There was once a wealthy merchant who frequently traveled to a holy rabbi for advice and blessings. Through experience, the merchant learned to listen carefully to what the holy rabbi said to him, and in this way spared from numerous business transactions that may have looked promising, but would have soured had he pursued them.

Once, at the conclusion of a visit, the holy rabbi said: “Next time you come here,please bring along your wagon driver.”

This request caught the merchant by surprise. Until then, the holy rabbi had never mixed into such things, such as who should be his wagon driver. Besides, he never noticed anything remarkable about the man the Holy rabbi now wished to see. Yet he knew better than to question the Holy rabbi.

Months passed, and the merchant returned to the Holy rabbi’s court. As instructed, he traveled with the particular wagon driver the holy rabbi had requested.

“Please invite the wagon driver to come see me,” said the holy rabbi upon hearing that the man was in town.

The merchant quickly rushed to the boarding house where the wagon driver was staying and that the holy rabbi wanted to see him.

“Who am I to see the holy rabbi?” answered the simple man, who was more comfortable in the stable than in a book-lined study. The invitation frightened him, and he tried to excuse himself from going.

When the merchant saw that the driver was not planning on coming with him, he threatened not to hire him to take him back. This forced the wagon driver to change his mind; he agreed to come along.

“Shalom Aleichem! Shalom Aleichem! (Peace be upon you),” the holy rabbi greeted the wagon driver with a broad smile.

The driver, who was surprised by the warm greeting, was dumbstruck when the revered rabbi invited him to return the next day in order to share a meal with him.

When the wagon driver left the house, the holy rabbi turned to his wife and asked her to prepare special delicacies and foods reserved for Shabbos and holidays to be served to their guest the following day.

In the meantime, the news spread about the simple wagon driver who merited to be greeted like royalty in the holy rabbi’s house. Many tried to guess the meaning of this special meal. Soon, a group of young students surrounded the wagon driver, demanding that he reveal himself to them.

“I have no idea why I have been invited to the holy rabbi’s house,” he said. “I am not Torah scholar or very important; I am a simple wagon driver.”

The students would not leave him alone.

“Perhaps you may remember some small deed you did,” they asked.

The driver scratched his head, trying to remember anything he had done to draw the attention of the holy rabbi.

“Oh, maybe something …,” he mumbled.

The eyes of the young students lit up.

“Tell us, tell us!” they repeated.

So the wagon driver began to tell his story.

“During my many travels, I reach outlying villages where there sometimes may be only one Jewish family living among the many people in the village. More than once,it happened that the Jewish people would ask me if I knew of a mohel (circumciser) because a baby boy had been born to them, and in the whole area there weren’t any mohelim to perform the bris for the baby on the eighth day.

“Therefore,”the wagon driver continued, “I learned the laws of bris milah and trained under an expert mohel. When I travel, I take along my bris milah kit. Baruch Hashem (Thank G‑d),I have been privileged to do quite a number of circumcisions in many of these far-flung communities.

“A number of months ago, I was traveling through a forest and lost my way.Suddenly, I heard a loud, pitiful crying that broke my heart. I followed the cry and reached a hovel belonging to a Jewish forester. The crying was coming from his wife. She told me that her husband became ill a while back and was laid up in bed, unable to move. And, today was the eighth day of the birth of their son. Her husband meant to travel to the large city to bring a mohel from there.

“‘Now, however, he cannot move, and I don’t know what to do!’ she burst out, crying.

“‘Do not worry, good woman, I am a mohel!’ I told her. “I calmed down the surprised woman. But now I had to find a sandek to hold the baby, as the father was too weak to sit up and hold his newborn son. I went out to the main road, hoping against hope that a Jewish traveler would pass by.

“Suddenly, a short while before the sun was to set, I saw a Jewish traveler walking towards me.

“I jumped on him as if I had found a treasure. I told him about the great honor that he would be privileged to have. At first, he refused to come. But I pleaded with him: ‘A Jewish child is waiting to enter the covenant of Avraham Avinu (Abraham our father), the father is already one foot in the other world;and the mother is crying. How can you be so insensitive and continue on your way!?’

“These words hit their mark, and he agreed to come with me.

“After the bris, I suggested to the guest that he join me for the festive meal to celebrate the occasion. However, there was not a morsel of food in the house. I took out my knapsack, which contained bread and some cheese. We washed our hands and sat down to eat the mitzvah meal, which we shared with the mother.

“Afterwards, the guest suggested that we should call the father of the child to complete the zimun [a quorum of three]. I looked at him with disbelief. ‘Can’t you see that he is almost on the other side?’ The strange guest walked over to the father, and in a minute, the man was standing upright, being led to the table by the guest. I could not believe my eyes!

“When we finished the prayer after the meal, I stepped outside for a minute to get something from my wagon. When I returned to the home, I did not see the guest anywhere. He had disappeared completely!

“And that is my story,” said the wagon driver.

The next day, the wagon driver came to the house of the holy rabbi and ate a festive meal. One of the sons of the holy rabbi shared with his father the amazing episode he had heard. At the conclusion of the meal, the holy rabbi said to the assembled: “A Jewish person who merited to eat at the same table as Avraham Avinu, I very much wanted to eat with him as well …”

May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)

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