MISHPATIM 5781

Viktor Frankl’s Coronavirus Lesson from Auschwitz

Last Shabbos we read in the Torah about the giving of the 10 Commandments. These are not called mitzvot or commandments by the Torah, but D’varim (utterances). Actually, they are categories under which all the mitzvot are subsumed. This week’s Torah portion begins to elaborate further with presenting 53 mitzvot.

If you had to pick one of the 10 Commandments or categories as the foundation of society, which one would you pick? Some might pick the 1^st, “I am Hashem your Gd,” because as Dostoyevsky wrote in The Brothers Karamazov, “without Gd…all things are permitted.” If all things are permitted, society will be quite immoral. Others might pick, “You shall not murder,” because such violence destroys a society.

My choice would be, “Honor your father and your mother.” It’s fascinating that it appears as the 5^th command—the foundation of the 1^st 5. These 5 comprises the 1^st tablet, which is all about our relationship to Gd—as opposed to the last 5 on the 2^nd tablet which is all about our relationship with our fellow human beings. But isn’t honoring your parents about our relationship to our fellow human beings—namely our parents?

It’s because the 1^st tablet is really about our relationship to our Creator, and since parents are also our creators, therefore they belong on the 1^st tablet. Also, the way in which we deal with our parents says much about our relationship with Gd—it’s foundational in that it is our parents, for the most part, that teach us to have a relationship with Gd.

How does one fulfill the mitzvah of honoring one’s parents? This week’s Torah portion tells us (Ex. 21:15,17) that if one hits or curses a parent, one deserves to die. The Talmud Kidushin (31b) tells us more: “Thou shalt not sit in their chair, stand in their place, contradict, affirm, or call them by name.” But also, “By giving food and drink, dressing and covering, bringing in and taking out.” This is tremendous! This tells us that there comes the time when the people that took care of us need to be taken care of and that it is our responsibility.

Let me illustrate with an amazing story about Viktor Frankl. Who was Viktor Frankl? He was an eminent Viennese psychiatrist in the 1930s. The Nazi’s sent him to Auschwitz, but he miraculously he survived. He wrote one of the great books of the 20^th Century about his experiences called, Man’s Search for Meaning.   

When Hitler overran Austria, life became increasingly uncomfortable for Jews there. Viktor Frankl was able to secure a visa to America...but he was not able to get one for his parents. His parents urged him to leave. They said, “We have already lived our lives...you have your whole life ahead of you…go to America. You have a chance to do great things.” 

Now, how would you feel? What would you think? Viktor was torn. Should he leave his aging parents to, what was, a certain and ghastly death? Should he stay with them in Nazi occupied Austria or do what they urged him to do—go and save himself? 

He struggled with the decision. And for Viktor Frankl, who was not a particularly religious man, this struggle touched him very deeply. He prayed and prayed, “Gd, send me a sign...send me a sign to lead me on the right path.”

And then the hidden hand of Gd was revealed. That evening, he went to his parents’ home for dinner. On the coffee table was a piece of marble which he had never seen before. It was about the size of his hand with Hebrew writing on it. “Dad, what is this?” 

Viktor’s father explained, “As you know, Nazi youths vandalized our synagogue, and I found a broken fragment of the façade which had displayed the 10 Commandments. I couldn’t just leave it in the street, so I slipped it in my pocket and brought it home.” 

Viktor Frankl examined it and recognized there was only one place on the façade it could have come from. It was the 1^st word of the 5^th Commandment: kabeyd (Honor)! There was the sign in plain language: “Honor your father and your mother!” And so, Viktor Frankl understood that Gd wanted him to take care of his parents and remain in Vienna with them—and he did.  

In his book, Frankl describes how he was later marched into a Gestapo courtroom. His captors had taken everything away from him—his family, his home, his freedom. They had shaved his head and stripped his clothing off his body. There he stood before the German High Command, under the glaring lights, being interrogated and falsely accused. He was destitute—a helpless pawn in the hands of brutal, sadistic men. He had done nothing to deserve this. He had had no choice in being brought to this miserable point in his life. He had nothing left.

But no, that wasn’t exactly true. For he suddenly realized there was one thing no one could ever take away from him—he could choose his own attitude. He could choose whether to be bitter or hopeful. He could choose whether to surrender or fight. He could choose whether to give up or to go on. “The choice,” he wrote, “was his.” Frankl chose to affirm life and struggle against his burdens—and in so doing he never gave in to the darkness. He lived while others perished.

Viktor Frankl’s insight throughout his book is that there is so much of our lives we cannot control. In Auschwitz the Nazi’s controlled everything the Jews did: when they woke up, when they ate or did not eat, when they relieved themselves, where they stood, where and when they lined up, when they lived, when they died.

My friends, fortunately we are not controlled by Nazis. But there is so much in our lives that is out of our control. Who can control where one is born, who one’s parents are, or what talents or deficiencies one has? During this pandemic we’ve developed a renewed appreciation of how much we don’t control in our lives. The Coronavirus has dominated us—restricting our movements, restricting our relationships, and restricting our livelihoods.

For Frankl—and this is the core message of his book—there was one thing the Nazis could not control. They could not control was how he reacted. No matter what they did to him, his response was entirely up to him.   

My friends, today we have a choice. Like Viktor Frankl in Auschwitz, let us not give in to this pandemic. Yes, stay safe. If you are fortunate enough to still have your parents, do what you can to show your love. Call them every day, making sure they’re ok. If they’re not, do your best to take care of it. And above all else, always choose to keep your spirits high despite the pandemic, and choose—like Frankl in Auschwitz—to live in the light and choose life! Amen!