העדתי בכם היום את השמים ואת הארץ ... ובחרת בחיים למען תחיה אתה וזרעך ... (ל-יט)
The Russo-Japanese War was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan during the years 1904 and 1905 over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean peninsula. Although Russia suffered a number of defeats, Czar Nicholas II remained convinced that Russia could still win this war if it fought on; he chose to remain engaged in the war and await the outcomes of key naval battles. However, as hope of victory dissipated, he continued the war to preserve the dignity of Russia by averting a “humiliating peace". Russia ignored Japan's willingness early on to agree to an armistice and rejected the idea of bringing the dispute to the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague.
In the end, the complete victory of the Japanese military surprised international observers and transformed the balance of power in both East Asia and Europe, resulting in a decline in the Russian Empire’s prestige and influence in Europe. Substantial casualties and losses for a cause that resulted in humiliating defeat contributed to growing domestic unrest, which culminated in the 1905 Russian Revolution, and severely damaged the prestige of the Russian autocracy.
In Poland, which Russia partitioned in the late 18th century, and where Russian rule already caused two major uprisings, the population was so restless that an army of over 250,000 soldiers - larger than the one facing the Japanese - had to be stationed to put down the unrest. Russia had mobilized thousands of Polish reservists during the war with Japan, contributing to unrest, including many Jewish conscripts. Numerous yeshiva bochurim were served with draft notices and forced to don a military uniform and fight on behalf of Russia, in a war they knew nothing about. Contemporary reports found that some Polish conscripts refused to serve and preferred death over fighting the Japanese for Russia.
The same year that the Russo-Japanese War broke out, was the final year in the lifetime of the holy Gerrer Rebbe, R’ Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter zt”l, famously known as the Sefas Emes. Unfortunately, thousands of young Gerrer chassidim were conscripted and dispatched to the battlefields of the Far East. In giving them his blessing and advice before they set out, he would begin by quoting a posuk in the Torah which was part of the announcement made to armies about to march forth: “Who is the man who is afraid and faint of heart? Let him go and return to his house.” The Sefas Emes gave the posuk a non-literal interpretation, however, as follows: “Who is the man who fears Heaven? Let him return in repentance; and then he will certainly return home from the battlefield safe and sound.”
So anxious was the Gerrer Rebbe for the welfare of these young soldiers that throughout the time they were at the Eastern front he did not once go to sleep in bed. He chose instead to sleep on the floor, lying on a single garment, which by morning was drenched with the tears he had shed over the anguish of his brethren. And they in turn warmly reflected his faithful attachment to them. From out of the trenches they would write to the Rebbe - hasty shticklach Torah on fondly-remembered Talmudic themes, and touching descriptions of their daily lot on the battlefields and in the trenches.
One budding Talmid Chacham who hailed from Ostrov utilized every hour of respite in his bunker and wrote a long treatise that discussed elements of Rabbeinu Yonah’s Shaarei Teshuvah. After it reached Ger, his Rebbe wrote him a loving reply which opened with the words of the posuk in Parshas Nitzavim. In the plain meaning of its context, this posuk is spoken by Moshe Rabbeinu, in which he states: "העדתי בכם היום את השמים ואת הארץ" - “This day, I call upon the heaven and the earth as witnesses.” The Sefas Emes was so taken by the incredibly inspirational words of the young chasid languishing on the Eastern Front and yet still able to write such a beautiful shtickel Torah. He replied in a non-literal interpretation. Instead of the word "העדתי" meaning “witness,” the tzaddik regarded it as if stemming from the noun "עדי" which refers to a valuable ornament. Thus, he wrote, "העדתי בכם היום ..." - “Today, with young scholars like yourself, have I (Hashem) ornamented heaven and earth ... You shall choose life, so that you and your offspring shall live...”