A Favor Repaid - Monthly Gedolim Story
Nissan. The month of Pesach. A festival of redemption, inspiration and hope. A festival celebrating freedom, heroism and above all, timeless miracles full of love performed for our ancestors in Mitzrayim by the one and only Supreme King of all kings, The Holy One, Blessed Be He.
In the 13 Midas HaRachamim, we are told to try and emulate Hashems ways. One of the traits mentioned, of course, is kindness. G-d is infinitely kind, so too we should try be as kind as possible. For this Gadol Story I wanted to share an incredible story about repaying a kind, selfless, favor, which occurred with the famed and respected Nodah BeYudah, the Holy Rav Yechezkel Landau.
In the 13 Midas HaRachamim, we are told to try and emulate Hashems ways. One of the traits mentioned, of course, is kindness. G-d is infinitely kind, so too we should try be as kind as possible. For this Gadol Story I wanted to share an incredible story about repaying a kind, selfless, favor, which occurred with the famed and respected Nodah BeYudah, the Holy Rav Yechezkel Landau.
I recently heard this story from Rabbi Paysach Krohn שליט"א as it was one of the stories in his "Pesach" volume from his "Living Lessons" series
I hope you will enjoy the story.
Have a wonderful Shabbos and a beautiful Pesach.
Your Friend,
Yitzy Schweitzer
Have a wonderful Shabbos and a beautiful Pesach.
Your Friend,
Yitzy Schweitzer
A Favor Repaid - Monthly Gedolim Story
It was the last night of Pesach in Prague. In every shul, announcements were made that the next morning, on the last day of Pesach, all the shuls should be closed and everyone should come to the main shul of Prague, as the Rav, The Nodah BeYudah, Rav Yechezkel Landau, had a very important announcement that not a soul could miss.
The next morning, the Nodah BeYudah got up and made an announcement that left everyone shocked. "Raboisai! We made a mistake. We need to extend Pesach one more day, which means tomorrow, no one may eat any Chametz as it is still Yom Tov!" Now, this announcement was so surprising, something like this had never happened before. But if the Tzaddik said something so important everyone must listen, and listen they did. The next day, nobody would go and buy bread. Nobody.
But why did the Heiligeh Tzaddik make this announcement? Of course, it was so surprising there had to have been a reason. Well, here is what transpired, only the night before Yom Tov began...
Late at night, an urgent knock was heard at the Tzaddiks' front door. When he went to open it, he found a non-Jewish young man standing there. But he did not recognize him. "How can I help you, my friend?" the Nodah BeYudah asked. "Rabbi" said the young man "you may not remember me, but I have come to pay you back for a favor you did for me long ago. When I was a child, my father was a baker and one day, he gave me many loaves of bread to sell in the streets. Well, I sold them all and was walking back with the money safely in my purse. Somehow, I lost the purse and was afraid to go home without it. So I sat down on the street crying.
"You came over to me and asked me why I was crying. After I told you about what happened with the purse, you were so kind as you gave me some money from your own pocket so I could take it home. I never forgot your favor.
"Rabbi, my father is still a baker and the other night, I overheard him and some of his non-Jewish workers plotting something terrible. You see, the bakers know that after the Passover festival, the Jews will buy the bread from them. They decided to poison the bread that they were making for the end of the festival.
The next morning, the Nodah BeYudah got up and made an announcement that left everyone shocked. "Raboisai! We made a mistake. We need to extend Pesach one more day, which means tomorrow, no one may eat any Chametz as it is still Yom Tov!" Now, this announcement was so surprising, something like this had never happened before. But if the Tzaddik said something so important everyone must listen, and listen they did. The next day, nobody would go and buy bread. Nobody.
But why did the Heiligeh Tzaddik make this announcement? Of course, it was so surprising there had to have been a reason. Well, here is what transpired, only the night before Yom Tov began...
Late at night, an urgent knock was heard at the Tzaddiks' front door. When he went to open it, he found a non-Jewish young man standing there. But he did not recognize him. "How can I help you, my friend?" the Nodah BeYudah asked. "Rabbi" said the young man "you may not remember me, but I have come to pay you back for a favor you did for me long ago. When I was a child, my father was a baker and one day, he gave me many loaves of bread to sell in the streets. Well, I sold them all and was walking back with the money safely in my purse. Somehow, I lost the purse and was afraid to go home without it. So I sat down on the street crying.
"You came over to me and asked me why I was crying. After I told you about what happened with the purse, you were so kind as you gave me some money from your own pocket so I could take it home. I never forgot your favor.
"Rabbi, my father is still a baker and the other night, I overheard him and some of his non-Jewish workers plotting something terrible. You see, the bakers know that after the Passover festival, the Jews will buy the bread from them. They decided to poison the bread that they were making for the end of the festival.
"Please Rabbi, don't tell anyone I'm the one who gave over the information or my life would be in danger". With that the brave young gentile took leave of the great Gadol.
That is why the announcement was made.
When the bakers realised that the Jews were not buying bread from them the complained to the police saying that the Rabbi caused them a loss of money by adding one more day to the holiday. Well, the Nodah BeYudah told the police to take some bread and give it to a dog and see what happens. So, they did and pretty soon the dog was dead.
The bakers had nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. They admitted to their evil scheme and all of them were jailed.
The Nodah BeYudah said afterwards that we must learn from here to be kind to everyone, even non-Jews, because it was only his kindness of years gone by that helped to save the Yidden from the plans of the evil bakers.
That is why the announcement was made.
When the bakers realised that the Jews were not buying bread from them the complained to the police saying that the Rabbi caused them a loss of money by adding one more day to the holiday. Well, the Nodah BeYudah told the police to take some bread and give it to a dog and see what happens. So, they did and pretty soon the dog was dead.
The bakers had nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. They admitted to their evil scheme and all of them were jailed.
The Nodah BeYudah said afterwards that we must learn from here to be kind to everyone, even non-Jews, because it was only his kindness of years gone by that helped to save the Yidden from the plans of the evil bakers.
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