Story Tour

One Passover, a rabbi conducted his first Seder with great spiritual inspiration. He carried out each of the Kabbalistic intentions and felt as if he were soaring through the heavens. He never remembered carrying out such an exhilarating Seder. 

On the following night, he rabbi lay down to rest after the evening prayers to gather his strength. Suddenly, he was overcome by a deep sleep. Without realizing, he slept for several hours, waking only a half hour before midnight. 

The rabbi was accustomed to finish the afikoman before midnight on the second night as well and, therefore, had to rush through the entire Seder. He had no time for mystic thoughts. With little more than the simple meanings of the words in mind, he read the Haggadah and ate the matzah, maror, and afikoman. 

He felt crushed, How could he have conducted such a Seder, particular after yesterday’s heights? 

After Pesach, the rabbi went to visit his master and teacher in a faraway city. When the rabbi greeted his teacher, his teacher replied:

 ”I watched your Seders, my student. The first night, shockingly low, soaring through the heavens, pheh… 

“The second night, wonderful. The simple meaning of the Haggadah, the earnest desire to fulfill G-d’s command. How could anyone conduct a holier Seder!”

Tags: Holiday, Holidays, Pesach, Rabbi's thoughts and teaching, Stories by Rabbi
1 Comment »

One Passover, after the conclusion of the Seder, the holy Rebbe of Berditchev felt very satisfied. He had fulfilled all the Passover mitzvos carefully and carried out all the mystic intentions associated with them. As he reviewed his behavior, his thoughts were interrupted by a heavenly voice: 

“Don’t be so proud of your Seder. In your city, there is a poor Jewish water carrier whose Seder far surpassed yours.” 

Disturbed and curious, the Rebbe dispatched some of his students to bring the water carrier to him. Despite the lateness of the hour, the students set out to fulfill their teacher’s request. Unfortunately, the water carrier was not a known person in the village and none of the students were sure where he lived. 

After a considerable search, the students located the water carrier’s home and knocked at the door. Somewhat astonished to see the Rebbe’s attendants arrive at her home so late at night, the water carrier’s wife opened the door. 

When the students asked to see her husband, she shyly answered “He can’t speak to you now.” 

“But the Rebbe wants to see him,” they insisted. 

Realizing that they would not take no for an answer, she pointed to their bedroom. “There he is, lying on the bed. He’s stone drunk. What could the Rebbe want from him?” 

Without pausing to answer, the students approached the sleeping water carrier and tried to wake him. Unable to rouse him, they were forced to carry him to the Rebbe. In the holy rabbi’s presence, the water carrier began to come to his senses. When the Rebbe looked him in the eye, he began to cry continuously. 

With soothing words, the Rebbe gently calmed his guest. When he regained his composure, the holy rabbi asked him: “Tell me about your Seder.” 

Again the water carrier burst into tears. After calming him once more, the Rebbe assured him there was no need to worry. His Seder had found favor in G-d’s eyes and he, the holy rabbi, wanted to learn from it. 

Stuttering, his words interrupted by occasional sobs, the water carrier began to tell his story: 

“There’s one custom which I have adopted that I follow loyally. Each morning after prayers, I take a little vodka and say l’chayim to to the Holy One, blessed be He. 

“This morning, after following my daily custom, it occurred to me that since I wouldn’t be able to drink alcohol for the next eight days, I should say I’chayim for the entire holiday. Without thinking much longer, I downed eight more l’chayims. My head became groggy and I went to sleep. 

“I slept very soundly without realizing how the hours passed by. At nightfall, my wife tried to wake me to go to shul, but I couldn’t get out of bed. When everybody was coming home, she tried to wake me again, but I just turned to the other side. 

“She waited a little longer, then, came to wake me a third time. Shaking me with all her strength, she cried: “Husband! It’s Pesach! What about the seder? All the Jewish people are celebrating the holiday. What about us?’” 

“I felt terrible. She was almost crying. Summoning whatever strength I could, I stumbled to the table and began to speak: “I am a simple person and my father was a simple person. I can’t read Hebrew and don’t know what we’re supposed to say now, but I know one thing about Passover. Our ancestors were slaves to the Egyptians and God took them out of exile. We’re in exile again now. May G-d redeem us very soon.” 

