Va'eschanan

The posuk says את ה אלקיך תירא you should fear Hashem your G-d. The gemara relates how one of the Rabbis would expound every place that the Torah writes the word את & find something that it's coming to include. When he got up to this posuk he couldn't find anything else to include, for how could the Torah be telling us to fear anyone aside from 'ה? The gemara continues that ר' עקיבא then came & said את ה' אלקיך תירא is coming to include תלמידי חכמים. That they merit the same honor as 'ה

The בן איש חי asks, why was it that ר' עקיבא merited to know how to expound this posuk while the rabbi who worked so hard expounding all of the את 's didn't come to this understanding in the posuk? Also why does it say until ר' עקיבא came? Where did he come from?

The בן איש חי explains that this limud is very novel & can't even come from a deep understanding of the Torah, because reasonably, how could one say that we have to give a Torah scholar the same honor & respect that we have to show for 'ה?

The gemara tells us that four people went up to heaven by saying the name of 'ה, & peeked in on the שכינה. The first one, בן עזאי peeked & died, בן זומא peeked & went crazy, אחר peeked & went off the derech, & ר' עקיבא went in & out peacefully.

What happened to אחר? He peeked in & saw the angel מט"ט sitting. Since it says angels are not allowed to sit, אחר said maybe there are two kingdoms: one of 'ה & one of מט"ט. Since he has his own kingdom, he's allowed to sit. Immediately after אחר said that, מט"ט was kicked out of the inner sanctuary & was flogged with 60 lashes of fire, to prove to אחר that מט"ט was no better than any other angel. Then מט"ט was asked, why didn't u stand up for אחר, a תלמיד חכם, when he came in? Then you would have avoided all of this pain & humiliation.
From this incident we see that angels are even supposed to stand up & show respect for תלמידי חכמים, how much more so mere mortals.

This is why, says the בן איש חי, it was ר' עקיבא who was able to make that derasha, for only he was there in 'הs presence & saw what's expected in heaven, that's where he came from & understood how much respect is required to be given to תלמידי חכמים.

The חפץ חיים learns from הר סיני the great respect that's due to תלמידי חכמים. If someone were to touch הר סיני they would die. Now just as the mountain that doesn't have feelings or intellect, but yet would cause someone to die if one touched it, because it became holy when the Torah was given on it. Even more so for תלמידי חכמים who are infused with Torah & have feelings & intellect. If one slights them there will certainly be retribution.

I saw a story by R' Yechiel Spero about a town in Poland where there was a rav by the name of rav Leibish Mintz. He was a big תלמיד חכם who learned day & night, but yet still managed to be there for his congregation. Alas a rumor started spreading in the town that he had gone to secular schools. Some of the people started distancing themselves from him, and asking other dayanim their shailos. An epidemic broke out in the town, & the officials forbade any large gatherings to avoid spreading the disease. However, there was a wedding planned for that night. Even though the rabbi said not to have it for he felt it was dangerous, his opponents planned to have the wedding anyway. The rabbi announced that whoever shows up to this wedding will be arrested. While the people were upset they had no choice but to listen.

That Rosh Hashana as they were about to blow shofer & the rabbi walked to the bima to call out the sounds of the shofar, one of his opponents blocked his way & said, for our tekios we need someone who doesn't speak Latin like you! The rabbi was stunned. The man continued, when we need someone to call out to a goyish god we'll call you! The rav admonished him for his insolence, but the man wasn't done. To the horror of everyone, he slapped the rabbi in the face!
A riot ensued & the police were called in to escort the rabbi out. The rabbi left the town a few days later, embarrassed & disgraced.
The name of the town was Oswiecim,Poland.
Or, as we know it: Auschwitz.