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Tzaddikim, What we can Learn from them.



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Tefila




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Dec 07 2004, 10:41 pm
Reb Eliezer, the father of the Baal Shem Tov, was so hospitable that he used to send people out to bring in wayfarers who were passing by his village. When they had eaten, he would give them gifts and provisions for their further travels. The Heavenly Court took due note of his exemplary conduct, and it was decided to put him to the test.

Satan spoke up first: "I am willing to go and test him."

But Eliyahu (Elijah) the Prophet said: "No, perhaps it would be better if I were to go."

His suggestion was accepted, and the prophet appeared at the door of Reb Eliezer on Shabbat afternoon in the guise of a destitute vagabond with a staff in his hand and a knapsack on his back, as if in flagrant breach of the sanctity of the Sabbath. Then, when the door was opened, he said Gut Shabbos, and entered.

Reb Eliezer remained calm in the face of his guest's insolence in desecrating the Sabbath before his very eyes, and let no harsh word pass his lips that might put him to shame. On the contrary, he hastened to serve him the Third Meal of Shabbat and in the evening, when the Sabbath had passed, prepared for him the Melaveh Malkah, the meal that ushers out the Sabbath Queen.

The next morning he gave him a liberal donation for his further upkeep still without breathing a word about his guest's shameful conduct of the previous day.

At this moment the prophet revealed himself and said: "Know that I am the Prophet Eliyahu, come to test you. And because you withstood your test and did not shame the one who came to your door, you have been found worthy of begetting a son who will illumine the eyes of all Israel."

And in due course the blessing was fulfilled, and to this patient host was born the Baal Shem Tov.
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gryp




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Dec 08 2004, 8:34 am
what about the part where he gets cake thrown in his face? Smile
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Tefila




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Dec 08 2004, 8:38 am
I heard that. Wink .... is it accurate though? Confused
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Tefila




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Dec 08 2004, 8:41 am
Reb Yaakov Yitzchak, the Chozeh (or Seer) of Lublin, was distressed that he was not given the opportunity of fulfilling the mitzvah of hospitality the way it should be fulfilled, that is, personally.

One night in the midst of a bitter winter, in a town three miles from Lublin a woman was in such straits during child birth that her family hired someone to make haste to Lublin, there to ask the rebbe to intercede in heaven on her behalf. By the time he reached the town everyone was asleep, and all the windows were shuttered except for one lighted window, in the house of the Chozeh.

Never having laid eyes on the Chozeh or his house, the man knocked on the window, and the owner of the house brought him in and made him a fire. When he had warmed up a little, the man told his host that he was hungry. The Chozeh brought him food and drink and then asked him: "From where do you come, and where are you headed?"

A have come to your city," said the traveler, "in order to ask your rebbe to pray for an unfortunate woman who is having a difficult labor; but now in the middle of the night I won't be able to search all over town to find out where he lives. Besides, I'm exhausted from this difficult walk I have had, so now I would really like to sleep a bit."

"Who is this woman?" asked the rebbe as if nonchalantly. "What is her name? And her mother's name?"

The man showed him the kvitl, the note which he had been given to present to the Chozeh and which, according to custom, bore both the woman's name and the name of her mother.

"I'd suggest you go to bed now," said the Chozeh, "and in the morning go along to see the rebbe."

With that, he showed him to the bed that was prepared for him, and the man slept through until close to midday. When he awoke, he recalled he had come on a mission of life and death. Wanting to make good his shameful delay, he made haste to set out to find the Chozeh. But his host stopped him: "What is your hurry? Go along and first say your morning prayers, then have some breakfast. Meanwhile, if you would like to give me the kvitl and the alms for the poor, the pidyon, that no doubt accompanies it, I'll send along one of my family to see the rebbe."

The man agreed. After a little while, his host conveyed to him "the rebbe's answer": Mazal Tov, the woman had given birth to a son during the night, and he could go home in peace. Much relieved, the messenger ate his breakfast and arrived home to find that things were exactly as the rebbe had told his host.

And the Chozeh for his part said that Providence had so arranged circumstances in order to enable him to carry out the mitzvah of hospitality.
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Tefila




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Dec 08 2004, 12:10 pm
What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us Exclamation
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Yael




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Dec 08 2004, 1:16 pm
Beautiful!
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gryp




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Dec 09 2004, 9:11 pm
one of my favorite stories:

A story is told of a person who came to Rabbi DovBer, the Maggid of Mezeritch and asked him, "Rebbe, our Sages tell us that we must bless G-d when something good happens, and in the same way, we should bless G-d when something negative happens. How can this be?"

The Maggid of Mezeritch told him, "Go to my student, Reb Zushya. He will explain it to you."

When he found Reb Zushya, looking at his face and his clothing, he could easily see that he had not had much to eat, and that he did not have the money to buy decent clothing. Everything about him bespoke poverty and struggle, but his face radiated happiness. "This is surely a person who can answer my question," he said to himself. So he told Reb Zushya that the Maggid had sent him to him to explain how a person could bless G-d in the face of adversity.

Reb Zushya looked at him in puzzlement. "I do not know how to answer this question," he replied. "This question should be answered by someone who has suffered. I have never experienced suffering in my life."
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Tefila




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Dec 09 2004, 9:45 pm
Quote:
. "I do not know how to answer this question," he replied. "This question should be answered by someone who has suffered. I have never experienced suffering in my life."