“Afterwards, I noticed that my wife had prepared matzos, wine, eggs, and some vegetables on the table. I drank the wine, ate the food, and went back to bed. That was my Seder.” 

The holy Rebbe of Berditchev again assured the water carrier that his Seder had been accepted by G-d and asked his students to take him home. When they returned, he told them: “The few words he said, he said with all his heart, and therefore. G-d appreciated his Seder.”

Tags: Holiday, Holidays, Pesach, Rabbi's thoughts and teaching, Stories by Rabbi
1 Comment »

The haggadah says, “This year, we are here; next year, in the Land of Israel. This year, we are slaves; next year, free men!” 

We are still in exile today. The exile of Egypt was a difficult one, with bricks, mortar, and back breaking work. While today’s is one of abundance and wealth, so much so that sadly, people often do not realize that they are still in bitter Exile. It is like:

A prince rebelled against his father. The irate king exiled his son to a place far from the palace, decreeing that the rebellious prince must do hard labor and working with is hands. 

Now the prince had never done any work at all, and he was completely unaccustomed to hard labor and working with is hands. He imme­diately sent his father a letter, begging for forgiveness and promising faithfully that he would never again do anything to challenge or disrespect him. 

The letter touched the king’s heart, and he granted to the prince’s request and returned him to the palace as before. 

Sadly, after a while, the prince forgot all that had hap­pened and again rebelled against his father. The angry king exiled the prince once again, to the same land and to the same hard physical work. 

When the king’s son saw that he was truly in a terrible situation, he wrote to his father once more, begging for mercy and forgiveness, and promising that he would never repeat his wicked actions. 

The king received this letter and thought to himself, “My son writes to me now only because he finds himself in great distress, and not because he truly wishes to he close to me. If I forgive him and return him to the palace, he will once again sin against me. 

“So instead, I will release him from the hard physical work in his exile—but not return him to the pal­ace. Instead, I will support him there, in his exile, bountifully and pleasantly. Now, if my son truly wishes to return to my home, he will send me a letter with that request. But if he does not send me such a letter, I will know that he is not really de­voted to me, and that all of his requests to return stemmed only from the hardships that he suffered there.” 

When the Jewish people were in Egypt, the Egyptians burdened them with hard labor and working with is hands. The Jewish people cried out to Hashem, Who hurried to redeem them and take them out of Egypt. Sadly, after the Jewish people returned to the Land of Israel, they sinned against Him. As a result, the Holy One, blessed be He exiled them among the nations, where today many of them enjoy pleasant and easy lives. 

If, from this comfortable exile, the Jewish people still cry out to Hashem and beg to return, this is a clear sign of their sincere, desire for Hashem’s love, But if they do not ask to return from this exile, it is a sign that they seek only a life of ease and comfort.

Tags: Holiday, Holidays, Pesach, Rabbi's thoughts and teaching, Stories by Rabbi
1 Comment »

Pesach was approaching quickly and everyone was preparing for the holiday. Once, two Jewish beggars were traveling together. One beggar told the other to go to the shul (synagogue), and the Jewish householders would have pity on him and invite him to a seder. 

And so it was, both beggars were invited to seders. The evening started with Kiddush, and the one beggar thought to himself, “Good wine means good food.” 

This was soon followed by karpas (green vegitable), and the beggar thought to himself, “A good meal begins with an appetizer.” 

After a long while, people washed and the blessings were said and the matzah was served, and the beggar thought to himself, “It’s about time the meal was served, I’m just about starved.” 

Then the maror (bitter herbs – usually horseradish) was served. The beggar took a full teaspoon and his mouth felt as though it was on fire. He quickly ran from the house. 

“How was your Seder?” asked one beggar to the other. The disgruntled beggar then told him what had happened. 

“Fool!” replied the one beggar. “If you had waited just a little longer, you would have had a fine meal, as I had.” 

The same is true when we want to come close to the Holy One, blessed be He. After all the effort to begin, we are given a little bitterness. This bitterness is needed to purify the body. But we might think that this bitterness is all there is to serving G-d, so we run away from it. This is a mistake. If we would only wait just a short while — if we would allow ourselves to be purified — then we would experience every joy and delight in the world in our closeness to G-d.

Tags: Holiday, Pesach, Rabbi's thoughts and teaching, Stories by Rabbi
1 Comment »