The month of February on our American calendar, possesses a holiday weekend called President's weekend. It is a time when we acknowledge and reflect upon the great leaders who have led the United States of America in the past. One of our nation's presidents that we tend to remember during this time of year is Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln led our country long ago with emotion, conviction and dedication. Lincoln was a religious man who took his faith seriously. He would take his Biblical knowledge and strive to teach as much as he could in his term as President. Ethical and moral dilemmas came across his desk each and every day. Lincoln would use his "Torah wisdom" which provided him strength to make the right decision time and time again. It was this decision making process which gave President Lincoln the glorified reputation that he is known by today. The following story entitled "The widow and her three sons" whose author is anonymous shares with us just how much of a mensch Lincoln was.
One day a poor woman approached President Abraham Lincoln for an interview. She was somewhat advanced in years and plainly clad, wearing a faded shawl and worn hood.
"Well, my good woman," said Mr. Lincoln, "what can I do for you this morning?"
"Mr. President, my husband and three sons all went into the army. My husband was killed in battle. I get along very badly since then, I have been living all alone, and I thought that I would come and ask you to release to me my eldest son. Mr. Lincoln looked in her face for a moment, and then replied kindly:
"Certainly! Certainly! If you have given us ALL, and your prop has been taken away, you are justly entitled to one of your boys." He then made out an order discharging the young man, which the woman took away, thanking him gratefully.
She went to the front herself with the President's order, and found that her son had been mortally wounded in a recent battle, and taken to the hospital. She hastened to the hospital. But she was too late, the boy died, and she saw him laid in a soldier's grave. She then returned to the President with his order, on the back of which the attendant surgeon had stated the sad facts concerning the young man it was intended to discharge.
Mr. Lincoln was much moved by her story, and said: "I know what you wish me to do now, and I shall do it without your asking. I shall release to you your second son." Taking up his pen he began to write the order, while the grief-stricken woman stood at his side and passed her hand softly over his head, and stroked his rough hair as she would have stroked her boy's. When he had finished he handed her the paper, saying tenderly, his eyes full of tears, "now you have one of the two left, and I have one, that is no more than right."
She took the order and reverently placing her hand upon his head, said, "May God bless you, Mr. President. May you live a thousand years, and may you always be the head of this great nation."
The story of Lincoln's emotional decision to help an individual, who was so desperate for help, provides us a proper path of knowing how to live life the right way in making wise decisions. Despite his busy political and social schedule as the head of our country, Lincoln still provided the average American citizen with spiritual strength and emotional support when it was needed. In Rabbinic Judaism, one of our thirteen hermeneutical principles in defining Jewish law is known as a kal vachomer (from the small to the great). President Lincoln shares with us a living and breathing example of this principle.
Just as President Lincoln, the "great" leader of this country made the time to be a mensch to help the less fortunate, how much the more so should we do the same. President's Day is the springboard for us to remember and appreciate our leaders of the past and their honorable characteristics. May our memories and appreciations lead us, our country and our world to a time of stability and peace which Lincoln dreamed of so long ago!
Happy President's Day Weekend, Kol Tuv,
Rabbi Micah Caplan