Brought tears to my eyes Crying beautiful story
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Tefila




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Dec 09 2004, 9:50 pm
A troubled householder once complained to Reb Menachem Mendel of Rimanov that though he would dearly love to perform this choice mitzvah he was unable to do so because his wife looked so unkindly on guests that bringing people into the house disrupted their domestic harmony.

"You will note," replied the rebbe, "that our Sages teach us that to extend hospitality is loftier than to greet the Divine Presence. Now would it not have sufficed for them to say that it is as lofty as the other ideal? But the Sages teach us elsewhere that 'when a man and a wife live together in harmony, the Divine Presence dwells in their midst.' It follows that if the Sages had merely equated hospitality with the greeting of the Divine Presence, no man would fulfill that mitzvah for fear that his wife might look unkindly upon his guests, and then, with the disruption of domestic harmony, the Divine Presence would leave their home, and this loss would cancel out his gain.

"For this reason the Sages teach us that to extend hospitality is loftier than to greet the Divine Presence, and it should therefore be practiced even at the risk of losing the company of the Divine Presence."
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gryp




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jan 27 2005, 10:11 am
"Now I know that Hashem is greater than all gods..." (Yisro 18:11)

An Irish Kid with a Jewish Name By Tuvia Bolton

I heard this story from the Lubavitcher Rebbe's secretary, Rabbi Laibel Groner.

A woman from the Chabad-Lubavitch Community in Brooklyn was pulled over by a N.Y.C. traffic cop for some traffic violation. Standing outside her open car window and watching her search for her license and registration papers, the police officer caught sight of a picture of the Lubavitcher Rebbe in her open purse. "Excuse me, maam," he asked, "are you one of the followers of this Rabbi?"

"Yes," she replied.

"Well, in that case I'm not giving you a ticket." He closed his ticket book and continued, "Do you know why? Because this Rabbi," he pointed to the picture she was now holding in her hand, "Did a very big miracle for me."

"Well," said the grateful woman, "since you aren't giving me the ticket, I have time to hear the story." The policeman smiled and said, "It's my favorite story, but I haven't told it to many Jewish people, in fact I think that you are the first." The cars were whizzing by behind him and he had to raise his voice slightly. "The story goes like this: I used to be in the police escort that once a week escorted the Rabbi to the Montefiore Cemetery (where the Rebbe's father-in-law and predecessor, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, is interred). I got to know some of the young men who accompanied the Rebbe, and I learned a lot of things. They are very friendly people, which you probably already know, and we talked a lot while the Rabbi was inside praying.

"Well, one day I saw that all the fellows there were really talking excitedly to each other so I asked them what happened. So they told me that the Rabbi does a lot of miracles for people, but today he did a miracle that was really something. I didn't even ask what was the miracle that they were talking about, I just asked them if the Rabbi helps non-Jews also.

"'Sure,' they said, 'The Rebbe helps anyone who asks. Why? Do you need something?' So I told him, this young fellow, that me and my wife had been married nine years with no children, and a week ago the doctors told us that we had no chance. We had spent a lot of money on treatments, seen all sorts of big professors, we were running around like crazy for the last six or seven years, and now they told us that they tried everything and there is no chance. You can't imagine how broken we were. My wife cried all the time and I started crying myself. "So this young man tells me, 'Listen, the next time that you escort the Rebbe to the cemetery stand near the door of his car and when he gets out ask him for a blessing.'

So that is just what I did. The next time I was in the escort I stood by his door and when he got out I said to him: 'Excuse me, Rabbi, do you only bless Jewish people or non-Jews too?'

"So the Rabbi looked at me like a good friend, it was really amazing, and said that he tries to help anyone he can. So I told him what the doctors said, and he said I should write down on a piece of paper my name and my father's name together with my wife's and her father's names and that he would pray for us.

So I did it, my hands were shaking so much I almost couldn't write, but I did it and you know what? My wife became pregnant and nine months later she gave birth to a baby boy! The doctors went crazy, they couldn't figure it out, and when I told them that it was all the Rabbi's blessing they just scratched their heads and-

Wow! I felt like the champion of the world! "But here comes the good part. Do you know what we called him? What name we gave our baby boy? Just guess! We called him Mendel after the Rabbi.

At first my wife didn't like the name because its not an American name, but I said, No! We're calling him Mendel! Each time we say his name we'll remember that if it weren't for the Rabbi this boy would not be here.

"But when our parents heard the name they really objected. They said, 'With a name like that, all the kids will think he's a Jew or something and they will call him names and be cruel to him. Why make the kid suffer for no reason?' 'That's just what I want,' I said to them. 'When he comes home and says that the other kids called him names and beat him up because he has a Jewish name, I'll tell him that I want him to learn from those other kids how not to behave. They hate the Jews for no reason, but you should love the Jews, you should help the Jews. You just tell them that without that Jewish Rabbi called Mendel you wouldn't be here at all, and then maybe they'll start thinking differently too!'

A popular teacher, musician and storyteller, Rabbi Tuvia Bolton is co-director and a senior lecturer at Yeshiva Ohr Tmimim in Kfar Chabad, Israel.

Chabad.org
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