Stealing to Save a Life?
Rav Shlomo Halberstam, zt”l, the Bobover Rebbe, was instrumental in saving many lives during the Holocaust. The Bobover Rebbe borrowed whatever money he could to secure visas and travel documents for would-be victims. The money borrowed was directly responsible for lives being saved.
After the war, Mr. Benedict, one of the lenders, demanded immediate repayment of all funds borrowed. Rav Shlomo Halberstam’s father, the previous Bobover Rebbe, Hy”d, was killed in 1941, during World War II. Rav Shlomo Halberstam himself barely escaped becoming a victim of the Nazis. When Rav Shlomo Halberstam finally came to America, he did not yet have a following of his own; it was only years later that the Bobover dynasty was reestablished. Hence, at the time that the loans were to be repaid, Rav Shlomo Halberstam was under great financial strain. He suggested to Mr. Benedict that they arrange a payment plan. In this way, the loan would be paid back in full but in small installments. Mr. Benedict, however, perhaps himself under great financial strain, wanted the full loan amount paid at once.