace and warmth' in the confines and in the privacy of his family.

That is the true greatness of a man: a person who is able to be a seeker of 'good' for the klal while simultaneously maintaining his 'shalom' with his family.

That was Mordechai HaTzaddik, and that was my father Z'L.

My father would seek to do 'good' with others.

I recall after he passed away, we received a card from the Pakistani man who owned the newsstand where my father would purchase his newspaper every day.

He was not buddy-buddy with the man; however, my father sought out ways to convey enough care and affection for the man, and the man felt his loss, so he responded with a card.

A few weeks after he was gone, my mother, A'H, was filling up her car at the local filling station.

The attendant at the station asked her if she had purchased the car from a nice man who was about 70.

My mother told him that that man was her husband and that he had passed on.

The service attendant stopped what he was doing and came over to my mother and said, "Oh, I am so sorry. He was such a nice man. He always exchanged a few words with me when purchasing gas, and he was always friendly and warm. I will miss him".

My father was a 'seeker of good.'

My father, Z’L, loved his family deeply, and that was something we all knew.

I remember when I was 17, I and a few boys went from Brooklyn to Queens to visit friends. We relied on rides from family members.

 There was a mix-up, and as we were on the Belt Parkway, my friend's father asked where he would drop us off so we could be picked up by the next parent.

We looked at each other as all of us were under the impression that the driver was taking us all the way back to Brooklyn.

As these were pre-cell phone days, we had no way of contacting anyone.

The father, who was driving, was content with abandoning us on the Belt Parkway and continuing on his way.

After some pleading and apologizing, the man begrudgingly agreed to drive us back to Brooklyn.

I remember thinking to myself that if my father was driving, irrespective of the imposition, he never would have thought for a second about abandoning us on the highway!

I knew then, and still know now, that my father Z’l loved his family more than anything else in the world and would do whatever he had to do for them.

He was a 'speaker of peace' to all.

I miss him.