Going to Uman for Rosh Hashana ...Read this first!

By EMAILIM BATORAH 

R. Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, R. Chaim Shmulevitz זצ״ל, and many other Gedolim stated that davening at the קברים of Israeli soldiers הי"ד who were killed — even those who were not  Shomer Torah u’Mitzvos —are as beneficial and effective as davening at קברי צדיקים. NO NEED FOR UMAN, KERESTIER. ETC,   A Yid who gives his life to save other Yidden attains the highest level of קדושה. Chazal declare (Bava Basra 10b): אין כל בריה יכולה לעמוד במחיצתן   No creature can stand within the מחיצה of those who sacrifice themselves for כלל ישראל.   Many struggle to understand how someone who was not a שומר תורה ומצוות — even was עובר על כל התורה כולה — can suddenly become a קדוש the moment he is killed על קידוש השם   The גמרא (קידושין מ"ט) teaches: If a רשע גמור is מקדש  a woman on condition that he is a צדיק, she is מקודשת — שמא הרהר תשובה בדעתו. Perhaps he had a moment of genuine תשובה. From here we see that a רשע גמור can be transformed into a צדיק in an instant. רש"י (תהלים ע"ט) writes: בשר חסידיך – משקבלו פורענותם הרי הם חסידים Once they receive their suffering, they are considered חסידים. Even Yidden who were not observant — if goyim killed them — are elevated to the level of חסידים.   The רמב"ם הל' תשובה פ"ז ה"ד writes that a בעל תשובה should never imagine he is distant from the level of the צדיקים because of his past עבירות. Rather: He is beloved and cherished before Hashem As if he never sinned And his reward is greater, for he tasted sin, separated from it, and conquered his יצר. If this is true for ordinary teshuvah, קל וחומר for one who gives his life for כלל ישראל.   It was deeply moving to stand at the graves of young sixteen‑year‑old boys who escaped Nazi Europe, reached Eretz Yisrael, and ended up being מוסר נפש to protect Yidden. These youths — barely adults — rose to the highest level of קדושה. In עולם האמת, we will never reach their מחיצה. But in this world, we can still stand within their ד׳ אמות, recite a קפיטל תהלים,  לטובת נשמתם הקדושים. Perhaps, Har Herzl E. Rosh Hashanah instead of Uman Rosh Hashanah