Beaten for Shabbos

It is told that when the young Yaakov Yisroel was serving in the Russian army, he walked into his commander's office as Shabbos approached and declared that he would not desecrate it.

The officer was stunned. No recruit had ever dared such a thing, and it could easily have cost him his life. He said he would allow the young man to keep Shabbos on one condition. Before he could even say what it was, the future Steipler said yes.

“Fine,” said the officer. “Since you will be leaving extra work for the other soldiers, your fellow soldiers will get to beat you as much as they please.” He knew how cruel and how hostile to Jews those strong young soldiers were, yet he accepted the brutal beating with joy. Another account tells that he was court-martialed for “failing to do his duty” and forced to pass between two lines of soldiers under orders to strike him as he went.

In later years he said that he carried those moments with him all his life. Nothing he did afterwards ever brought back the life they had poured into his battered body. That was how he met every mitzvah, whether light or weighty.