There were two students of Tam and Chacham who did everything together. The time came that the students had to go their own ways. For more than a year, they had been separated from their beloved teachers, Tam and Chacham, and from each other. One student traveled to Yerushalayim Ir haKodesh – the Holy City of Jerusalem, and had just returned on a specific day. The other student returned on the very same day from more than a year spent in study at a well-known yeshiva.
As each student entered the House of Study, they greeted Tam and Chacham with the traditional blessing recited when seeing a great scholar of Torah: “Blessed art thou, Oh Lord Our God, King of the Universe, Who has given of His wisdom to those who fear Him.” But when the two friends laid eyes on each other after such a long time, they each instinctively cried out the traditional blessing recited when seeing a friend again after more than a year has passed: “Blessed art thou Oh Lord our God, King of the Universe, who raises the dead.”
Tam, Chacham and their students all rejoiced at this fortunate and coincidental reunion. Then one of the younger students asked: “Why is it that when we see a friend we have not seen for a year, we are commanded to bless G-d for reviving the dead? Surely this is a strange commandment, since no one has died.”
Chacham explained: “We learn in the Zohar haKodesh that everyone has a light burning for them in the world above, and everyone’s light is unique. When two friends meet, their lights above are united, and out of that union of two lights an angel is born. That angel has the strength to survive for only one year, unless its life is renewed when the friends meet again. If they are separated for more than a year, the angel begins to weaken and eventually wastes away. That is why we bless the dead upon meeting a friend we have not seen for more than a year, to revive the angel.”
Just as the Chacham finished speaking they heard a sound like the rustling of wings, and a sudden wind swirled around the room, brushing against them, and they knew that the angel had been reborn.
May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)
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