Beila Beck stood in the crowded room, her eyes shut tightly
and her lips moving in a silent prayer. A baby cried and
everyone called out joyfully, "Mazel Tov! Mazel Tov!" Beila
opened her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Mazel Tov!" she echoed. She inched forwards and looked for
her son Nissan, a lad of seventeen. She saw him standing at
the entrance of the room, his face flushed, his eyes
sparkling. "Mazel Tov!" she called to him and motioned to him
to come nearer. She handed him some cookies and he took a
few, said the brocho, hastily munched and swallowed,
made an after-brocho and then left the room.
Beila understood the emotion which gripped her young son.
He is only seventeen and this is the first bris he has
performed. Back in Berditchov, he surely would not have
been allowed to do it but here on ship, having been enstated
the leader of the group, he had been called upon to perform
this mitzva, as no one else was qualified and capable
of doing it.
Beila wondered if it might not be wise for her to follow him
up to the deck and talk to him and thus divert his attention
to other topics, but she decided to leave him alone and let
him sort out his emotions by himself. She turned to the young
mother and planted a hearty kiss upon her cheek.
Nissan Beck stood on the deck and watched the waves rush back
and forth, slapping the sides of the ship. His excitement
lingered on and he turned his eyes to Heaven, praying
silently that all would be well with the newborn baby and his
weak mother, and that all the chassidim now under his
guidance would arrive safely in Eretz Yisroel.
The day wore on and Baila sent one of her daughters to call
Nissan to the meal. He obeyed and joined the seudas
mitzva. He stayed on for mincha and for
maariv but as darkness descended totally, he went back
up to the deck to be alone. He stared up at the dark star-
studded sky and leaned against the rail.
A slight noise drew his attention and he turned around to
locate it. He could make out the form of the captain,
sprawled in a corner upon the deck. Curious, Nissan inched
forward and noticed the bottle of whiskey in the captain's
hand. "Drunk?" he wondered. His thought was verified by the
incoherent words the captain began mumbling.
"Another Jew is born!" he snorted with anger and hatred. But
then he started laughing as he downed another gulp from the
bottle. "Another Jew? No! Another slave!" He hiccupped. "All
of them. Those cursed Jews will fetch a good price. They
think they're headed for the Holy Land but I'll take them to
some busy slave market. I hear the pay for young folk is
quite high!" He began chortling and soon, his loud snores
could be heard.
Nissan stood frozen with fear. What could he do?
*
One and a half years earlier
R' Yisroel Beck of Berditchov came home one day to find his
wife Beila busily feeding the babies, as usual. He could see
she was in a good mood and understood that she had had a good
day at the shop. "I have some good news for you," he
announced and paused.
"We are going to Eretz Yisroel."
"What???" she exclaimed, spoon extended in mid-air. "What do
you mean?"
"As I said: We are going to Eretz Yisroel."
"What for?"
"What do you mean, `What for?' " It was his turn to be
puzzled. "To settle there, of course. Isn't Eretz Yisroel the
birthright, the homeland of every Jew?"
"Settle? And how are we going to make a living?"
"I intend to open a printing shop."
"You mean you'll take along your printing press?" She sighed.
"But the trip is so long and so expensive. It doesn't sound
like a practical idea." She continued feeding the children
and tried to remain calm but she was not calm at all.
The following day, she went to her father-in-law and begged
him to dissuade his son from making such a hasty move. A
heated argument ensued between the three but in the end, R'
Yisroel promised to put a lid on his plans for a full
year.
At the end of the year, he came to his wife again, "Now we
are going to Eretz Yisroel." All year long, Beila had been
planning what to say at this juncture, how to prove to her
husband the impracticality and unfeasability of such a
venture. "One needs a great deal of money for such a trip,
which we don't have. Surely not enough to get settled and
establish a printing shop there."
"But I do have the money," he surprised her. "I recently
earned a large sum of money by fashioning an exquisite
pendulum clock for one of my customers. The money should
suffice to tide us over until the press is in operation."
Beila hesitated but was beginning to accept the idea. "You
know what? Go first, and if you see that the press is a
viable enterprise, you can send for us and we'll join
you."
*
R' Yisroel Beck left Berditchov in 5591 and settled in
Tzefas. A short while later, he sent his helper, Laibche, to
fetch his wife. A large group of chassidim joined the
family and Nissan, the seventeen-year-old very capable son
took upon himself to lead the group to Eretz Yisroel.
Nissan was standing on the deck when he heard the words of
the captain. His heart skipped a few beats. He turned his
face towards Heaven and murmured a prayer, "Hashem, help me!
Give me an idea of how to save us all from captivity!"
It was on the following morning that land was sighted on the
horizon. Secretly, Nissan prepared to leave ship at the first
docking. This was not difficult, since they needed to
replenish their food and supplies for the remainder of the
voyage.
Once on land, Nissan searched for a Jew to help him plan how
to thwart the captain from his evil designs. He found one,
unburdened himself and was taken to the local police, who
were on good terms with the Jews in the community. The police
boarded the ship and threatened to imprison the captain if he
dared harm his Jewish passengers. He was forced to deposit a
sum of money as a warranty for their safety and in addition,
two officers were placed on the ship to accompany the
travelers to their destination. Upon arrival at the Acco
port, the Jews were to sign that they were safe and sound.
The reunited family stayed in Tzefas for a while, later
moving to Yerusholayim. Nissan grew to be an expert
mohel, a fine Torah scholar and a communally active
person. He was instrumental in building the famous Tiferes
Yisroel synagogue in the Old City and as a man of means, he
encouraged chassidim to emigrate to Eretz Yisroel and
helped them financially to settle in.
