#481 (s5767-20 / 19 Shevat 5767)

Golden Forgiveness

When his wife heard what he intended, she was horrified.
She urged him to go to the Seer of Lublin for advice.

Golden Forgiveness

In a small town not far from Lublin, Poland, there lived a simple but wealthy Jew. He had a good heart and was always ready to give charity and to perform mitzvot as best as he knew how.

Once a year Yudel would travel to the holy man, the Seer of Lublin. This one trip managed to inspire him and carry him through the year. He never made the trip empty handed; he always brought a large donation for the tzadik to distribute to needy Jews.

One year, however, he began to suffer losses in his business. One loss followed another and soon he was a poor man.

Ashamed to ask anyone for financial help, he took any work he could find. But despite his best efforts, he barely managed to earn enough money to feed his family.

The poor man was ashamed to make his annual trip to the Seer empty-handed. He stopped making his annual visit and without the inspiration he became more and more dejected.

One day, as he was standing in the market place hoping to get some work, the local priest passed by. "I'm sorry to see you in this difficult situation," the priest said to him. "Not so long ago you were a wealthy man, and now this...I would like to help you. Come to my house, and I promise work for you."

The first thought that occurred to Yudel was that he would have nothing to do with this priest. But as he stood there hour after hour and still found no work, he decided to accept the priest's invitation.

The priest greeted him warmly. "What a pity you are a Jew," the priest said. "What good is your Jewish faith if your Jewish G-d has abandoned you? Come over to my religion, and I promise you a good and easy life."

Yudel agreed to think about it for a few days. He decided that it would not be so terrible to just pretend to become a Christian, but remain a Jew; G-d would surely understand.

When Yudel told his wife about what he had in mind, she was horrified. She advised him to go to the Seer of Lublin for advice.

The Rebbe assured him that converting would only make matters worse. But when Yudel insisted that G-d had indeed abandoned him, the Seer suggested that he call G-d to arbitration.

"I will arrange for a Beit-Din (Rabbinic Court) to hear your complaint and I guarantee you a fair trial."

Yudel agreed and the Seer appointed three elderly Jews to be the Beit-Din.

After the Judges heard all the claims, they asked if Yudel was prepared to forgive G-d if G-d forgave him. Yudel insisted that he would gladly forgive G-d if He returned his lost fortune to him.

The Judges than gave the verdict that the Al-mighty shall restore Yudel's lost fortune on condition that Yudel repent for his past wrongdoings, that he give generously of his new wealth to tzedaka (charity) and that he should spend some time every day and evening studying Torah.

The verdict was written down, signed, and sealed, and a period of thirty days was allowed to the parties to carry out the judgment.

Yudel set off to the market place looking for work. Finding none there, he went to the train station to work as a porter. When the thirtieth day arrived, Yudel was at his usual post at the train station. He saw a rich nobleman pushing a huge suitcase out of a train. "Help me with my suitcase," the rich man called out to Yudel. Yudel helped the man who brusquely told him that he had an appointment somewhere. "You wait here and keep an eye on my suitcase," the nobleman said and disappeared.

Hours passed. Yudel felt he could wait no longer. He decided to take the suitcase back to his house and inquire after the owner later.

Yudel somehow managed to heave the heavy suitcase onto his shoulder and proceed homeward. Just inside his gate, the suitcase slid off his shoulder, burst wide open and spilled gold coins all over the yard.

He hurried back to the station only to find that the mysterious passenger had not returned. Neither had anyone seen or heard of him.

It struck him that maybe G-d had sent him this treasure in fulfillment of His part of the verdict. Yudel ran off to the Seer in Lublin to inquire.

"Is there enough gold in the treasure to make you as rich as you were?" the tzadik asked.

"At least as rich, if not richer." Yudel assured him.

"Then keep it. Enjoy it in good health. But be sure to keep your part of the verdict of the Bet-Din," the Seer cautioned him.

Yudel became a rich man as before and had no more complaints against G-d. He studied Torah and gave tzedaka faithfully, and hoped that G-d, too, had no complaints against him.
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[Adapted by Yrachmiel Tilles from the rendition on www.lchaimweekly.org (#893).]

Biographical note:
R. Yaakov Yitzchok Horowitz (1745 - 9 Av 1815), known as 'the Chozeh (Seer) of Lublin', was the successor to R. Elimelech of Lizensk (1717-1787), and leader of the spread of chassidus in Poland. Many of his insights were published posthumously in Divrei Emmes, Zichron Zos, and Zos Zichron.

Yrachmiel Tilles is co-founder and associate director of Ascent-of-Safed, and editor of Ascent Quarterly and the AscentOfSafed.com and KabbalaOnline.org websites. He has hundreds of published stories to his credit.