Eishes chayil mi yimtza, A Woman of Valor, who can find? (Proverbs 31:10)
There was a holy rabbi who had a beautiful daughter and many wanted to marry her. The rabbi had raised his daughter in all the ways of holiness and wanted her marry a student of holiness. He wished to know who would be his future son-in-law, so he fasted for three days and then went to the mikvah and on the night of rosh chodesh, Elul, he prayed and asked the Holy One, blessed be He to reveal the young man to him. Eliyahu haNovi (Elijah the Prophet) appeared to him and told him that his son-in-law would be a student of holiness who was destined to die on the first anniversary of his wedding. His wife would remain a widow, and she would have no children, for such was the decree of Heaven.
In the morning the holy rabbi’s heart was full of grief but he kept what had been revealed to him a secret and decided that he would journey to the Holy Land, to the resting places of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai and Rachel, to have the decree annulled.
The rabbi with his wife and daughter set out on their long journey. They traveled for a long time and at twilight on the third day, they came to a great forest. They sat down by a shady tree, next to which a spring bubbled forth. After they had eaten they lay down to rest from their strenuous journey.
The holy rabbi rose at midnight to say tikun chatzos, he heard the sound of a weak voice, coming from some distance away. He decided to follow the sound and soon a small light shining through the trees about a bowshot away. The rabbi walked towards the light and found a hut made of woven branches and leaves, lit up within by two lights. The rabbi peered through the branches and saw two men -one a blind old man who lived in eternal darkness, and the other a young man of about twenty, who was very handsome to look at. Both of them were saying the tikun chatzos.
The rabbi stood and watched in awe the two hermits for a short time, before he gathered up his courage and entered the hut.
“Shalom Aleichem (Peace be unto you), my masters,’’ he said.
“Aleichem Shalom (Upon you be peace), our master and teacher,” they answered.
The three of them joined together saying tikun chatzos, and then studied the torah until the morning star rose.
Then the old man asked the rabbi: “How did you come to be in this forest?”
The rabbi told him that he was traveling to the Holy Land, with his wife and daughter.
The rabbi returned to his wife and daughter and brought them to the hut, and the three of them remained there. The rabbi and the old man studied the torah, the woman cooked and baked, the daughter drew water, and the young man cut wood. Each day the heart and soul of the young man melted as he looked at the holy rabbi’s daughter.
One day the old blind man asked the holy rabbi: “Let your daughter be the bride of my son and it shall be guaranteed that both of us will see our grandchildren after us.”
The rabbi did not wish to reveal his secret to the old man, and a few days later the young couple were married according to the laws of Moses and Israel.
For a whole year the young couple lived happily in the lonely hut in the forest. A few days before the year was out the rabbi revealed to his daughter the dream he had had. He told her that the death of her husband was about to happen and made her swear that she would not reveal the secret to any man.
After she had heard about her father’s dream, the young woman fasted and prayed for three days. “Ribono shel olam, Master of the Universe” she said. “If you have decreed that my husband must die take my life too, for I would rather have death than a life without him.”
On the first anniversary of his marriage the husband went out to the forest, as was his way, to cut wood, but this time his wife followed him. On that day the sun was dark in the heavens and no living thing was to be seen. The winds did not whisper and the birds were silent. At noon, the Angel of Death appeared with a large slaughterer’s knife in his hand. He wielded the knife over the head of the husband who sank dead to the ground.
When the woman saw that her husband was dead, she turned to the Angel and said: “Angel! I insist in the name of the one who sent you that you tell me why you have robbed me of my husband. ‘The days of our years are three score and ten’ (Psalm 90:10), and my husband is only twenty-one.’ “
The Angel of Death replied: “Poor foolish woman! It is the decree of the Creator, and I cannot disobey it. Be it known that ‘he that goes down to the grave shall come up no more’ (Job 7:9)”
“If that is so,” said the woman, “then I will ask you to fulfil my only wish.”
“Whatever you ask me to do, I will do,” said the Angel. “But I cannot restore your husband to life.”
“I do not ask you to restore my husband to life,” said the woman. “But I will ask you to restore the sight of the eyes of my father-in-law.”
“It sall be so,” promised the Angel of Death.
Then she addressed the Angel of Death again: “Promise me, I beg you, that it shall be granted my father-in-law to see a grandson or great-grandson playing by his side.
“It shall be so!” the Angel of Death promised again
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Then said the woman: “I am the wife of the son of my father in-law. I am the only one who is capable of giving birth to sons and daughters who will carry on his seed. If you indeed wish to honour your promise then you must restore my husband to life, for my husband had no children, and without his children my father-in-law will have no grandchildren or great-grandchildren. ‘Whoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world. And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world’ (Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:9). If you rob me of my husband, you rob me and my husband of my children, and my father-in-law of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. You will break your promise and in one stroke you will destroy whole worlds.’ “
The Angel of Death was at a loss as to what he should do. He had no choice but to restore the woman’s husband to life. “Let it be know to all the you are indeed an Eishes Chayil, a woman of noble character and wisdom” as he prepared to leave. The moment the Angel of Death rose into the heavens the woman’s husband stood once again on his feet.
The woman and her husband returned to their hut and found the old man reciting the benediction: “Blessed be he who opens the eyes of the blind.” They all rejoiced at the miracles that had been wrought for them and recited the blessing: “Baruch atah Adoshem, m’chaiyay hameisim. (Blessed are You G-d who revives the dead.)”
May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)
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Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. (Joel 1:3)
